His saying, the Exalted and Majestic:

﴿Or like the one who passed by a town while it was empty on its roofs. He said, 'How will Allah bring this to life after its death?' So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said, 'How long have you remained?' He said, 'I have remained a day or part of a day.' He said, 'Rather, you have remained a hundred years.'﴾

The 'or' in this verse is connected to the meaning. The purpose of the amazement in His saying: ﴿Did you not see (p-39) the one who argued﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 258] necessitates the meaning: 'Did you see like the one who argued?' Then His saying: ﴿Or like the one who﴾ is an addition to that meaning.

Abu Sufyan ibn Husayn read: 'Or like the one who passed' with a fatha on the waw, which is a conjunction that has been preceded by the alif of confirmation. Suleiman ibn Buraydah, Najiyah ibn Ka'b, Qatadah, Ibn Abbas, Al-Rabi', Ikrimah, and Al-Dahhak said: The one who passed by the town is Uzair. Wahb ibn Munabbih and Abdullah ibn Ubayd ibn Umayr, and Bakr ibn Mudar said: It is Armiya. Ibn Ishaq said: Armiya is Al-Khidr, and Al-Naqqash narrated this from Wahb ibn Munabbih. This is as you see, unless it is a name that coincides with a name, because Al-Khidr was contemporary with Musa, and the one who passed by the town is after him by a time from the descendants of Harun, according to what Wahb ibn Munabbih narrated. Al-Makki narrated from Mujahid that he is a man from Bani Israel whose name is not mentioned. Al-Naqqash said: It is said that he is the boy of Lut, peace be upon him.

There has been disagreement about which town it is. Al-Naqqash narrated that a group said: It is the overturned towns. Ibn Zayd said: The people who left their homes while they were thousands, fearing death, Allah said to them: 'Die.' A man passed by them while they were bones that were visible. He stopped to look and said: 'How will Allah bring this to life after its death?' So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years. Al-Tabari translated this story by saying that the town which he passed by is the one in which Allah destroyed those who left their homes.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And the saying of Ibn Zayd does not align with the translation, because the reference here according to the translation is to (p-40) the place, and in the very words it is to the bones and bodies. This saying of Ibn Zayd contradicts the words of the verse, as the verse only included an empty town with no one in it, and the reference here is to the town, and its revival is only through habitation and the existence of buildings and inhabitants. Wahb ibn Munabbih, Qatadah, Al-Dahhak, Ikrimah, and Al-Rabi' said: The town is Bayt al-Maqdis when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian. In the long hadith when Bani Israel caused events, Armiya or Uzair stood by the town, which was like a great hill in the middle of Bayt al-Maqdis, because Nebuchadnezzar commanded his army to transport the earth to it until he made it like a mountain. Armiya saw that the houses had fallen with their walls on their roofs, and the 'arish' is the roof of the house, and everything that is prepared to provide shade or shelter is an 'arish', including the 'arish' of the vine and fruits, and from it is His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And from what they cultivate﴾ [An-Nahl: 68].

Al-Suddi said: He says it is a ruin upon its roofs, meaning the roofs fell, then the walls fell upon it. Others than Al-Suddi said: Its meaning is empty of people upon the arish, meaning upon the houses, and its roofs are upon it, but it is empty of people, while the houses are standing.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And look at the use of al-arish with 'ala in the hadith in his saying: "And the mosque was then upon an arish in the matter of the Night of Decree."

And "empty" means: vacant. It is said: The house became empty, it is empty. Al-Tabari said: The first is more eloquent. And his saying: "How will Allah bring it to life after its death?" means: By what means? And for what reason? The apparent meaning of the words is a question about reviving the village by inhabitation and residents, as is said now in the ruined cities that are far from being inhabited and settled. It is as if this is a longing from the observer considering his city in which he knew its people and loved ones, and a parable was struck for him in himself with something greater than what he asked about, and the parable that was struck for him in himself may be that his question was indeed about reviving the dead from the children of Adam, meaning: how will Allah bring this to life after its death?

And Al-Tabari narrated from some of them that he said: This saying was a doubt in Allah's ability to revive, and for that reason a parable was struck for him in himself.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And there is no doubt in Allah's ability to revive a village by bringing the inhabitants to it, and rather doubt can only be imagined from an ignorant person in the other direction, and the correct view is that no doubt should be interpreted in the verse.

