Overview (Verse 260)
 
How God Raises the Dead
 
Then follows another episode, involving the Prophet Abraham and the phenomena of life and death. “When Abraham said, My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead,’ He replied, ‘Have you, then, no faith?’ ‘Indeed, I have’, said Abraham, ‘but I only wish to set my heart fully at rest to be fully reassured.’ God said, ‘Take four birds and draw them close to you, then [having cut them into pieces] place a part of them on each mountain. Then call them back and they will come to you in haste. Know that God is Almighty, Wise.’’’ (Verse 260)
 
It is the usual tale of curiosity about the great mystery of life and creation. When this curiosity is expressed by a devoted and pious person like the Prophet Abraham, it proves that there are times when even the most favoured and believing of God’s servants experience a passionate urge and ambition to discover the secrets of creation.
 
Here curiosity is not motivated by lack of conviction or the demand for proof to confirm one’s faith, but has a different flavour, excited by a spiritual yearning to see and share one of God’s most fascinating secrets. This privilege, even for someone like Abraham, has a unique honour and a flavour of its own, different even to that of faith itself. It is a natural and spontaneous desire to know and learn how the divine will operates, not in order to believe or obtain proof, but to experience total peace and gain reassurance.
 
Abraham’s experience and the short dialogue which accompanied it reveal several perceptions of faith which the human heart, if it so desires, can experience and enjoy.
 
Abraham was seeking the reassurance of seeing God’s hand at work and the satisfaction of seeing a hidden mystery unfold before him. God was aware that Abraham was a devout believer and that his inquisitiveness had arisen out of the quest for knowledge. The episode also serves to inform and educate and reveal God’s compassion and benevolence towards a faithful and curious servant.
 
God responds favourably to Abraham’s request and exposes him to a direct personal experience to satisfy his curiosity, giving him the following instructions: “Take four birds and draw them close to you, then [having cut them into pieces] place a part of them on each mountain. Then call them back and they will come to you in haste. Know that God is Almighty, Wise.” (Verse 260)
 
The instructions meant that Abraham should choose four birds and make sure of having them close to him so that he would be able to know every little detail of their appearance so that he could unmistakeably identify them at any time. He would then have to kill them and cut them into pieces before placing different parts of their bodies on the surrounding mountains. He would then call them to come over to him, and their parts will join again, life is breathed into them and they could speedily come to him. All this took place in reality.
 
Thus Abraham was able to witness the secret of breathing life into the dead unfolding before his own eyes. It is the secret that occurs all the time, but people only see its effects after its process has been completed. It is the greatest mystery of life, which was created in the first instance by God out of nothing, and which renews itself an infinite number of times in every new living thing. Abraham saw with his own eyes the birds he killed and placed portions of their bodies far apart, returned to life and moving in full vigour.
 
How could all this take place? It is the one mystery that continues to elude human perception. Even if one was to undergo Abraham’s experience and witness the actual act of creation, one would not comprehend its reality or how it is accomplished. It is the prerogative of God Almighty, of whose perfect and absolute knowledge man can acquire nothing, except by His will. It is God’s will that this sphere should remain beyond the bounds of human knowledge, possibly because it is beyond man’s comprehension and is not required for the fulfilment of man’s mission on earth.
 
Until God allows the curtain to be raised on this issue, man’s aspiration to grasp the coveted secret of life shall remain unfulfilled. If, however, he were to persist in his defiance of God’s authority and continue to trespass in regions that are the exclusive domain of the Divine, his efforts would for ever be in vain and yield nothing.

Overview (Verse 260)
 
How God Raises the Dead
 
Then follows another episode, involving the Prophet Abraham and the phenomena of life and death. “When Abraham said, My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead,’ He replied, ‘Have you, then, no faith?’ ‘Indeed, I have’, said Abraham, ‘but I only wish to set my heart fully at rest to be fully reassured.’ God said, ‘Take four birds and draw them close to you, then [having cut them into pieces] place a part of them on each mountain. Then call them back and they will come to you in haste. Know that God is Almighty, Wise.’’’ (Verse 260)
 
It is the usual tale of curiosity about the great mystery of life and creation. When this curiosity is expressed by a devoted and pious person like the Prophet Abraham, it proves that there are times when even the most favoured and believing of God’s servants experience a passionate urge and ambition to discover the secrets of creation.
 
Here curiosity is not motivated by lack of conviction or the demand for proof to confirm one’s faith, but has a different flavour, excited by a spiritual yearning to see and share one of God’s most fascinating secrets. This privilege, even for someone like Abraham, has a unique honour and a flavour of its own, different even to that of faith itself. It is a natural and spontaneous desire to know and learn how the divine will operates, not in order to believe or obtain proof, but to experience total peace and gain reassurance.
 
Abraham’s experience and the short dialogue which accompanied it reveal several perceptions of faith which the human heart, if it so desires, can experience and enjoy.
 
Abraham was seeking the reassurance of seeing God’s hand at work and the satisfaction of seeing a hidden mystery unfold before him. God was aware that Abraham was a devout believer and that his inquisitiveness had arisen out of the quest for knowledge. The episode also serves to inform and educate and reveal God’s compassion and benevolence towards a faithful and curious servant.
 
God responds favourably to Abraham’s request and exposes him to a direct personal experience to satisfy his curiosity, giving him the following instructions: “Take four birds and draw them close to you, then [having cut them into pieces] place a part of them on each mountain. Then call them back and they will come to you in haste. Know that God is Almighty, Wise.” (Verse 260)
 
The instructions meant that Abraham should choose four birds and make sure of having them close to him so that he would be able to know every little detail of their appearance so that he could unmistakeably identify them at any time. He would then have to kill them and cut them into pieces before placing different parts of their bodies on the surrounding mountains. He would then call them to come over to him, and their parts will join again, life is breathed into them and they could speedily come to him. All this took place in reality.
 
Thus Abraham was able to witness the secret of breathing life into the dead unfolding before his own eyes. It is the secret that occurs all the time, but people only see its effects after its process has been completed. It is the greatest mystery of life, which was created in the first instance by God out of nothing, and which renews itself an infinite number of times in every new living thing. Abraham saw with his own eyes the birds he killed and placed portions of their bodies far apart, returned to life and moving in full vigour.
 
How could all this take place? It is the one mystery that continues to elude human perception. Even if one was to undergo Abraham’s experience and witness the actual act of creation, one would not comprehend its reality or how it is accomplished. It is the prerogative of God Almighty, of whose perfect and absolute knowledge man can acquire nothing, except by His will. It is God’s will that this sphere should remain beyond the bounds of human knowledge, possibly because it is beyond man’s comprehension and is not required for the fulfilment of man’s mission on earth.
 
Until God allows the curtain to be raised on this issue, man’s aspiration to grasp the coveted secret of life shall remain unfulfilled. If, however, he were to persist in his defiance of God’s authority and continue to trespass in regions that are the exclusive domain of the Divine, his efforts would for ever be in vain and yield nothing.