Quranic Reflections – Pondering over the Last Verses of Surah Yaseen

These verses of the Quran were revealed at the time when non-believers of Makkah asked the Holy Prophet that how could they become alive after they die. In these verses, Allah asks these people how they came into being for the first time. Allah mentions that it is not difficult for Him to do such things and that He is omnipotent, powerful and supreme and none can equal Him. He is the master who gives orders and commands that are to be fulfilled.
In Makkah, addressing to the Holy Prophet, the chiefs of the disbelievers of Makkah were constantly carrying out campaigns of vilification against the prophet (s). However, they knew in their hearts and acknowledged in their private assemblies that the charges they brought against him were absolutely baseless. In order to create suspicions against him in the minds of the people, they branded him a poet, sorcerer, magician, madman, etc. But their consciences recognized, and they also acknowledged before one another, that whatever they were uttering Was false, which they were forging only to frustrate the prophet’s mission. That is why Allah says to His Prophet earlier in this Surah: “Do not grieve at their absurd and meaningless talk.”
According to the traditions related by Ibn ‘Abbas, Qatadah and Said bin Jubair, one of the chiefs of Makkah, on this occasion, came up with a rotten bone of a dead person, from the graveyard. He broke and crushed it into pieces before the Holy Prophet and scattering its particles in the air, said.-“O Muhammad, you say that the dead will be raised back to life. Tell us who will give life to these decayed and rotten bones?” The answer was given immediately in the form of these verses.

Translation (Interpretation of the meaning)

77. Does not man see that We have created him from Nutfah (mixed male and female sexual discharge – semen drops). Yet behold he (stands forth) as an open opponent.
78. And he puts forth for Us a parable, and forgets his own creation. He says: “Who will give life to these bones after they are rotten and have become dust?”
79. Say: (O Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) “He will give life to them Who created them for the first time! And He is the All-Knower of every creation!”
80. He Who produces for you fire out of the green tree, when behold you kindle therewith.
81. Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth, Able to create the like of them? Yes, indeed! He is the All-Knowing Supreme Creator.
82. Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” – and it is!
83. So glorified be He and exalted above all that they associate with Him, and in Whose Hands is the dominion of all things: and to Him you shall be returned.
Quran (Surah Yaseen, Verses 79 – 83)

Reflections from the above verses of Surah Yaseen

• In these verses Allah (SWT) chides those who in their insolence doubt the concept of resurrection on the Day of Judgment.
• The verses exhort us to ponder upon our own creation and what we are created from. If we do it we would be in awe of our Creator instead of daring to oppose The Almighty or doubting His Word, The Quran.
• People commit the foolish blunder of using their own limited intelligence to draw conclusions about what can happen (and what can’t) to oneself after death. Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) urges us to realize that He The All- Powerful is capable of bringing back to life a body that rots and becomes dust after death – just the way He created life and the body when it didn’t even exist.
• Allah reminds us that these people came to life while at one time they did not exist. Thus, the all-powerful is capable of bringing them back to life after their death. He knows how to create for the first time and to recreate again.
• The verses give an example of the green tree drying up and being used as firewood. Allah (SWT) gives this one example to highlight one of his infinite powers that many times we don’t pay attention to or take for granted.
• Since we can never comprehend how the heavens and earth and all the creation came about, it rightly follows that we believe and trust the All-Knowing Supreme Creator Who just has to say “Be!” and whatever He intends takes form.
• Allah speaks to us through the Quran in a manner that is suitable to our understanding. He asks a question to make us reflect and then answers it to clear any doubt any one might have.
• If influenced by Satan, some people adopt a defiant attitude. Instead, they should realize that they possess the abilities bestowed by Allah to observe and think. Allah urges us to use these abilities to acknowledge the Supremacy of The Lord of the worlds to Whom we eventually will return.

Reference: Tafsir of Ibn Kathir and Abul Ala Maududi