Sūrat al-Baqarah
Section 47 of 59 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Show Me How You Give Life
After that comes a very profound account of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) again, in which he asks Allah (swt): show me, I pray, how You bring the dead back to life.
This is a hard thing for men to conceive of. It appears to be a perennial difficulty: through all the ages, when men die — for we have never seen anyone return — the thought arises, how shall this be possible, that God has said that men will return, that there will be a resurrection and a whole new life, after one has withered and decomposed? How shall that be possible?
So Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) asks Allah (swt) — having that particular closeness to Allah (swt) — and says: arinī kayfa tuḥyī al-mawtā. And Allah (swt) asks him fondly: a-wa-lam tuʾmin — do you not believe? Allah knows, of course. Qāla balā wa-lākin li-yaṭmaʾinna qalbī: only that I may see it in its working.
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِى كَيْفَ تُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ ۖ قَالَ أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِن ۖ قَالَ بَلَىٰ وَلَـٰكِن لِّيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِى ۖ قَالَ فَخُذْ أَرْبَعَةً مِّنَ ٱلطَّيْرِ فَصُرْهُنَّ إِلَيْكَ ثُمَّ ٱجْعَلْ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ جَبَلٍ مِّنْهُنَّ جُزْءًا ثُمَّ ٱدْعُهُنَّ يَأْتِينَكَ سَعْيًا ۚ وَٱعْلَمْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
“(Remember) when Ibrāhīm said: “My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.” He said: “Is it that you do not believe?’’ He said: “Of course, I do, but it is just to make my heart at peace.’’ He said: “Then take four birds and tame them to your call, then put on every mountain a part from them, then give them a call, and they shall come to you rushing, and know that Allah is Mighty, Wise.’’” (2:260)
Allah (swt) then tells him what to do: to take the flesh of four birds, four different creatures, and divide them and mix them and divide them again, and then to call upon them in the name of Allah, and they will all return. That was a particular miracle granted to Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), and Allah (swt) mentions it here.