Translation:
Seest they not that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, has power to create the like of them 2305 (anew)? Only He has decreed a term appointed, of which there is no doubt. But the unjust refuse (to receive it) except with ingratitude. 2306
Seest they not that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, has power to create the like of them 2305 (anew)? Only He has decreed a term appointed, of which there is no doubt. But the unjust refuse (to receive it) except with ingratitude. 2306
Translation:
Are they, then, not aware that God, who has created the heavens and the earth, has the power to create them anew in their own likeness, 114 having, beyond any doubt, set a term for their resurrection? 115 However, all [such] evildoers are unwilling to accept anything but blasphemy! 116
Are they, then, not aware that God, who has created the heavens and the earth, has the power to create them anew in their own likeness, 114 having, beyond any doubt, set a term for their resurrection? 115 However, all [such] evildoers are unwilling to accept anything but blasphemy! 116
Commentary:
114 Lit., "to create the like of them" -i.e., to resurrect them individually, each of them having the same identity (or "likeness") which he or she had before death.
115 Lit., "a term (ajal) for them". Since ajal denotes, primarily, "a specified term [at which something falls due]", it obviously relates here to the inescapable fact of resurrection.
116 See notes 98 and 105 above.
114 Lit., "to create the like of them" -i.e., to resurrect them individually, each of them having the same identity (or "likeness") which he or she had before death.
115 Lit., "a term (ajal) for them". Since ajal denotes, primarily, "a specified term [at which something falls due]", it obviously relates here to the inescapable fact of resurrection.
116 See notes 98 and 105 above.
2305 Allah, Who created all that is in the heavens and on earth, has surely the power to receive the life of individual souls after their bodies have perished-and revive them with memories of their past life and for a continuation of their spiritual history. Only He has fixed a term for each stage of our existence, which we can neither prolong nor shorten.
2306 This phrase carries us back to 17:89. after we began the argument about the real motives for the rejection of the Qur'an by sceptics. That argument is now closed in a sort of minor circle within the major circle sketched in n. 2304 above.