Surah al-`Ankabut (The Spider ) 29 : 19

Overview (Verses 19 - 23)

Reflection on God’s Creation
 
Thereafter, the sūrah takes a brief pause to address all who deny faith, the inevitable return of all mankind to God, and the resurrection and reckoning:
 
Are they not aware how God creates [life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew? This is indeed easy for God. Say: ‘Go all over the earth and see how God has originated His creation in the first instance; and then He will certainly bring about the second life. Most certainly, God has the power over all things. He punishes whom He will, and bestows His mercy on whom He will. To Him you shall be made to return. And never can you elude Him, neither on earth nor in the skies. You have none to protect you from God and none to give you support.’ Those who deny God’s signs and the meeting with Him are indeed the ones who abandon all hope of My mercy. It is for these that grievous suffering awaits. (Verses 19-23)
 
This is addressed to everyone who denies God and their meeting with Him. It uses the universe as evidence confirming its truth. The Qur’ān frequently presents the universe as an open book for hearts and minds to ponder on, searching for God’s signs, and finding indications of His oneness and the truth of His promises and warnings. Universal phenomena are always present for people to see and contemplate, but they lose their inspiration as a result of long familiarity. Therefore, the Qur’ān directs people’s attention to these magnificent scenes, bringing them alive before their eyes and renewing their effects. It does not resort to argument and cold, lifeless logic. Such logic, is, in any case, alien to Islamic thought. Instead, the Qur’ān gives examples, sets the method and outlines the way.
 
“Are they not aware how God creates [life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew? This is indeed easy for God.” (Verse 19) They see with their own eyes how God originates creation: they see it in the shooting plant, the egg and the foetus, and in everything that comes into being, having had no prior existence. They see it in everything that humans, individually and collectively, cannot bring about themselves. Indeed the secret of life is unfathomable: it was so in the past and it remains so today. We do not know how life originated and where from, let alone that anyone should claim to have brought it about. Life, thus, cannot have any explanation other than that it is of God’s own making. It is He who originates creation at every moment before our very eyes. We all see it and cannot deny it.
 
Moreover, the One who originates life is certainly able to bring people back after death: “This is indeed easy for God.” Nothing is difficult for God, but He gives the argument by human standards. For us, doing something for the second time is easier than the first; but to God both are equally easy. It needs nothing more than for God to will something and say, ‘Be’, and it happens.
 
The sūrah then calls on people to travel in all directions and contemplate God’s work and signs that appear in all creation, animate and inanimate alike. When they do, they will realize that the One who originates life can bring it back without difficulty: “Say: Go all over the earth and see how God has originated His creation in the first instance; and then He will certainly bring about the second life. Most certainly, God has the power over all things.” (Verse 20)
 
Travelling opens people’s hearts to new and unfamiliar vistas. It awakens their senses and minds. By contrast, the place where one lives very often holds no attraction or excitement because of over-familiarity. Yet to return home after a period away often rekindles passion and enthusiasm for what once seemed dull and unremarkable. This, thus, leads to new interaction and appreciation of one’s immediate environs. All glory is to God, who has bestowed the Qur’ān from on high and who has full knowledge of how people’s hearts and minds function and interact with their surroundings.
 
“Say: Go all over the earth and see how God has originated His creation in the first instance.” (Verse 20) In the Arabic text the order to travel is followed with a sentence that uses the simple past tense referring to the start of creation. This is significant, for we see today certain things that are indicative of the beginning of life and how the earth came to be populated with different species. Scientific excavations have formed some idea about how life started, spread and progressed, but they have not arrived at anything definite about the secret of life. They do not know how it came to be on earth, nor when the first living creature was placed on it. The order given by God, then, is to search for the beginning of life and to use acquired knowledge to learn about resurrection and the life to come.
 
We should also note here that the people first addressed by the Qur’ān were not qualified to undertake such scientific research; it is a much more recent development in the search for knowledge. Hence, they could not arrive at the relevant facts, if this was really intended. Nor could they use such facts to draw a mental picture of how a second life would begin. Therefore, the verse required them to look at the way life starts in plants, animals and man everywhere on earth. With this in mind, travelling served to alert their minds and feelings as they pondered that which was unfamiliar. They could then reflect on the manifestations of God’s power, on how easy it is for Him to initiate life at every moment of the night and day.
 
More importantly, the Qur’ān gives its directives to suit all generations of human life, with their different levels of progress, circumstances and the means available to them. Every generation will take up this order and benefit by it in accordance with what abilities it commands. The order remains applicable to later generations as life develops and progresses, giving fresh incentive and impetus.
 
“Most certainly, God has the power over all things.” (Verse 20) He initiates life and brings it back. He is not restricted by what people imagine to be feasible or unfeasible, possible or impossible.
 
Part of God’s power over all things is that He punishes whomever He wills and bestows His grace upon whomever He wills. To Him all mankind return; none escapes Him and none can evade His will: “He punishes whom He will, and bestows His mercy on whom He will. To Him you shall be made to return. And never can you elude him, neither on earth nor in the skies. You have none to protect you from God and none to give you support.” (Verses 21-22)
 
Punishment and mercy are subject to God’s will in the sense that He has given clear guidance and made the way of error clear for all. He has given man the propensity to follow either. The choice belongs entirely to man. However, when man chooses to believe in God and shows a willingness to follow His guidance, God will help him as He has committed Himself to do so. On the other hand, when he turns away from divine guidance he becomes isolated and lives in error. The two ways then lead to either God’s mercy in the first case or to His punishment in the latter.
 
“To Him you shall be made to return.” (Verse 21) In this instance, the sūrah uses the word tuqlabūn, which carries connotations of violent return, to suit what follows: “And never can you elude Him, neither on earth nor in the skies.” (Verse 22) You have no power to save yourselves from a return to God. Neither your own power that you have on earth nor that of those whom you sometimes worship, such as the angels or jinn, thinking that they have power in the skies, have any effect: “You have none to protect you from God and none to give you support.” (Verse 22) How can there be any protection or support against God? Who could give it: man, angel, or jinn? They are all God’s creatures and servants. They cannot cause benefit or harm even to themselves, let alone anyone else.
 
“Those who deny God’s signs and the meeting with Him are indeed the ones who abandon all hope of My mercy. It is for these that grievous suffering awaits.” (Verse 23) Man does not despair of God’s mercy except when he totally disbelieves, severing all relations with his Lord. Again man does not disbelieve except when he despairs of establishing a relation between himself and God, abandoning all hope of God’s grace. The end then is well known: “It is for these that grievous suffering awaits.” (Verse 23)