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If men are so foolish as to reject Allah, let not the men of Allah grieve over it. They should do their duty, and leave the rest to Allah. Allah knows all the open and secret motives that sway the wicked, and His Plan must ultimately prevail, however much appearances may be against it at any given time.
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See similar passage in 16:4 , as well as the corresponding note [5]. Completing the interpretation advanced in his (and Zamakhshari's) commentary on the above-mentioned verse, Razi equates here the term khasim (lit., "contender in argument") with the highest manifestation of what is described as natiq ("articulate [or "rational"] being").
Man's disobedience and folly are all the more surprising, seeing that-apart from Allah's greatness and mercy-man is himself such a puny creature, created out of something that is less than a drop in the vast ocean of Existence. Yet man has the hardihood to stand out and dispute with his Maker, and institute idle comparisons as in the next verse!
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Lit., "he coins for Us a simile (mathal)" - an elliptic allusion to the unwillingness of "those who deny the truth" to conceive of a transcendental Being, fundamentally different from all that is graspable by man's senses or imagination, and having powers beyond all comparison with those which are available to any of the created beings. (Cf. 42:11 , "there is nothing like unto Him", and 112:4 , "there is nothing that could be compared with Him".) Since they are enmeshed in a materialistic outlook on life, such people deny - as the sequence shows - all possibility of resurrection, which amounts to a denial of God's creative powers and, in the final analysis, of His existence.
That is, man thinks that Allah is like His creatures, who at best have very limited powers, or man draws idle parallels like that mentioned at the end of this verse. 'Who can give life to dry bones, and decomposed ones at that?' Man certainly cannot, and no power in nature can do that. But why compare the powers and capacities of Allah's creatures with the powers and capacities of the Creator? The first creation-out of nothing-is far more difficult for us to imagine than a second or subsequent process for which there is already a basis. And Allah has power over all things.
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Allah's creative artistry is evident in every phase of nature, and it works every minute or second. The more man understands himself and the things within his reach, the more he realises this. How foolish, then, for any one to set imaginary limits to Allah's powers? There are more ways of creation than are dreamt of in man's imagination!
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Cf. the ancient Arabian proverb, "In every tree there is a fire" (Zamakhshari): evidently an allusion to the metamorphosis of green - i e., water-containing - plants into fuel, be it through desiccation or man-made carbonization (charcoal), or by a millenial, subterranean process of decomposition into oil or coal. In a spiritual sense, this "fire" seems also to symbolize the God-given warmth and light of human reason spoken of in verse {77} above.
The verse refers to two types of Arabian trees, markh and ’afâr, which produce fire when their green branches are rubbed together.
Even older and more primitive than the method of striking fire against steel and flint is the method of using twigs of trees for the purpose. In the E.B., 14th edition. ix. 262, will be found a picture of British Guiana boys making a fire by rotating a stick in a round hole in a piece of wood lying on the ground. The Arab method was to use a wooden instrument called the Zinad. It consisted of two pieces to be rubbed together. The upper one was called the 'Afar or Zand, and the lower the Markh. The markh is a twig from a kind of spreading tree, the Cynanchuin viminale, of which the branches are bare, without leaves or thorns. When they are tangled together, and a wind blows, they get ignited and strike fire (Lane's Arabic Lexicon). In modern Arabic Zand is by analogy applied to the flint pierce used for striking fire with steel.
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Cf. lxxix. 27. Which is the more difficult to create,-man, or the heavens and the earth, with all creatures? Allah created the heavens and the earth, with all creatures, and He can create worlds and worlds like these in infinity. To Him it is small matter to raise you up for the Hereafter.
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This is the meaning of the phrase innama amruhu - the term amr being synonymous, in this instance, with sha'n ("state [or "manner"] of being"). The exclusiveness of God's creative Being is stressed by the restrictive particle innama.
And His creation is not dependent on time, or instruments or means, or any conditions whatsoever. Existence waits on His Will, or Plan, or Intention. The moment He wills a thing, it becomes His Word or Command, and the thing forthwith comes into existence. Cf. ii. 117; xvi. 40, n. 2066; etc.
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All things were created by Allah; are maintained by Him; and will go back to Him. But the point of special interest to man is that man will also be brought back to Allah and is answerable to Him, and to Him alone. This Message is the core of Revelation; it explains the meaning of the Hereafter; and it fitly closes a Sura specially connected with the name (Ya-Sin) of the Holy Prophet.
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