Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And We revived thereby a dead land. Such is the resurrection.”

The Shaykh : Then Allah the Exalted said: We revived it, with what? With the water of which He said: With water, Allah revived a dead land. How does a land die? It dies when its trees dry up, its grass withers, and it becomes barren land with no greenery in it. When Allah sends down water upon it, it trembles and grows. Indeed, the One who gave it life is the One who will give life to the dead. Allah gives life to this earth after its death, after there was no tree, no leaf, and no grass in it. Then it becomes green, trembling with this water that Allah sent down upon it. Allah the Exalted said: Such is the resurrection. That is, just as this giving of life to the earth occurs, so will the emergence of people from their graves occur. The One who is able to give life to the earth after its death is able to give life to people from their graves. In fact, it came in a hadith that Despite the multitude of souls, no soul will miss its body. The souls will enter their bodies, then the earth will split open for them swiftly, and they will emerge from the earth alive, just as a fetus emerges from its mother’s womb alive. Glory be to Allah , And Allah described them as scattered moths, and as locusts spread out. Nations that no one can count except Allah will emerge from their graves. Perhaps beneath a person’s grave now are other graves. Who can count the graves since the world began? Since Adam was created, who can count them? No one can count them except their Lord, Mighty and Majestic. They will emerge as if they were locusts spread out, like scattered moths. And yet they will emerge swiftly, and they will stand up looking on. The criminals will say: Meaning, from our graves. Oh, woe to us, because they will witness a day that was difficult for the disbelievers. So here, the Mighty and Majestic says: Meaning, just as Our bringing forth, or just as Our giving life to this earth after its death, so will the resurrection be, the resurrection after death. In this is evidence that the Noble Qur'an guides people through analogy. It guides people through analogy. How so? In the verse, it means: Measure the revival of the dead after their death by what, O my brothers? Measure the revival of people after death by the revival of the earth after its death. And you are now seeing the earth dry and barren, with no tree or leaf in it, and Allah the Exalted gives it life after its death. Measure the unseen, expected event by the seen, observable event, because the intellect measures, measuring what is absent by what is witnessed. So in this is the greatest evidence for the use of analogy, and for the use of rational proofs in convincing the opponent. Because the opponent may not be convinced by the scriptural proofs; he may not be convinced by the Qur'an or the Sunnah. He needs a rational proof. Then, once he is certain through reason, it becomes easy for him to be certain through the Shari'ah. Because we are now addressing someone who is not a believer. As for the believer, as soon as it is said to him, “This is the word of Allah and His Messenger,” he says, what? We hear and obey. But a person who is not a believer, or who has doubt or weak faith that needs strengthening, must be presented with rational proofs so that he is convinced. There is no harm in doing so. Perhaps some people will say, “If he is not convinced by the Book and the Sunnah, then we have no concern for him.” This is incorrect. If he is not convinced by the Book and the Sunnah, go to him with a rational proof. Make him convinced, because you are treating minds. If you are treating minds, use every medicine that can bring about healing, whether from the Qur'an, the Sunnah, or reason. And neglecting minds is contrary to reason. Minds need to be convinced. And you have seen how our Lord, the Exalted, convinces those who deny the resurrection. How does He convince them? By measuring the unseen, expected event by the seen, observable event. There is no harm for us if we see a person who is not convinced by the Book and the Sunnah to say, “Please, let us debate with reason.” And that is not considered a departure from the path of the believers and the righteous Salaf. Rather, this is the method of the Qur'an. Rather, it is the method of the Sunnah as well. Have you not heard that a Bedouin man came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, my wife gave birth to a black boy, while the man and his wife are white.” He said, “My wife gave birth to a black boy.” Meaning, he was hinting at what? He was hinting at her adultery. Where did the black boy come from, when I am white and the woman is white? So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used a rational proof with him. He did not say to him, “Allah is able to do all things.” A Bedouin man needs rational persuasion. If he had said, “Allah is able to do all things,” and he was a believer, he would have believed and moved on. But he was a Bedouin who needed to be persuaded by something tangible. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said to him: The scholars said that the one whose color was between white and black, like paper, meaning like silver, was neither pure white nor black. He said: Meaning, perhaps his ancestors or grandmothers had this description or this color. Perhaps sweat took it from him. He said: This son of yours, perhaps sweat took it from him. Is this correct or not? It is possible that among his ancestors on his father’s side, or among his grandmothers on his mother’s side, or on his mother’s side, there was a black man, and this sweat took it from him. Did the Bedouin man remain silent or argue? Yes? He remained silent. He was fully convinced. But if he had said, “Allah is able to do all things, making the white black and the black white, bringing the living from the dead and the dead from the living,” in any case, the believer, if he is convinced by that... But the Bedouins’ conviction in what they perceive with their senses is greater than what they perceive with their minds or their religion. So the important thing is that there is no harm if you see in a person a weakness in accepting the Shari'ah from the Book and the Sunnah, that you convince him with something from the proofs of the senses or the proofs of reason, because the objective is to reach conviction. We ask Allah the Exalted to make us all among those who believe in Him, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil. And we conclude the rest of the meeting by reviewing some of the questions that were presented to Shaykh Mahmud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Sayyig.