Surah Maryam, Ayah 68

Man's Amazement about Life after Death and the Refutation against this Amazement

Allah, the Exalted, informs that mankind is amazed that he could be returned to life after death and he thinks that this is something farfetched. As Allah says,

وَإِن تَعْجَبْ فَعَجَبٌ قَوْلُهُمْ أَءِذَا كُنَّا تُرَابًا أَءِنَّا لَفِى خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ

(And if you wonder, then wondrous is their saying: "When we are dust, shall we indeed then be (raised) in a new creation")13:5 Allah also says,

أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الإِنسَـنُ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَـهُ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مٌّبِينٌ - وَضَرَبَ لَنَا مَثَلاً وَنَسِىَ خَلْقَهُ قَالَ مَن يُحىِ الْعِظَـمَ وَهِىَ رَمِيمٌ - قُلْ يُحْيِيهَا الَّذِى أَنشَأَهَآ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ خَلْقٍ عَلِيمٌ

لَنَحْشُرَ‌نَّهُمْ وَالشَّيَاطِينَ ثُمَّ لَنُحْضِرَ‌نَّهُمْ

"We will definitely gather them together with the devils, then We will definitely make them present." - 19:68.

This verse may be interpreted in two ways. First, that on the Day of Judgment every infidel will be brought before God along with his own devil, and this suggests that this is a reference to the gathering of infidels and their devils. But if it is interpreted in a general sense to include all believers and infidels then the meaning of the devils being gathered with all of them would be that while the infidels will be gathered with their devils, the believers would also be gathered at the same time and place. Thus the devils will be gathered along with the infidels as well as with the believers.

حَوْلَ جَهَنَّمَ جِثِيًّا

"Around the Jahannam fallen on their knees." - 19:68.

On the Day of Resurrection every one - believers, infidels, the blessed and the wretched - will be assembled around Hell. Everyone will be seized with awe and terror, and they will all be on their knees, then the believers and the blessed will be taken across Hell and admitted into Paradise, so that having viewed the extreme suffering of Hell they may all the better enjoy their own state of felicity, and at the same time rejoice at the punishment which has been inflicted upon the infidels.

The Arabs, who were the primary addressees of the Quran, accepted the theory of life after death. All the words in the Quran relating to the life hereafter were already present in their vocabulary. But their acceptance was purely formal, as such it had no impact on their lives. In practice, they led their lives in a way that implied, ‘The life of this world is the only life. Who is going to resurrect us after our death and who is going to call us to account?’ This indifference or denial, persists because man does not give serious consideration to this matter. If he did so, he would find that his initial, first birth is in itself an argument in support of his re-birth. Here, the word ‘Satan’ stands for leaders who, with the help of deceitful words, mislead the common man. In this sense, they do the same work as Satan does. In the present world, these leaders are highly visible in their positions of greatness, and the people are therefore unable to ignore them. But, in the life hereafter, they will lose this ‘greatness’ and will be pushed into the pit of ignominy along with their followers.