Surah 6. Al-An'am, Ayah 95
| ۞ إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَىٰ ۖ يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَمُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتِ مِنَ الْحَيِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُؤْفَكُونَ |
| Transliteration | : | 'inna 'allaah faaliq al- h.abb wa- an- nawaa yukhrij al- h.ayy min al- mayyit wa- mukhrij al- mayyit min al- h.ayy dhaalikum 'allaah fa- 'annaa tu'fakon |
| Pickthall | : | Lo! Allah (it is) who splitteth the grain of corn and the datestone (for sprouting) . He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and is the bringer forth of the dead from the living. Such is Allah. How then are ye perverted? |
| Asad | : | VERILY, God is the One who cleaves the grain and the fruit-kernel asunder, bringing forth the living out of that which is dead, and He is the One who brings forth the dead out of that which is alive. This, then, is God: and yet, how perverted are your minds!80 |
| Malik | : | Surely it is Allah Who causes the seed and the fruit-stone to split and sprout. He brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living. It is Allah, Who does all this; then why are you being misled? |
| Yusuf Ali | : | It is Allah Who causeth the seed-grain and the date-stone to split and sprout. He causeth the living to issue from the dead and He is the one to cause the dead to issue from the living. That is Allah; then how are ye deluded away from the truth? 918 919 920 |
Note - 80See surah {5}, note [90].
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Note - 918Another beautiful nature passage, referring to God's
wonderful artistry in His Creation. In how few and how
simple words, the whole pageant of Creation is placed
before us. Beginning from our humble animal needs and
dependence on the vegetable world, we are asked to
contemplate the interaction of the living and the dead.
Here is mystic teaching, referring not only to physical
life but to the higher life above the physical plane,
-not only to individual life but to the collective life
of nations. Then we take a peep into the daily miracle of
morning, noon, and night, and pass on to the stars that
guide the distant mariner. We rise still higher to the
mystery of the countless individuals from the one human
soul, -their sojourn and their destiny. So we get back to
the heavens: the description of th luscious fruits which
the "gentle rain from heaven" produces, leaves us to
contemplate the spiritual fruits which faith will provide
for us,with the aid of the showers of God's mercy.
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Note - 919The seed-grain and the date-stone are selected as types
in the vegetable kingdom, showing how our physical life
depends on it. The fruits mentioned later (in vi 99)
start another allegory which we shall notice later.
Botanists will notice that the seed-grain includes the
cereals (such as wheat, barley, rice, millet, etc.) which
are monocotyledons, as well as the pulses (such as beans,
peas, gram, etc.) and other seeds which are dicotyledons.
These two represent the most important classes of
food-grains, while the date-palm, a monocotyledon,
represents for Arabia both food, fruit, confectionery ,
thatch and pillars for houses, shady groves in oases, and
a standard measure of wealth and well being. "Split and
sprout": both ideas are included in the root falaqa, and
a third is expressed by the word "cleave" in the next
verse, for the action of evolving day-break from the
dark. I might almost have used the word "churn," familiar
to students of Hindu lore in the Hindu allegory of the
"churning of the ocean." For vegetables, "split and
sprout" represents a double process: (1) the seed
divides, and (2) one part shoots up, seeking the light,
and forming leaves and the visible parts of the future
tree, and the other part digs down into the dark, forming
the roots and seeking just that sustenance from the soil,
which is adapted for the particular plant. This is just
one small instance of the "judgement and ordering" of
God, referred to in the next verse.
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Note - 920This does not mean that in physical nature there are no
limits between life and non-life, between the organic and
the non-organic. In fact physicists are baffled at the
barrier between them and frankly confess that they cannot
solve the mystery of Life. If there is such a barrier in
physical nature, is it not all the more wonderful that
God can create Life out of nothing? He has but to say,
"Be," and it is. He can bring Life from non-Life and
annihilate Life. But there are two other senses in which
we can contemplate the contrast between the living and
the dead. (1) We have just been speaking of the botanical
world. Take it as a whole, and see the contrast between
the winter of death, the spring of revivification, the
summer of growth, and the autumn of decay, leading back
to the death of winter. Here is a cycle of living from
dead, and dead from living. (2) Take our spiritual life,
individual or collective. We rise from the darkness of
spiritual nothingness to the light of spiritual life. And
if we do not follow the spiritual laws, God will take
away that life and we shall be again as dead. We may die
many deaths. The keys of life and death are in God's
hands. Neither Life nor Death are fortuitous things.
Behind them both is the Cause of Causes, -and only He.
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Another beautiful nature passage, referring to God's wonderful artistry in His Creation. In how few and how simple words, the whole pageant of Creation is placed before us. Beginning from our humble animal needs and dependence on the vegetable world, we are asked to contemplate the interaction of the living and the dead. Here is mystic teaching, referring not only to physical life but to the higher life above the physical plane, -not only to individual life but to the collective life of nations. Then we take a peep into the daily miracle of morning, noon, and night, and pass on to the stars that guide the distant mariner. We rise still higher to the mystery of the countless individuals from the one human soul, -their sojourn and their destiny. So we get back to the heavens: the description of th luscious fruits which the "gentle rain from heaven" produces, leaves us to contemplate the spiritual fruits which faith will provide for us,with the aid of the showers of God's mercy. |
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The seed-grain and the date-stone are selected as types in the vegetable kingdom, showing how our physical life depends on it. The fruits mentioned later (in vi 99) start another allegory which we shall notice later. Botanists will notice that the seed-grain includes the cereals (such as wheat, barley, rice, millet, etc.) which are monocotyledons, as well as the pulses (such as beans, peas, gram, etc.) and other seeds which are dicotyledons. These two represent the most important classes of food-grains, while the date-palm, a monocotyledon, represents for Arabia both food, fruit, confectionery , thatch and pillars for houses, shady groves in oases, and a standard measure of wealth and well being. "Split and sprout": both ideas are included in the root falaqa, and a third is expressed by the word "cleave" in the next verse, for the action of evolving day-break from the dark. I might almost have used the word "churn," familiar to students of Hindu lore in the Hindu allegory of the "churning of the ocean." For vegetables, "split and sprout" represents a double process: (1) the seed divides, and (2) one part shoots up, seeking the light, and forming leaves and the visible parts of the future tree, and the other part digs down into the dark, forming the roots and seeking just that sustenance from the soil, which is adapted for the particular plant. This is just one small instance of the "judgement and ordering" of God, referred to in the next verse. |
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This does not mean that in physical nature there are no limits between life and non-life, between the organic and the non-organic. In fact physicists are baffled at the barrier between them and frankly confess that they cannot solve the mystery of Life. If there is such a barrier in physical nature, is it not all the more wonderful that God can create Life out of nothing? He has but to say, "Be," and it is. He can bring Life from non-Life and annihilate Life. But there are two other senses in which we can contemplate the contrast between the living and the dead. (1) We have just been speaking of the botanical world. Take it as a whole, and see the contrast between the winter of death, the spring of revivification, the summer of growth, and the autumn of decay, leading back to the death of winter. Here is a cycle of living from dead, and dead from living. (2) Take our spiritual life, individual or collective. We rise from the darkness of spiritual nothingness to the light of spiritual life. And if we do not follow the spiritual laws, God will take away that life and we shall be again as dead. We may die many deaths. The keys of life and death are in God's hands. Neither Life nor Death are fortuitous things. Behind them both is the Cause of Causes, -and only He. |
