Surah Al-Jaathiya (45) — Ayah 24

(Ayah 24) ➊ {وَ قَالُوْا مَا هِيَ اِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوْتُ وَ نَحْيَا:} For its explanation, see Surah Al-Mu’minun (37). Here is a question: instead of saying {’’ نَحْيَا وَ نَمُوْتُ‘‘} (We live and we die), why was it said: { «نَمُوْتُ وَ نَحْيَا » } “We die and we live?” The answer to this is in several ways: firstly, the “waw” (and) does not necessarily indicate sequence, and here, while quoting their statement, it was done for the eloquence of speech, because after {’’ مَا هِيَ اِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا ‘‘} the beauty and harmony in the sentence {’’ نَمُوْتُ وَ نَحْيَا ‘‘} is not found in {’’نَحْيَا وَ نَمُوْتُ‘‘}. The second answer is that {’’ نَمُوْتُ وَ نَحْيَا ‘‘} means that we die and our children remain, or some of us die and some remain alive. The third answer is that {’’ نَمُوْتُ ‘‘} means that first we are in a state of non-existence and death, and {’’ نَحْيَا ‘‘} means that then we come into the state of worldly life, so if there is any life, it is only this worldly life; after this, there is no other life.

➋ { وَ مَا يُهْلِكُنَاۤ اِلَّا الدَّهْرُ:} From their statement, it is clear that they believe there is someone who destroys them, and obviously, that is Allah Almighty, because He alone is the Creator, Owner, and Manager of the entire universe. But since the belief in Allah Almighty and appearing before Him is a great obstacle in the way of their unrestrained desires, they denied the life of the Hereafter altogether, and instead of accepting that life and death are in Allah’s control, and that He can and will resurrect them as He did the first time, they said that there is nothing but time that destroys us; it is only the alternation of day and night that annihilates us. In reality, this is their self-deception, because time and the alternation of day and night cannot do anything by their own will; their reins are in the hands of a Master, who is Allah Almighty, whose name they do not wish to mention, so instead they mention time. An example of this is the atheist Muslims of our time, who, due to their own immorality, call the limits set by Allah Almighty as barbaric punishments, but cannot say this openly, so they abuse the scholars, saying that the scholars want to impose barbaric punishments on people, want to have the hands of thieves cut off, flog the adulterer, and have the murderer killed. Whereas, what fault does the poor scholar have in this? He only conveys the command that his Master has stated in His Book. Similarly, those polytheists attribute their destruction and annihilation to time, whereas poor time is bound by Allah Almighty’s command; that is why the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade reviling time. Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ قَالَ اللّٰهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يُؤْذِيْنِي ابْنُ آدَمَ، يَسُبُّ الدَّهْرَ وَأَنَا الدَّهْرُ، بِيَدِي الْأَمْرُ، أُقَلِّبُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ ] [ بخاري، التفسیر، سورۃ الجاثیۃ : ۴۸۲۶ ] “Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: The son of Adam hurts Me; he reviles time, whereas I am time; all matters are in My hand; I alternate the night and the day.” And Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): [ لَا تَسُبُّوا الدَّهْرَ فَإِنَّ اللّٰهَ هُوَ الدَّهْرُ ] [ مسلم، الألفاظ من الأدب وغیرھا، باب النھي عن سب الدھر : 2246/5 ] “Do not revile time, for Allah is time.” In another narration from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), the words are that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ قَالَ اللّٰهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يُؤْذِيْنِي ابْنُ آدَمَ، يَقُوْلُ يَا خَيْبَةَ الدَّهْرِ! فَلَا يَقُوْلَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ يَا خَيْبَةَ الدَّهْرِ! فَإِنِّيْ أَنَا الدَّهْرُ أُقَلِّبُ لَيْلَهُ وَنَهَارَهُ فَإِذَا شِئْتُ قَبَضْتُهُمَا ] [ مسلم، الألفاظ من الأدب وغیرھا، باب النھي عن سب الدھر : 2246/5 ] “Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: The son of Adam hurts Me. He says: ‘Woe to time!’ So none of you should say: ‘Woe to time!’ for I am time. I alternate its night and day, then when I wish, I will seize them both.”

Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) writes: “Al-Shafi’i, Abu Ubaydah, and many other Imams (may Allah have mercy on them) said in the explanation of {’’لَا تَسُبُّوا الدَّهْرَ فَإِنَّ اللّٰهَ هُوَ الدَّهْرُ‘‘} (Do not revile time, for Allah is time): ‘The Arabs in their days of ignorance, when any hardship, calamity, or difficulty befell them, used to say: {’’ يَا خَيْبَةَ الدَّهْرِ!‘‘} (Woe to time!). Thus, they attributed these actions to time and reviled it, whereas the One who actually did all these things was Allah Almighty, so it is as if they reviled Allah Himself, because He is the true Doer. Therefore, in this sense, reviling time was forbidden, because the One they actually meant was Allah Almighty.’ This is the best explanation and this is what is meant. (And Allah knows best.) And those who, following Ibn Hazm and his approach, have counted {’’ اَلدَّهْرُ ‘‘} (time) among the Beautiful Names of Allah based on this hadith, have made a mistake.” (Ibn Kathir)

➌ { وَ مَا لَهُمْ بِذٰلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ اِنْ هُمْ اِلَّا يَظُنُّوْنَ:} That is, their statement that “there is no life after this life” and that “it is not Allah Almighty who causes man to die, but time that destroys him” is not based on any knowledge, but only on conjecture. At most, they can say: “We do not know whether there is any life after death or not, and we do not know how the soul departs and who destroys us.” Because when they have no knowledge of what is to come, how can they say with certainty that there is no life after this one? In reality, their desire is that there should be no life after death, nor anyone to question them about what they did, so that they may continue to do as they please. In this way, they have made their own desires their deity, and knowingly have closed their eyes and ears to their Master and to the reckoning of the Day of Judgment.

24. 1. This is the statement of the materialists and their like-minded polytheists of Makkah who denied the Hereafter. They used to say that this worldly life is the first and last life; after this, there is no other life, and the cycle of death and life in it is merely the result of the passage of time. Just as a group of philosophers says that after thirty-six thousand years, everything returns to its original state, and this cycle, without any creator or manager, continues as it is and will keep on going; it has neither a beginning nor an end. This group is called Dauriyah (Ibn Kathir). Obviously, this theory is neither accepted by reason nor is it in accordance with transmitted knowledge. There is a Hadith Qudsi in which Allah Almighty says, "The son of Adam hurts Me. He abuses time (i.e., by attributing actions to it and blaming it, even though (time itself is nothing); I am time itself, all authority is in My hand, I am the One Who turns the night and the day." (Al-Bukhari).

They say, "There is nothing but our worldly life; we die and we live, and nothing destroys us except time [35]." Yet they have no knowledge of this; they only speculate [36].

[35]
The Philosophy of Materialism and Its Refutation:

The philosophy of these people is that this universe is a boundless ocean, in which waves constantly rise and then merge back into the same ocean. Bubbles rise and then dissolve back into it. This is the same situation with the events and incidents in this world, and our example is merely that of a bubble, which is formed and then disappears into the ocean. We are born and then, after dying, merge back into it. These are the events of time, that we keep being born and dying. The universe is running in this way and will continue to run so. In this, the question of anyone dying and then coming back to life does not arise at all.

[36]
The Basis of Denial of the Hereafter is Mere Conjecture and Analogy, for Which No Scholarly Proof Can Be Presented:

The error in drawing conclusions from this philosophy is self-evident. If a wave rises in the ocean and then disappears into it, and then another wave rises from the same ocean, then if a wave can rise again from the ocean, why can a human being, after being created from dust and then merging into it, not be created again from the same dust? Furthermore, regarding the conditions after death, if anything can be said on the basis of human knowledge, it is only this: "We do not know whether there is another life after death or not." It cannot be said that "there is no life after death." Man has no means of investigation by which he can claim with certainty that "there is no other life after death." Then, another question arises here: where does the soul go after death? It is evident that it does not die, because this has been the belief of all people regarding the soul. The death of a human is not an incident like a clock that stops after running for a while. From all these things, it becomes clear that even the predominant assumption is towards being brought back to life, not towards complete annihilation after death. And these people who deny life after death do not say this on the basis of any knowledge, but rather their hearts do not wish that there should be any life after death in which they would be questioned about their evil deeds. Therefore, they consider it safer to deny it altogether. And this is merely their conjecture and assumption. They can never present any scholarly proof for this.

The Deception of Materialists: "Time" is Actually Allah:

Materialists are, in fact, caught up in deception and wish to remain so. They say, "It is time that destroys us." Whereas time is merely another name for the alternation of night and day, which has neither perception nor consciousness, nor control nor authority—so how can it destroy us? Inevitably, there is something else in their minds that possesses perception, consciousness, control, and authority, but they do not wish to name it, and instead, they use the name of time. And the thing they do not wish to name is Allah, whose existence and absolute control are proven by clear arguments, and the alternation of time and the rotation of night and day are also in His power. Thus, Sayyiduna Abu Hurairahؓ says that the Messenger of Allahﷺ said: Allah Almighty says: "The son of Adam hurts Me when he abuses time (dahr), whereas I am time itself. All matters are in My hand. I am the One who alternates the night and the day." [بخاری۔ کتاب التفسیر۔ تفسیر سورۃ الجاثیہ۔ زیر آیت مذکورہ]