Surah As-Saffat, Ayah 16

The Certainty of Life after Death

Allah says: `Ask these people, those who deny the resurrection, which is harder to create Are they more difficult to create or the heavens, the earth, the angels, devils, the mighty creatures -- everything in between them' Ibn Mas`ud said that they admitted that these things were harder to create than they were. If this is the case, then why do they deny the resurrection, when they see things that are greater than that which they deny As Allah says:

لَخَلْقُ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ أَكْـبَرُ مِنْ خَلْقِ النَّاسِ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْـثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ

(The creation of the heavens and the earth is indeed greater than the creation of mankind; yet, most of mankind know not) (40:57) Then Allah explains that they were created from something weak, as He says:

The proof of the miracles of the Holy Prophet ﷺ

The word: آيَةً ('ayt tan) in verse وَإِذَا رَ‌أَوْا آيَةً (And when they see a sign) literally means 'sign' and at this place it means 'miracle.' Hence, this verse proves that Allah Taala had given to the Holy Prophet t some other miracles as well in addition to that of the noble Qur'an - which refutes those who take the miracles of the Holy Prophet ﷺ as effects of physical causes, and thereby claim that no miracle, other than that of the Qur'an, was shown at the blessed hands of the Holy Prophet ﷺ .

In this verse (14), Allah Ta’ ala has clearly said: وَإِذَا رَ‌أَوْا آيَةً يَسْتَسْخِرُ‌ونَ ' (And when they see a sign, they make fun of it). Some people who deny miracles say that, at this place, the word: آيَہ ('ayat) does not mean مُعجِزَۃ ('mujizah) or miracle, instead, it means rational arguments. But, this approach is patently wrong in view of what is said in the next verse that follows immediately: وَقَالُوا إِنْ هَـٰذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ‌ مُّبِينٌ (and they say, "this is nothing but an open magic - 37:15). It is obvious that declaring an evidence and argument to be open magic does not make any sense. They could have said something like this only when they had seen a miracle.

‘The lowest heaven’ (as-sama’ ad-dunya) perhaps refers to that part of space which is nearer to man and which can be seen with the naked eye. The creatures such as the jinn attempt to fathom information about the unknown. But in the lowest heaven itself the arrangement is such that any such brazen endeavour is disrupted by occurrences like the shower of meteors.