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Verses
of the Quran such
as It is but a
single cry,
(36:29,49,53) which
is often repeated,
and The command
of the Hour is but a
twinkling of the
eye, or nearer,
(16:77) show that
the Supreme
Resurrection will
happen in a single
instant, without the
passage of any
extent of time. Our
constrained
understanding needs
some tangible
analogy to enable us
to concur with and
accept that unique,
miraculous event.
There
are three elements [or
stages, if time were not
excluded] of the
Resurrection:
-
Spirits
will return to their
bodies.
-
Bodies
will be re-animated.
-
Bodies
will be re-built and
resurrected.
An
analogy for the return
of spirits to their
bodies is as follows:
The
soldiers of a highly
disciplined army, having
dispersed in all
directions to their
separate rest, can be
summoned together with a
loud resounding blast on
the bugle. Now the Sur,
the trumpet of Israfil
(the archangel who will
blow the Sur just
before the destruction
of the universe and the
Resurrection) is
certainly no less
powerful than an army
bugle, and the spirits
of men while still in
the world of past
eternity and the realm
of the particle, which
heard the address of ‘Am
I not your Lord?’
coming from
pre-eternity, and
affirmed ‘Indeed, You
are,’ are more
obedient, disciplined
and submissive than any
soldiers in any army.
Not only the spirits but
all particles, too, are
obedient troops of a
Divine Army.
An
analogy for the
reanimation of bodies:
Just
as, on an occasion of
celebration in a great
city, a hundred thousand
lamps may be illuminated
in a single instant by a
switch in the city’s
power station, without
the passage of any
extent of time, so too
it would be possible to
switch on a hundred
million electric lamps
all over the earth from
a single power station
[if one such existed].
If a creation of the
All-Mighty such as
electricity, a servant
and a candle-holder in
His hostelry can
manifest this property
through the training and
discipline it has been
given by its Creator,
then the Resurrection
may also take place in a
twinkling of the eye,
within the framework of
the orderly laws of
Divine Wisdom, of which
thousands of illustrious
servants, like
electricity, are
instances.
An
analogy for the instant
rebuilding and
resurrection of bodies:
In
reality, there is not
one analogy for the
re-building and
resurrection of human
bodies on the Day of the
Resurrection-there are
thousands. Some are the
following: the way in
which the leaves of
trees are perfectly
restored, almost
identically to those of
the preceding year,
within a few days after
the beginning of each
spring, even though
trees are a thousand
times more numerous than
all the members of the
human race; the way in
which all the flowers
and fruits of all trees
are re-created just like
those of the preceding
spring;1
the sudden awakening,
unfolding and coming to
life of all those
countless seeds, kernels
and roots that are the
origin of spring growth;
the way in which trees,
resembling upright
skeletons, abruptly
begin to show signs of
‘resurrection after
death’; the
re-animation in the most
wonderful way of the
countless members of all
the classes of small
creatures, especially
the ‘resurrection’
of the flies in their
different species-their
reanimation and ‘resurrection’
in the course of a few
days every spring,
together with other
species of insect life
more numerous than all
the children of the
human race from the time
of Adam to the present.
This
world is the realm of
Wisdom, while the
Hereafter is the abode
of Power.2 In this
world, in accordance
with the requirements of
the Divine Names, such
as the All-Wise,
Arranger, Disposer, and
Nurturer and Trainer,
creation is extensive,
that is, it is to some
degree graduated over
time: that is required
by His Wisdom as the
Lord and Sustainer. But
given that in the
Hereafter, Power and
Mercy are more evident
than Wisdom, creation is
instantaneous, without
allowance for substance
or matter or space of
time. The Quran of
Miraculous Expression
decrees, in reference to
the fact that affairs
that, in this world,
take a whole day or year
to accomplish will be
accomplished in an
instant in the
Hereafter: The command
of the Hour is but a
twinkling of the eye, or
nearer.
If
you wish to understand
with clear certainty
that the Resurrection
will come, just as the
next spring, read
attentively the Tenth
and the Twenty-ninth
Words, both of which
deal with this subject.
If
there is another element
of the Resurrection, it
is the destruction of
the world. If a planet
or asteroid collides
with this planet, in
which we live as in a
hostelry, by the command
of God, our dwelling
place will be at once
destroyed-in the same
way that a palace that
took ten years to build
can be destroyed in a
minute.
1.
Although the leaves,
flowers and fruits of
trees are not
completely identical
to those of the
preceding spring, they
are not different from
them in nature. If
they were living, and
had spirit like human
beings, they would be
resurrected in the
same identity.
2.
This world is the
realm of Wisdom where
things happen
according to certain
purposes and
deliberation and in
conformity with
certain laws, where
God acts from behind
the veil of cause and
effect, while the
Hereafter is the abode
of Power where God
will act without any
veils.
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