Tafsir of Fatir 35:9

Because the "stirring up" is a characteristic of the winds and an effect that, in most cases, does not detach from them, it does not exist except after its [the wind's] creation. Thus, it is future relative to the "sending." On this basis, the use of the imperfect is according to its outward appearance and reality without need for interpretation, as the consideration is for the time of the judgment, not the time of speech. The fa [so] indicates the lack of delay in that, which is yet another matter.

It is also possible that bringing what indicates the past, followed by what indicates the future, is an indication of the continuity of the affair and that it is not restricted to one time over another, since past and future cannot be combined in one thing if that is what is intended. The Imam said: The variation in the verbs exists because when the act of "sending" was attributed to Allah the Exalted—and what He, the Glorified, does is by His saying, "Be"—it does not remain in non-existence for any time or part of a time. Thus, the past tense was used rather than the future, due to the necessity of its occurrence and the speed of its being, as if it already were. Furthermore, because He, the Exalted, has completed everything, He decreed the sending at known times and to specific places, and the decree is like the sending. When the act of "stirring up" was attributed to the winds—and they indeed perform this over a period of time—He, the Exalted, said: "It stirs up" (tuthiru), using the future/imperfect tense.

Objections were raised against this by citing His saying in Surah ar-Rum: "Allah is the One who sends the winds, so it stirs up a cloud," and in Surah al-A'raf: "And He is the One who sends the winds as glad tidings before His mercy," where the imperfect tense was used for "sending." So reflect upon this.

(Then We drove it to a dead land) meaning a portion of the earth in which there is no vegetation. It is also read as mayt [with the light 'ya'], and they are both the same in meaning according to the well-known view.

In the Kulliyyat of Abu al-Baqa al-Kafawi, mayt [light] is one who has already died, while mayyit [heavy] and ma’it refer to one who has not yet died. He cited: "Whoever has a soul, that one is mayt (will die), and none is mayyit (dead) except him who is carried to the grave." However, the relied-upon view is the well-known one.

(Then We revived with it the earth) meaning, with the rain descending from it [the cloud], which is indicated by the cloud, for there is an association between them in the mind just as there is in the external world. Or, [it means revived] by the cloud, for it is the cause of the cause. The revival of the earth is the bringing forth of trees and pasture within it (after its death)—its barrenness and emptiness of that. The use of both verbs in the past tense is to denote certainty. Attributing them to the "Nun of Grandeur" (We) signals the exclusive concern of the Exalted, due to the heightened craftsmanship therein, and to complete the resemblance between the revival of the earth and the Resurrection, which is likened to it by His saying: (Thus is the Resurrection) in the perfection of exclusive Divine power.

The Imam, may mercy be upon him, said: He attributed "sent" to the third person [He] and drove "revived" to the first person [We] because, in the first, He made Himself known by one of His actions, which is the sending. Then, when He had made Himself known, He said: "I am the One who made Myself known to you, drove the clouds, and revived the earth." In the first, it was a manifestation through a wondrous act; in the second, it was a reminder of a blessing, for the perfection of the blessing of the winds and clouds is in the driving and the reviving. It is as you see.

He, the Exalted, said: "We revived with it the earth" rather than "We revived it," meaning the dead land, to attach the revival to the genus known to everyone, which is "the earth," and because that is more consistent with the matter of the Resurrection. He said "after its death," even though the revival [already] indicates that, because it contains an indication that the death of the earth, to which the revival is attached, is known to them, and by this, the force of the simile is strengthened. So reflect.

Al-Nushur [the Resurrection], according to the Bahr, is the verbal noun of "he resurrected the dead" (nashara al-mayyit) if he returns to life. Al-A’sha said: "Until people say, from what they saw, 'O wonder at the resurrected dead!'" In the Nihayah of Ibn al-Athir, it is said: "He resurrected the dead" (nashara al-mayyit... nushuran) if he lives after death, and "Allah caused him to be resurrected" (ansharahu) means He revived him. Al-Raghib said: It is said "Allah resurrected the dead" and "caused him to be resurrected" meaning the same thing. The reality is that "Allah resurrected the dead" is a metaphor taken from spreading out a garment, as the poet said: "The fortunes of your time folded you after spreading you out; thus are its fortunes, folding and spreading." The intended meaning of al-nushur here is the revival of the dead on the Day of Reckoning. It is a subject, and the prepositional phrase before it is in the position of the predicate. It is also said that the kaf [in kadhalika] is in the nominative position as the predicate; i.e., "Like this revival which you witness is the revival of the dead on the Day of Resurrection, in the validity of being possible and the ease of occurrence, with no difference at all between them except the alif in the first [as a noun] and not in the second."

Abu Hayyan said: The analogy is made from several angles. Just as the dead earth accepts the life appropriate for it, so too do the members accept life. Or, just as the wind gathers the pieces of the clouds, so too does Allah, the Exalted, gather the parts of the members and the portions of the dead. Or, just as He, the Exalted, drives the clouds to the dead land, He, the Exalted, drives the soul and life to the body. Some said: The analogy is regarding the modality.

Ibn Jarir and others recorded from Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: "An angel stands with the Trumpet between the heaven and the earth and blows into it; then no creature remains in the heavens—except whom Allah wills—and on the earth except that they die. Then Allah sends from beneath the Throne water like men's semen, and their bodies grow from that water." Then he recited the verse. "Then an angel stands and blows into it, and every soul rushes to its body." In a marfu’ hadith in Muslim: "Allah sends down rain as if it were dew, and the bodies of people grow."

The growth of bodies is from the ‘ajb al-dhanab [the coccyx/tailbone], according to what has been reported in the traditions. It has come down that it does not decay, and it is the bone at the base of the spine at the rump. Abu Zayd al-Waqwaqi said: It is an indivisible particle (jawhar fard) that remains from this initial creation and does not change. There is no need to insist that it is an indivisible particle, and behind this are wondrous sayings regarding this ‘ajb. It is said it is the ‘aql al-hayulani [material intellect]; it is said it is the hayula [prime matter]; from al-Ghazali, it is the soul upon which the afterlife is built; from the Greatest Sheikh [Ibn Arabi], it is the ‘ayn al-thabitah [the fixed archetype] of the human being; from some theologians, it is the original particles (al-ajza’ al-asliyyah). Mulla Sadra al-Shirazi said in his Asfar: "It is, in our view, the imaginative faculty, because it is the last of the beings attained in man from the natural, animal, and vegetative powers that succeed one another in occurrence for the human matter in this world, and it is the first of the beings attained in the afterlife." He then explained this in the way he explained it, that it is weaker and more fragile than a spider's web. The relied-upon view is that which conforms to the understanding of the people of the language, and what need is there for interpretation after believing in the power of the Sovereign, the Judge—glorified be His majesty and magnificent be His authority!