Overview (Verses 23 - 25)

The sūrah then perfects the attribution of all matters to God alone, stating that life and death, the living and the dead, the resurrection and judgement belong to Him: “It is We who give life and cause death, and it is We who are the inheritors [of all things]. Well do We know those who lived before you and those who will come after you. Your Lord will gather them all together. He is indeed Wise, All-Knowing.” (Verses 23-25)

Thus the second passage complements the first. In the first passage we have the statement: “Never have We destroyed any community unless divine revelations have been made known to it. No community can ever forestall its term, nor can they delay it.” (Verses 4-5) Here, in this passage, it is emphasized that life and death are determined by God, the heir to all life, and He knows whom He has determined to die early and who will have their death delayed. It is He who gathers them all together at the end, for “He is indeed Wise, All Knowing.” (Verse 25) He determines the term of every community according to His wisdom. He knows when it dies, and when it is resurrected and all that happens in between.

We note the harmony of movement in this passage and the preceding one. This is seen in the sending down of revelation, angels, the flames hitting eavesdropping devils, and water from the sky. Harmony is also evident in the general surroundings in which events take place in the whole universe: the skies, the constellations, flames, the earth, the mountains and the vegetation, the winds and the rain. When the sūrah provides an example of arrogance, it sets it in a scene of climbing up into the heavens through an open door. All this speaks volumes for the fine style of the Qur’ān.