The sacred verses of the Holy Qur’¡n clearly illustrate the fact that idolaters and other unbelievers, not only in the time of the Prophet(s), but in all times have been astonished at the very notion of the Resurrection and life after death and even considered anybody who said it as mad:
هَلْ نَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَى رَجُلٍ يُنَبِّئُكُمْ إِذَا مُزِّقْتُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّكُمْ لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ * أَفْتَرَى عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِباً أَم بِهِ جِنَّةٌ؟
[And those who disbelieve say]: shall we point out to you a man who informs you that when you are scattered with the utmost scattering you shall then be most surely raised in to a new creation. He has forged a lie against Allah or there is madness in him. [Qur’¡n 34:7-8]
In those days, due to people’s lack of knowledge, belief in life after death and in the dead coming back to life was considered madness or forging a lie against Allah.
However, the Holy Qur’¡n uses different kinds of reasoning which can be used by scholars and ordinary people alike, each one to the extent of his or her own capacity.
Although a complete description of the arguments of the Holy Qur’¡n needs a separate book, here we shall present only some portions of it.
1. Sometimes, the Holy Qur’¡n tells them: you see with your own eyes daily scenes of the Resurrection: you notice how some creatures die and then come back to life and then you have doubts concerning the issue of the Resurrection.
وَاللَّهُ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ الرِّيَاحَ فَتُثِيرُ سَحَاباً فَسُقْنَاهُ إِلَى بَلَدٍ مَّيِّتٍ فَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ الأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا كَذَلِكَ النُّشُورُ.
And Allah is He Who sends the winds so they raise a cloud, then We drive it on to a dead country, and therewith We give life to the earth after its death; even so is the quickening. [Qur’¡n 35:9]
When we look around during winter everything in nature reminds of death; the trees are naked of leaves, flowers and fruits; what has remained is dry wood; there are no flowers; no buds blossom; nor is there any sign of life in the mountains, or in the deserts.
Spring, however, brings a mild climate; the life-giving drops of rain fall; suddenly, there is a magnificent commotion in nature: the flowers blossom, the trees give forth leaves; birds settle themselves on the branches and start their beautiful songs: and life is a commotion of activity.
If life after death did not mean anything, we would never witness this scene each year. If life after death were an improbable or insane act, we would never touch it so vividly every day.
2. Sometimes, the Holy Qur’¡n points towards the beginning of creation, that is, the first stages of creation. It tells Mu¦ammad how to answer that nomadic Arab who came to him carrying a rotten piece of bone in his hand: “O Mu¦ammad! Who is able to give life to this piece of bone? Tell me who can?” assuming he has offered a convincing argument against the issue of the Resurrection. The Holy Qur’¡n ordered Mu¦ammad(s) to say:
قُلْ يُحْيِيهَا الَّذِي أَنشَأَهَا أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ.
Say: He shall quicken them Who originated them the first time. [Qur’¡n 36:79]
What differences should there be between the beginning of creation and its repetition? In the next verses, the Holy Qur’¡n answers this question succinctly by saying:
كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُّعِيدُه.
As We originated the first creation, so We shall reproduce it. [Qur’¡n 21:104]
3. The Holy Qur’¡n at times mentions God’s Great Power over all of creation:
Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them? Yea! And He is the Creator of all, the Knower. His command, when He intends anything, is only to say to it: Be, and it is. [Qur’¡n 36:81-82]
Those who showed their doubts concerning these problems were those whose sphere of understanding was very limited or else they should have known that re-creation and bringing the dead back to life is easier than creation in the first place.
4. Sometimes, by “resurrection” they understand the word "energies” and say: “see, God who is able to make fire out of the green trees is able to give life to the dead.”
الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنَ الشَّجَرِ الْأَخْضَرِ نَاراً فَإِذَا أَنتُم مِّنْهُ تُوقِدُونَ.
He Who has made for you the fire to burn from the green tree, so that with it you kindle fire. [Qur’¡n 36:80]
Regarding this verse of the Holy Qur’¡n’ science tells us that when we burn a piece of wood to make a fire, the heat produced is the same energy that the piece of wood had received from the sun for long years and is now emitting it. We used to think that the sun’s energy had died, but now we see it has come back to life again and puts on a new dress of life.
Is it difficult to revive the dead for a God who has stored light and energy inside a tree for years to be released later?([1])
THINK AND ANSWER
Why are the unbelievers shocked by the notion of the Resurrection?
How could we see resurrection in the life pattern of plants every year?
Some verses, of the Holy Qur’¡n refer to the embryonic life of the child as a sign of resurrection, why?
What is the resurrection of energies?
Why does the Qur’¡n put emphasis on the expression “green tree”?
