REASONS for pondering about the Creator’s Omnipotence
There are numerous Noble Verses which indicate that it is Allah – Exalted Be He above all – Who gives life and causes death, that people were dead and He gave them existence and breathed life into them, and that, after they die, He will raise them all from their death on the Day of Resurrection – these facts being among the evidence for his omnipotence. The Verses mention that Allah created life and death that He may test people which of them is best in deed. We find these meanings in more than ten places in the Ever – Glorious Qur’an, among which we quote the following:
2:28, How can you disbelieve in Allah? Seeing that you were dead and He gave you life. Then He will give you death, then again will bring you to life (on the Day of Resurrection) and then unto Him you will retum.
3:156. It is Allah that gives life and causes death. And Allah is All-seer of what you do.
9:116. Verily, Allah! Unto Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, He gives life and He causes death.
57:2. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. It is He Who gives life and causes death, and He is Able to do all things.
67:2. Who has created death and life that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving.
It is Allah Who sends the angel of death to people when their lives come to their ends, without anyone being able to flee from death, which must meet them There are references to the two Fair Names of Allah Al-Muhyi and Al-Mumit, i.e. ”The Giver of Life” and “The One Who Causes Death” in about thirty places, including the previously cited Verse 2:28, in addition to the following:
6:61. Until when death approaches one of you, Our Messengers (angel of death and his assistants) take his soul.
62:8. Say (to them): “Verily, the death from which you flee will surely meet you…”
Allah created all people from a single person (Adam), and from him He created his wife in order than he might enjoy the pleasure of living with her, and from them both He created many men and women. The Verses point out that Allah created the pairs, male and female, of semen, then a mixed male and female sexual discharge, then a clot. There is also a reference to Allah’s Command to our liege lord Nuh (Noah) to carry of each kind of Allah’s creatures two, a male and a female. We find these meanings in fewer than twenty places, of which we cite the following:
4:1. O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (A dam) He created his wife ]Hawwa’ (Eve)[, and from them both He created many men and women…
7:189. It is He Who has created you from a single person (‘Adam), and (Then) He has created from him his wife ]Hawwa’ (Eve)[, in order that he might enjoy the pleasure of living with her.
11:40. (So it was) till when Our Command came and the oven gushed forth (water like fountains from the earth). We said, “Embark therein, of each kind two (male and female), and your family – except him against whom the Word has already gone forth…”
53:45. And that He (Allah) creates the pairs, male and female,
75:37. Was he not a Nutfah (mixed male and female sexual discharge) of semen emitted (poured forth)?
There is reference in the following Honorable, rigorously authenticated Hadith to the stages which the embryo goes through in its mother’s womb – the same as the ones mentioned in the last two groups of Verses.
(75:38) Narrated ‘Abdullah Ibn Masud (mAbpwh):
Allah’s Messenger (bpbuh), the true and truly inspired said, ‘(As regards your creation), every one of you is collected in the womb of his mother for the first forty days, and then He becomes a clot for another forty days, and then a piece of flesh for another forty days, then Allah sends an angel to write four words: He writes his deeds, thim of his death, means of his livelihood, and whether he will be wretched or blessed (in the Hereafter). Then the soul is breathed into his body. So a man may do deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and so he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of paradise and enters paradise. Similarly, a person may do deeds characteristic of the people of paradise, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (be the angel) surpasses, and he starts doing deeds of the people of the (Hell) Fire and enters the (ahell) Fire.”
(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Number 549, alternatively 7454).
Allah made the earth paved for human beings, raised the seven heavens without any pillars, subjected the sun and the moon in a magnificent system without the least fault, created the stars, thus making the near heaven beautiful for those who behold it, and guarded it from outcast devils. Man does not find any deficiency or discord in all these creatures. This meaning occurs in less than twenty Verses, including:
2:22. Who has made the earth a resting place for you the sky as a canopy…
12:2. Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you can see. Then, He rose above (Istawa) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty). He has subjected the sun and the moon (to continue going round), each running (is course) for a term appointed.
15:16. And indeed, We have put big stars in the heaven and We beautified it for the beholders.
51:47. With power did We construct the heaven. Verily, We are Able to extend the vastness of space thereof.
67:3. Who has created the seven heavens one above another; you can see no fault in the creation of the Most Gracious. Then look again: “Can you see any rifts?”
Related to what occurs about the sun in the Ever Glorious Qur’an is what we find in the following Honorable, rigorously authenticated Hadith, which states:
Narrated Abu Dharr:
The Prophet asked me at sunset, “Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know better.” He said, “It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but is prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: ‘And the sun runs its fixed course for a term (decreed). That is the Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing.” (36.38)
(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Number 421, alternatively 3199).
.