Al-Bâ`ith: The Resurrector

"...raising up those in the grave..." (22:7)

The Resurrector is Allah's quality of "raising up those in the grave," (22:7) and "revealing what is in people's hearts" (100:10). The raising of the dead can be called the final 'creation'. It is a time when Allah will raise human beings from their graves and bring forward all the actions, thoughts, and feelings that they encountered in their lifetime. Human beings will die the way that they lived. They will be resurrected the way that they die. Whatever they plant here, they will reap in the hereafter. Knowledge of the Resurrector is difficult to attain. The majority of people know about it only in terms of general suppositions and obscure imaginings. The farthest their minds can go in this respect is their imagining that death is equivalent to nothingness. They consider the resurrection to be another 'bringing into existence' initiated after a period of nothingness, as was the case with the first creation. But they are mistaken in this view. They are also mistaken in thinking that the second act of bringing into existence will be like the first one.

As for their thinking that death is nothingness, this is groundless. The grave is either one of the pits of the fires of hell or a garden from one of the gardens of paradise. As for the dead, they are either happy and not dead because "think not of those who are slain in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are living. With their Lord they have provision. Jubilant (are they) because of that which Allah has bestowed upon them of His bounty," (3:169)--or they are alive and wretched. It was for this reason that the Messenger of Allah called out to the enemy who had died in the battle of Badr, saying, "Certainly I have found the victory which my Lord has promised me to be true. Have you also found the punishment which your Lord has promised you to be true?" And when someone asked him, "But how do you call people who have died?" he answered, "They hear me as clearly as you do. The difference is that they are unable to answer."

Inner vision has shown the masters of insight that human beings have been created for eternity and that there is no question of there not being an eternal afterlife. True, freedom of action may at one time be cut off from the body, and then one says, "He has died," at another time it may be returned to the body and then one says, "He lives and is resurrected," that is to say, his body has been brought back to life.

As for their thinking that the resurrection is a second creation which is just like the first creation, this is also not correct. Rather the resurrection is another creation not at all related to the first creation. For human beings there are numerous creations and not only two. Allah said, "We are able to substitute others like unto you in your stead and to produce you again in the condition or from which you knew not" (56:61). Allah also said, after the creation of the little lump of flesh and the clot of blood, "then We produced it as another creation so blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators" (23:14). Thus sperm is formed from earth. The lump of flesh is formed from the sperm. The clot of blood is formed from the lump of flesh. The spirit is formed from the clot of blood. Because of the greatness and majesty of the formation of the spirit and because it is something divine, Allah said, "Then We produced it as another creation so blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators'' (23:14). He also said, "They will ask thee concerning the Spirit, Say: 'The Spirit is by command of my Lord'" (17:85.). Then Allah created sensory perceptions after having created the source of the spirit--another creation. Next,Allah created discernment which becomes apparent after the age of seven--another creation. Then Allah created the ability to reason after the age of fifteen years or so--another creation. Every creation is a stage. "He created you by (diverse) stages)" (71:14). The appearance of the characteristics of saintliness in such as have this characteristic bestowed upon them--that is another creation. The appearance of the characteristics of prophethood after that--this is another creation and a type of resurrection. Allah is the One Who raises up the Messengers even as Allah is the One Who raises up on the Day of Resurrection.

Just as it is difficult for an infant to understand the real nature of discernment before attaining discernment, so also, it is difficult for one possessing discernment to understand the real nature of reason before attaining the stage of being able to reason. And, in the same way, understanding the level of sanctity and prophethood is difficult for those who have attained the stage of being able to reason. The 'new creations' or stages proceed one from the other. First comes the creation of the senses, then the creation of discernment followed by the creation of reason and culminating in the creation of sanctity and prophethood. It is common to human nature for people to deny what they have not yet attained rather than to believe that there is something that is hidden to them. With this in mind, it is natural for them to deny the creation of sanctity and prophethood. In the same way, it is natural for them to deny the second creation and the hereafter because they have not yet attained it.

Those who believe in any of the things that they themselves have not attained certainly believe in the unseen. That belief is the key to all happiness. Creation consists of stages of the One Essence. It is the ladder by which one climbs up the steps of the grades of perfection until one approaches the Presence which is the ultimate height of all perfection. One is then with Allah, suspended between rejection and acceptance, separation and admission. If one is accepted, one ascends to the highest of the high. If one is rejected, one falls to the lowest of the low. By this we mean that the only comparison that exists between the two--creation and resurrection--lies in the name creation itself. He who does not know what creation and resurrection are does not know the meaning of Allah the Resurrector.