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Surah: Al-Baqarah (259)
Uzayr and the Dead Town — Certainty of Resurrection After a Hundred Years
أَوۡ كَٱلَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَىٰ قَرۡيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّىٰ يُحۡيِۦ هَٰذِهِ ٱللَّهُ بَعۡدَ مَوۡتِهَا
— البقرة الآية 259
Quranic context: Al-Baqarah 259
The scene: A man passes by a ruined town — collapsed upon its roofs — and asks in genuine wonder, not denial: "How will Allah revive this after its death?" He is not denying; he is asking the overwhelming question.
Allah's response:
Certainty does not forbid questioning — sincere questioning is answered with direct witnessing, not a theoretical answer. Allah answered without words: He showed him the bones of his donkey assembling to flesh and blood before his eyes. "I know" came after witnessing, not after being told.
The scene: A man passes by a ruined town — collapsed upon its roofs — and asks in genuine wonder, not denial: "How will Allah revive this after its death?" He is not denying; he is asking the overwhelming question.
Allah's response:
- Allah caused him to die one hundred years then revived him — "How long have you remained?" He said: "A day or part of a day" — when it had been a hundred years
- His food and drink (figs and juice): untouched by time — as fresh as the moment he left them
- His donkey: bones scattered — "Let Us show you how We assemble them, then clothe them with flesh" — a visible witness to reconstruction from nothing
- "When this became clear to him he said: I know that Allah is capable of everything"
Certainty does not forbid questioning — sincere questioning is answered with direct witnessing, not a theoretical answer. Allah answered without words: He showed him the bones of his donkey assembling to flesh and blood before his eyes. "I know" came after witnessing, not after being told.
Source: Ibn Kathir (1/690); Al-Tabari (3/58); Al-Qurtubi (3/292); Al-Sadi
Test Yourself
What visible evidence did Allah provide to answer the man's question about how He revives a dead town?
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