His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Look how they have struck for you examples, so they have gone astray, and they cannot find a way." "And they said, 'When we have become bones and decayed matter, will we truly be raised as a new creation?'" "Say, 'Be you stones or iron,'" "or a creation of that which is great in your chests. Then they will say, 'Who will return us?' Say, 'The One who created you the first time.' Then they will nod their heads towards you and say, 'When is it?' Say, 'Perhaps it is near.'"

The striking of the example for Him is their saying: 'He is bewitched, a sorcerer, mad, a soothsayer;' because they were not certain about any of these. Rather, it was from them in the manner of comparison. Then Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughira saw that the closest of these matters, in the imagination of those who were new to them, is that he is a sorcerer. Then Allah, blessed and exalted is He, judged them with misguidance.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So they cannot find a way" has two meanings: One of them is that they cannot find a way to guidance and contemplation leading to faith. Thus, the verse runs parallel to His saying, exalted is He: "And We have placed veils over their hearts" [Al-Isra: 46] and similar to this. The other is that they cannot find a way to corrupt your matter, and to extinguish the light of Allah by striking examples for you, and following every trick against you.

Al-Tabari reported that this verse was revealed about Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughira and his companions.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And they said, 'When we have become bones and decayed matter'". This verse is about their denial of resurrection, and this is from them a wonder and denial and incredulity. And "decayed matter" refers to things that have passed through time until they have reached the utmost of decay, bringing them close to the state of dust. It is said: 'He has decayed' and so he is decayed. The pattern of this is like that of 'shards', 'fragments', 'dust', and 'grains'. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "decayed matter": dust, and Mujahid said: soil.

The readers differed in these two interrogatives. Ibn Kathir and Abu Amr read: "When we have become, will we be?" both with interrogation, except that Abu Amr prolongs the hamzah, then comes with the ya' as a sukoon. Ibn Kathir comes with a ya' as a sukoon after the hamzah without prolongation. Nafi' read the first like Abu Amr, and differed from him in the prolongation, and read the second: "Indeed, we" as broken on the news, and he agreed with Al-Kisai in sufficing with the first interrogation from the second, except that he used to pronounce it with two hamzah. Aasim and Hamzah read: "When we have become" and "Will we be?" with two hamzah in both. Ibn Amer read: "When we have become" with a broken alif without interrogation, "Will we be?" pronouncing it with hamzah, then prolonging, then hamzah again. It was narrated from him like the reading of Hamzah.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And in Surah Ar-Ra'd is the direction of these readings.

And "new" is an attribute for what has recently occurred among things, and thus it is described for both masculine and feminine. It is said: "A new cloak," and their saying: "new" is a weak language, thus said Sibawayh.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Say, 'Be stones or iron'" [Quran 18:96]. The meaning is: Say to them, O Muhammad: 'Be, if you are able, these difficult and impossible things; there must be your resurrection.' And His saying, 'Be' is what the speakers call incapacitation, from the types of the word: 'Do.' And with this verse, some of them have made an example, and in this, I have a different view. Incapacitation occurs when it is decreed by the command to do what the addressee cannot do, as in His saying, exalted is He: "So avert death from yourselves" [Al-Imran: 168] and similar to it. As for this verse, its meaning is: 'Be by imagination and estimation such and such; the One who created you likewise will resurrect you.' Mujahid said: He meant by creation that which is great in the hearts, the heavens, the earth, and the mountains. Ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar, Al-Hasan, Ibn Jubair, and Al-Dahhak said: He meant death. And Qatadah and Mujahid said: Rather, He referred to their nature in general, and this was preferred by Al-Tabari.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is the most correct; because He began with something solid, then the saying progressed to something stronger, then He referred to their nature if He wills. And there is nothing stronger than iron, so there is no reason to specify something over something else. Then He argued against them, exalted is He, in the resurrection by the first nature from when He created them and fashioned them from dust, and likewise He will resurrect them if He wills; there is no Lord other than Him. And His saying, "Then they will shake" means: they will raise and lower; He intends in the direction of denial. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: and mockery. Al-Zajjaj said: It is the stirring of one who invalidates something and is slow to it. And from this is the saying of the poet:

"Did he shake his head towards me and nod, as if he saw something that he desired."

And it is said: 'The tooth shook' if it moved. And Dhul-Rummah said:

"The women who did not settle around the village, with a sword and did not shake the bridges with them."

Al-Tabari and Ibn Salam said: And 'perhaps' from Allah is obligatory, so the meaning is: and it is near.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is indeed from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, but it is by the command of Allah, exalted is He, which brings it closer to obligation. And for this reason, he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I was sent forth, I and the Hour, like these two," and within the wording is a threat to them.