life at the resurrection is such that the whole universe is like a soldier under His orders.” It is utterly submissive before His command of “Be!,” and it is. It is as easy for Him to create the spring as to create a flower. He is One for Whose power it is as easy to create all animals as to create a fly. Such a One may not be challenged with the words:
Who can give life to [dry] bones?,1
and His power belittled. Then, with the phrase:
So glory be unto Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things,2
it says: “He is an All-Powerful One of Glory in Whose hands are the reins of all things, with Him are the keys to all things; He alternates winter and summer as easily as turning the pages of a book, and opens and closes this world and the hereafter as though they were two houses.” Since it is thus, the conclusion of all these evidences is:
And to Him will you all be brought back.3
That is, “He will raise you to life from the grave and bring you to the resurrection;there you will be called to account in the presence of the Almighty.”
Thus, all these verses have prepared the mind to accept the resurrection, and so have they prepared the heart, for they have pointed out similar deeds in this world.
It sometimes happens also that the Qur’an mentions Almighty God’s deeds of the hereafter in such a way that man may understand similar things in this world. Then no possibility remains to deny them or deem them unlikely. An example are the Suras which begin:
When the Sun is folded up;4 * When the sky is cleft asunder;5 * When the sky is rent asunder.6
In these Suras it mentions the mighty revolutions and dominical acts of disposal in the resurrection and Great Gathering in such a way that, since man sees things similar to them in this world, for example, in the autumn and spring, he accepts those revolutions easily, which cause dread to the heart and cannot be comprehended by the mind. To provide even a summary of the meaning of these three Suras would be very lengthy, so for now we shall point out a single phrase by way of example.
Qur’an, 36:78.
Qur’an, 36:83.
Sura 81, al-Takwir.
Sura 82, al-Infitar.
Sura 84, al-Inshiqaq.