And when the estimation was: Did they not reflect upon the Qur'an and what it has revealed to them of wisdom and the matters that Allah has promised through the tongue of His Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, in it or in the Sunnah? It was according to what He promised. Or did they not contemplate the creations of Allah in general, so that their minds would guide them to the fact that none is worthy of divinity except one who is wise, and none can be wise except one who is truthful in his promise? And that wisdom cannot be complete except by establishing the Hereafter. He turned to them with His saying, denying them and reproaching them: "Do they not reflect?" meaning they should strive to employ their thought. Then he mentioned the instrument of thought, adding to the depiction of the state of the thinkers and reminding them of the condition of those who consider, saying: "In themselves." It may be that this is what they are to reflect upon, so the meaning would be: Let them reflect upon their own states specifically, so that they may know that one among them who is capable and complete does not break his promise, while he is a deficient human. So how about the true God? And they should know that the One who equated between them in bringing them into existence from non-existence and developed them in stages of forms, and differentiated between them in powers and abilities, and between their lifespans in length and shortness, and subjected some of them to others with various types of harm, and caused most of them to die wronged before retribution and victory, there must be in His profound wisdom a gathering of them for justice between them in the recompense of one who fulfilled or betrayed, or was grateful or ungrateful. Then he mentioned the outcome of that and explained it with His saying in a style of emphasis due to their denial. And according to the first estimation, this would be what is to be reflected upon: "What Allah has created," meaning by His might and majesty, and His exaltation in His perfection, "the heavens and the earth" according to what they are upon of the precise system and the perfected law. He singled out the earth due to the lack of a sensory or rational evidence that indicates their multiplicity, unlike the heavens. "And what is between them" of the meanings by which their complete benefits are realized, "except" for a creation that is adorned "with the truth," meaning the established matter that corresponds with reality. So when resurrection is mentioned, which is its beginning, the Hereafter, which has this style, the reality is found in the depiction of the sperm and the blowing of the spirit and the distinction of the righteous from it for the depiction from the corrupt, that corresponds with that. And if one reflects upon the plants after they had been dry and water descended upon them, they flourished and shook and grew, he would find it corresponding to the matter of resurrection. And if he mentions the power, he sees the alternation of night and day, and the movement of the small and large stars, and the raining of rains, and the flowing of rivers, and similar secrets, he sees it corresponding to everything that comes to his mind of the decrees. And if the thought of knowledge occurs to him, and he contemplates the flow of these matters and others upon a straight methodology, and a clear, upright system, and a perfect, wise course, he knows that this is in the utmost correspondence with the news of the comprehensive knowledge and the complete power over resurrection and others, or except by the established matter and the decisive decree that cannot be deviated from by the intended, nor can any creature or inanimate object resist it. And He created you from this great creation that arose from some of its dust.

Then He made you from a drop of despised water. The power by which He created all of that and began you, then He will destroy you, by it He gives you life and brings you back. Then when He calls you with a call from the earth, you will come out. Or except by the reason of establishing the truth and nullifying falsehood, there must be the fulfillment of His promise by defeating the Romans to take their right from the Persians. And there must be that He establishes you after He puts you to sleep and affirms every truth you have seen has been nullified, and He will nullify every falsehood you have seen has been upheld, because He is the most just of judges. If He were to allow the death of truth or the revival of falsehood, it would not be like that.

And when they believed that this existence is life and death without end, He said: "And a term" there must be an end to it "appointed" meaning in knowledge from eternity. And that term is the time of the Day of Resurrection. And that is because just as He has set for them terms for their origin and their branches, no one among them deviates from it, so there must be an appointed term for what they were created from. When that term comes, this system will dissolve, this order will be disrupted, and these rulings will cease, so these bodies will collapse and return to what they were in terms of annihilation. Otherwise, creation would be in vain, which the Sovereign, the All-Knowing, is exalted above.

And when they deny that they are in disbelief, He affirmed His saying: "And indeed many of the people" despite its clarity "are disbelievers in meeting their Lord" who filled them with goodness by their return in the Hereafter to be presented before Him for reward and punishment "are disbelievers" meaning they are concealing what is in their minds of the signs of His oneness and the proofs of His power and wisdom with a great concealment, as if it is an instinct for them. For that reason, they deny what He, glorified and exalted is He, promised you of the defeat of the Romans over the Persians. So let that not terrify you, for they have indeed denied what is greater than that, which is the Hereafter, with all its signs that surpass enumeration. And if you refer back to what has preceded in the verse of Al-An'am: "He is the One who created you from clay" [Al-An'am: 2], you will gain more insight in this.