And it has been narrated in the stories of this verse that when the Children of Israel committed the transgressions, Allah sent upon them Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian, who killed them and exiled them from the Holy House, and he destroyed it. When he departed from it, some observers stood at the city, considering, and he said: "How will Allah bring this to life after its death?" So Allah caused him to die, and he had with him a donkey that he had tied with a new rope, and he had a basket with figs in it, which was his food, and it was said: figs and grapes. He had a jug of wine with him, and it was said: of juice, and it was said: a water skin which was his drink. He remained dead for a hundred years, and it was narrated that he decayed and his bones scattered, he and his donkey. And it was narrated that he decayed before the donkey, and that the donkey remained alive tied and did not die nor eat anything, nor did its remains decay. And it was narrated that the donkey decayed and its limbs scattered before Uzair, and it was narrated that Allah sent to that village someone who inhabited it and returned a group of the Children of Israel to it, where it was completed at the end of a hundred years. And at that time, Uzair was revived, and it was narrated that Allah restored to him his sight and created for him a life by which he could see how the village was inhabited and revived for thirty years to complete the hundred, because he remained seventy dead altogether. And this is weak, the words of the verse refute it.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Then He revived him﴾, means: He gave him life, and made for him movement and transition. So Allah, exalted is He, asked him through the angel: ﴿How long have you remained?﴾ This is in the context of inquiry, and "how long" is in the position of accusative as an adverb. He said: ﴿I have remained a day or part of a day﴾. Ibn Jurayj, Qatadah, and Al-Rabi' said:

Allah caused him to die in the morning of a day, then he was revived before sunset. He thought that this day was one, so he said: I have remained a day. Then he saw a remainder of the sun and feared that he might be lying, so he said: "Or part of a day." It was said to him: "Rather, you have remained a hundred years" - and he saw from the buildings of the village and its trees and structures what indicated that to him. Al-Naqqash said: The year is a source like swimming; it is named for this measure of time because it is a swimming of the sun in the orbit, and swimming is like floating. And He, exalted is He, said: ﴿And all of them swim in an orbit﴾ [Ya-Sin: 40].

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is the meaning of Al-Naqqash's words, and the year in this context is like the saying and the spoken words. The apparent meaning of this death is that it is by extracting the soul from the body. It has been narrated in the stories of this verse that Allah sent a king from the kings to inhabit it and strive in that until the completion of its inhabitation was at the time of the one who said: ﴿How will Allah revive this after its death?﴾.

Ibn Kathir, Asim, and Nafi' read: "You have remained" in all of the Qur'an with the clear pronunciation of the thaa, and that is for the distinction of the place of the thaa from the place of the taa. This is because the taa, daa, and daal are from one category, while the thaa, dhaal, and thaa are from another category. Abu Amr, Ibn Amer, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read with the merging in all of the Qur'an, treating them similarly because the two letters are from the tip of the tongue and the roots of the incisors, and they are both voiceless. Abu Ali said: And this is strengthened by the occurrence of these two letters in the rhyme of a single poem.

(p-43) His saying, exalted is He:

﴿So look at your food and your drink; it has not changed. And look at your donkey. And We will make you a sign for the people. And look at the bones; how We bring them together, then We clothe them with flesh. And when it became clear to him, he said: I know that Allah is capable of all things.﴾

He paused in these words on the permanence of his food and drink in their state; it has not changed, and on the permanence of his donkey alive at its tether. This is according to one of the interpretations. And according to the second interpretation, he paused on the donkey, how it lives and its bones come together. Ibn Mas'ud read: "And this is your food and your drink; it has not changed." And Talhah ibn Musarif and others read: "And look at your food and your drink for a hundred years."

Abu Ali said: They disagreed about the affirmation of the letter 'h' in the verb from His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "did not become stale" and "follow him," and "my wealth did not avail me" and "my authority," and "what has made you know what it is," and its omission in connection - they did not disagree about its affirmation in stopping. Ibn Kathir, Nafi, Abu Amr, Asim, and Ibn Umar read all these letters with the affirmation of the 'h' in connection. Hamzah used to omit them in connection, and Al-Kisai used to omit it in "did not become stale" and "follow him" and affirm it in the rest. They did not disagree about "my account" and "my book" that they both have the 'h' in stopping and connection.

And "did not become stale" may be derived from the meaning of something becoming stale or spoiled, and from it is "the clay" [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: al-hama'] (p-44) which is poured onto the paths of the earth. If it is from "becoming stale," then it is: "did not become stale," the 'n' changes to a 'y' as it was done in "I thought" until you say: "I did not think." Thus, it comes "becoming stale": became stale, then the 'y' is omitted for the jasm, and the present tense becomes: "did not become stale." And whoever reads it with the 'h' according to this saying, it is the 'h' of silence, and based on this, it is good to omit it in connection.

And it is possible that "did not become stale" may be from the meaning of drought and famine and similar things, they call it by that, and a verb was derived from it, and it was said: "become stony." If this is the case or from the year which is the year according to the one who gathers them as years, then also the 'h' here is the 'h' of silence, and the meaning is: the droughts and famines did not change your food, or the years and times did not change it.

