Qaf: (4) We have already known what...

"We have already known what the earth diminishes of them" (i.e., what it consumes of their flesh, bones, and hair). This is a refutation of their dismissal [of the resurrection] by removing the premise upon which it is based—namely, their false claim that because their parts scatter, they cannot be known and thus cannot be restored. It has been said: "what the earth diminishes of them" refers to those of them who die and are buried in the earth. The expression is interpreted according to its apparent meaning, but the first is more manifest, and it is what has been transmitted from Ibn Abbas and Qatada.

As for His saying, "And with Us is a preserved book": This is a generalization of His—the Almighty’s—knowledge; meaning, with Us is a book that preserves the details of all things, and within this is included their deeds, or [the book itself] is protected from change. The intent is either an allegory for His—the Almighty’s—knowledge of the generalities and particulars of things through the metaphor of a book that is "preserved," from which everything is received; or it is an affirmation of His knowledge through the fact that these things are fixed in the Preserved Tablet, which is with Him, Glorified be He.

Furthermore, the verse contains an indication that refutes the doubt held by those who believe in the impossibility of restoring that which has ceased to exist—a belief in the resurrection based on the idea that the parts of the deceased vanish and do not merely scatter. The essence of this doubt is that if a thing ceases to exist and its existence does not continue into a second timeframe, then it is restored in a third, it necessitates an arbitrary judgment (tahakkum) that this later existing being is the very same as the previous one, and not another, similar, newly originated being. This is because, once the identity of the first existing being is lost, no part of the subject or personal characteristics remains for the second existing being to possess, which would serve as a justification for the aforementioned judgment.

The rebuttal is that Allah—the Almighty—knows the details of all things; He knows their generalities and particulars in the most perfect and complete manner. Thus, the non-existent thing has a particular form in the presence of the Almighty, and it is preserved with its personal characteristics in His profound knowledge in a way that distinguishes it from a newly originated being. Therefore, no arbitrary judgment is necessitated. This is analogous to the preservation of the unity of an imaginative form within us after the sensible object has been absent from our senses. For example, when we see a person, and then he disappears from our sight, and we see him a second time, we judge that this person is the one we saw previously. This is a judgment that conforms to reality, based definitively on the preservation of the unity of the imaginative form; none but the obstinate would deny this.

Some Ash'aris have said: The non-existent has a particular form, which is realized through the connection of the attribute of "Sight" (Basar) of the Originator—Allah, the Almighty. This form does not belong to the newly originated being; for although its form is also a true particular, it is not predicated upon the connection of the attribute of Sight. There is no doubt that that which is predicated upon the connection of the attribute of Sight is more perfect than that which is not. Thus, there is a clear distinction between the two forms. If the unity of an externally existing thing is preserved for us through imaginative particular forms, then its preservation through the particular form realized for the Almighty, by way of the connection of the attribute of Sight, is even more deserving of validation. This is a sound argument, though the verse does not point to it. Furthermore, it does not hold for those who deny that Allah—the Almighty—sees non-existent things altogether, unless they hold that the identities of non-existent things are established and distinct in their very essence, in which case the previous doubt does not apply to them.

It may also be said: The attribute of Sight returns to the attribute of Knowledge, and its connections are varied. Thus, it is permissible that His—the Almighty’s—knowledge has a specific connection to the existing being that has ceased to exist, different from its connection to the newly originated being while it is in a state of non-existence. Through this, distinction is achieved, and arbitrary judgment is avoided.

According to the doctrine of the philosophers: The form of the previously non-existent thing is imprinted in the receptive faculties of the spheres, based on their view that the forms of all physical occurrences are imprinted within them. Thus, it has an imaginative, particular form whose personal unity is preserved after its extinction, unlike the newly originated being, for which that form did not exist prior to its being; it only possesses general forms in the exalted minds and the preceding ones. When this particular form is brought into existence, it is a restoration; when that general form is brought into existence, it is a new origination.

Perhaps the philosophically-inclined Muslim scholar claims that in His—the Almighty’s—saying, "And with Us is a preserved book," there is a symbol for this. Jalal al-Dawani has discourse on this station that is not devoid of scrutiny in the eyes of those with understanding.

Finally, the majority do not agree on the necessity of "restoring the non-existent" because they do not believe that the parts of the deceased vanish completely, but rather that they scatter. Perhaps His—the Almighty’s—saying, recounting the words of the deniers ("When we have died and become dust"), contains an indication of this.

Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Al-Nasa’i narrated from Abu Huraira, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "There is nothing of the human being that does not decay, except for one bone, which is the coccyx ('ajb al-dhanab). From it, the creation is assembled on the Day of Resurrection." This is not a textual proof that everything other than the coccyx vanishes entirely; it is possible that the "decay" of other parts means their dissolution into the elements from which they were composed, while it [the coccyx] remains in its greatness. It is a small part of the bone at the base of the spine. From the words of Al-Zamakhshari: The 'ajb (coccyx) is a wonder; its affair is wondrous. It is the first thing created and the last thing created.