Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:51

Or a creation (meaning another created thing) of what is great in your chests (meaning what you deem impossible to accept life, as it is the furthest thing from it; its specification is left to you, for God the Exalted is not rendered incapable of reviving you, as bodies are equal in their capacity to accept accidents. How much more so when you are decayed bones, while they were previously described as having life? A thing is more receptive to that which has been known in it than that which has not). Mujahid said: "That which is greater is the heavens, the earth, and the mountains."

Ibn Jarir and a group narrate from Ibn Abbas, Ibn Umar, al-Hasan, and Ibn Jubayr that they said: "What is great in their chests is death, for there is nothing greater to the soul of the son of Adam than death." The meaning is: If you were fashioned from death itself, He would restore you, let alone from an origin that does not oppose life—if it does not necessitate it. In this is a refined hyperbole, even if the wording is not apparent in it.

They will say to you: "Who will restore us?" despite the distance and separation between us and the restoration. Say to them, to establish the truth, remove the improbability, and guide toward the method of reasoning: "He who originated you" (meaning the Almighty, the Capable who invented you) the first time (without a model to follow or a style to imitate, while you were dust that had not smelled the scent of life). Is He who is capable of that not capable of bestowing life upon decayed bones and returning them to their known state? Yes, He, glory be to Him, is capable of all things. The conjunctive [He who originated you] is a subject; its predicate is "He will restore you," which is omitted because the question indicates it, or [it acts as] a doer for it [the verb], or the predicate of an omitted subject, based on the differences concerning the first [position], as explained in its place.

The first time is an adverbial modifier for "originated you."

They will shake their heads at you (meaning they will move them toward you in mockery, as is narrated from Ibn Abbas). Cited as evidence for this is the poet's saying: "Will you shake [your head] at me on the day of boasting, when you see horses upon which are lions, fierce?" And similar to it is the saying of another: "He shook his head toward me and raised it, as if he were asking for something to be fed." In Al-Qamus: "nagada," like "nasara" and "daraba," [meaning] to move and shake. Al-Farra interpreted the shaking as moving the head up and down. Abu al-Haytham said: "Whoever is told something and shakes his head in denial has shaken his head." It is as if they will shake their heads in denial.

And they say in mockery: "When is it?" (meaning what you mentioned of the restoration). It is permitted that the pronoun refers to the return or the resurrection understood from the speech. Say to them: "Perhaps it is near." For that which is certain to come is near, and its time has not been specified because it is among the unseen matters that no one knows except Him, the Exalted, and He does not disclose it to anyone. It is also said: Its nearness is because what remains of the time of the world is less than what has passed of it.

The accusative case of "near" is because it is the predicate of the incomplete kana, and its subject is a pronoun referring to that which was pointed to. It is also permitted that it is accusative as an adverb of time; the origin is "a near time," then the described was omitted and its description was put in its place, so it became accusative just as it would have been. In this case, kana is complete, and its subject is that pronoun; [meaning] perhaps this will occur in a near time. [It is also permitted] that it be in the interpretation of a masdar (verbal noun) in the accusative case, serving as the predicate of asa, and its subject is a pronoun referring to what the subject of kana referred to. It is also permitted that it be in the nominative case by asa, and it is complete with no predicate, meaning: "Perhaps its being near [will happen], or in a near time."

This was objected to by saying that asa is for approximation, so it is as if it were said: "It is near that it should be near," and there is no benefit in this. It was answered that Najm al-A'immah did not establish the meaning of approximation in asa, neither by institution nor usage. The mention of "near" after it in the verse indicates this, so there is no need to say that it was stripped of it. Thus, the meaning is: Its being near is hoped for and expected.