Surah Al-Baqara (2) — Ayah 259

(Ayah 259) ➊ {اَوْ كَالَّذِيْ مَرَّ عَلٰى قَرْيَةٍ :} Its { ’’ اَوْ ‘‘} is connected to the { ”الَّذِيْ“ } mentioned in the previous verse { ”اَلَمْ تَرَ اِلَى الَّذِيْ“ }, meaning: Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrahim... or have you not seen someone like this person... The meaning of { ”اَلَمْ تَرَ“ } is { ”اَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ“ }. (See the footnotes of Surah Al-Fil) And the purpose of { ”اَلَمْ تَرَ“ } is to create eagerness in the listener before narrating some amazing incident.

➋ {خَاوِيَةٌ:} This is the active participle from the form { ”ضَرَبَ“ }, the root is "kh-w-y," which means to be hollow. Since being hollow results in collapsing, it also means to collapse. Usually, the roof collapses first, then the walls fall upon it, so it is said: "whose roofs had collapsed upon it."

➌ {لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ:} The root of this word is either "s-n-n," which means to be foul-smelling, as it is said: «مِّنْ حَمَاٍ مَّسْنُوْنٍ» [الحجر : ۲۶ ] "which was of foul-smelling, black mud." In the form taf‘ul, it became { ’’ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّنْ ‘‘ }, then the last "nun" was changed to "ha," as: { ”لَمْ يَتَقَضَّضِ الْبَازِيْ“ } (the falcon did not swoop swiftly) is changed to { ”لَمْ يَتَقَضَّهْ“ }, or its root is "s-n-n-h," from which the form taf‘ul {”تَسَنَّهَ“} means for bread to become foul-smelling. In this case, "ha" is original, so { ”لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ“ } means it did not become foul-smelling.

➍ The purpose of the previous story was to establish the oneness (tawheed) of the Creator of the universe, while the purpose of this story and the one after it is to establish resurrection and revival. There is no mention with an authentic chain from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) or the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) regarding who this person mentioned in this verse was. Some of the Tabi‘een have named him Uzair (peace be upon him), and some have said Jeremiah, and it is clear that the source of this is the Israelite traditions, which can neither be affirmed nor denied. And Allah knows best!

However, it is certain that he was a prophet of Allah. The evidence is that Allah asked him and then informed him of the actual duration. Now the question arises: if he was a prophet of Allah, why did he consider it unlikely that Allah would revive this town? The answer is that he did not ask this question out of doubt or considering it unlikely, nor did he have any doubt about the Resurrection and revival, but rather he sought reassurance and wanted to witness the revival with his own eyes, just as Allah allows the prophets to witness some realities with their own eyes. The purpose of both these incidents is to show how, when Allah is someone's friend and helper, He brings him out from darkness into light. (Razi)

It appears that when this prophet passed away, it was already some time into the day, and when he was revived, the sun was about to set, so despite a hundred years having passed, he thought that only a day or part of a day had passed.