The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cccxxxii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION Miracles Christian writers have asserted that, apart from the claim that it is unique in its language and its philosophy, the Quran does not prefer any claim to miracles. It is necessary to explain in a few words the attitude of the Quran towards miracles. The Quran puts forward two fundamental doctrines. First, that there are certain divine laws which are not subject to variation. For instance, the Quran teaches that a dead person never comes back to life upon this earth, and that nobody except God possesses the power of creation. The world may produce artificers, technicians and inventors but the attribute of creation manifests itself only through the work of God. As regards the first of these two matters God says in the Quran: Until, when death comes to one of them, he says entreating, "My Lord, send me back, that I may do righteous deeds in the life which I have left behind". By no means, it is but a mere word that he utters. And behind them is a barrier until the day when they shall be raised again (23:100, 101). Again; it says: And it is an inviolable law for a township which We have destroyed that they shall not return. It shall be so even when Gog and Magog are let loose and they shall hasten forth from every height (21:96, 97). The verses mean to say that God has decreed that the people that have passed away shall not return to the earth till Gog and Magog are released and spread over the earth from the summit of every hill and the top of every wave. This shows clearly that the dead cannot return to the earth. The reference to Gog and Magog in the last verse does not mean that the dead would be permitted to return to the earth at that time. As the release of Gog and Magog is one of the signs of the approach of the end of days, the verse means that this law will continue to operate till the end of days. Some grammarians have interpreted this part of the verse to mean that after the rise of Gog and Magog attempts would be made to resuscitate the dead but that these attempts would not be successful, meaning that science would make unsuccessful efforts to solve the riddle of death. In short, the Quran teaches that a dead person cannot be permitted to return to the earth. says: It also teaches that nobody except God possesses the power to create. It And those on whom they call beside Allah create not anything, but they are themselves created. They are dead, not living; and they know not when they will be raised (16:21, 22). cccvi