As for the one who said in the diminutive of the year: "Sunaitha," and in the plural: "Sanahat," and said: "I became stony among the people of so-and-so" - this is the language of Hijaz and from it is the saying of the poet:

And it is neither stony nor Rajabi, but rather it is bare in the years of calamities.

The reading according to this language is with the affirmation of the 'h' without doubt, and it is the letter of the verb, and in it the jasm appeared with 'lam,' and based on this is the reading of Ibn Kathir, Nafi, and Abu Amr, and it has been mentioned. And Talhah ibn Musarif read: "did not become stony" with the idgham.

And Al-Naqqash said: "did not become stale" means: did not change, from His saying, the Exalted: ﴿water that is not stale﴾ [Muhammad: 15], (p-45) and the grammarians rejected this saying because if it were from: the water became stale, it would have come as "did not become stale."

As for His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And look at your donkey﴾, Wahb ibn Munabbih and others said: the meaning is: and look at the connection of its bones and its revival part by part. It is narrated that Allah revived it like that until it became a complete donkey, then an angel came and blew the spirit into its nose, and the donkey stood up braying. It has also been narrated from Al-Dahhak and Wahb ibn Munabbih that they said: Rather, it was said to him: and look at your donkey standing in its pen, nothing has affected it for a hundred years. They said: And the bones that he looked at were the bones of his own self. They said:

And Allah blinded the eyes from the blind and this donkey for this duration.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The people of stories have greatly elaborated on the form of this incident, which I have summarized due to its lack of authenticity.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿And We have made you a sign for the people﴾ means: for this purpose, that you be a sign, we have done this with you. Al-A'mash said: The place of his being a sign is that he came as a young man on the day he died and found the sons and grandchildren as old men. And Ikrimah said: He came when he was forty years old, as he was on the day he died, and found his sons having exceeded a hundred years. Others than Al-A'mash said: Rather, the place of his being a sign is that he came and all who knew him had perished, so he was a sign for those who were alive from his people since they were believers regarding his state by hearing.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And in his death during this period, then his revival is the greatest sign. And all of his matter is a sign for the people throughout time, and there is no need to specify some of that over others.

As for the bones that were commanded to be looked at, we have mentioned those who said: They are the bones of himself, and those who said: They are the bones of the donkey. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', and Abu Amr read: "We will spread them" with the first ن (noon) opened, the ش (sheen) closed, and with the ر (raa). Al-Hasan, Ibn Abbas, and Abu Haywah also read it like that. So whoever reads "We will revive them" with the first ن (noon) closed and with the ر (raa), its meaning is: We bring them to life. It is said: Allah revived the dead. Allah, the Most High, said: ﴿Then when He wills, He revives him﴾ [Abasa: 22]. And Al-A'sha said:

O wonder for the dead who revives.

And the reading of Asim "We will spread them" with the first ن (noon) opened and the ش (sheen) closed may be a dialect in bringing to life. It is said: I revived the dead, and it comes: The dead revived and I revived him, just as it is said: The animal was uncovered and I uncovered it, and the water receded and I receded it, and Zayd returned and I returned him. It may be intended by it the opposite of concealment, as if death is a concealment for the bones and limbs, and as if bringing to life and gathering some of them to others is spreading. As for whoever reads: "We will raise them" with ز (zaay), its meaning is: We raise them. And النَشَز (nashaz) is the elevated part of the earth. From it is the poet's saying:

You see the fox in it as if it were a horse adorned when it rises to an elevation.

Abu Ali and others said: Its meaning is: We will raise them by elevating some of them to others for revival. From it is النُشُوز (nushuz) of the woman. And Al-A'sha said:

A Qudaiyyah comes to the old women elevated.

It is said: She elevated and I elevated her.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It concerns me that the meaning of النُشُوز (nushuz) is the raising of the bones some of them to others, while النُشُوز (nushuz) is a slight elevation. So it is as if he stood upon the growth of the decayed bones and the emergence of what is found of them at the time of creation. And Al-Naqqash said: "We will raise them" means: We will cause them to grow. Look at the usage of the Arabs, and you will find it as I have mentioned to you. From that is: The tusk of the camel grew, and النَشَز (nashaz) of the earth, likening it to that.

And a woman elevated as if she had departed from the state she should be in.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And when it is said, 'Rise up,' then rise up" [Al-Mujadila: 11] means: elevate yourselves little by little, like the rising of a wolf. By this, there will be expansion. It is as if rising is a type of elevation. It is unlikely in usage to say of someone who has risen in a wall or room: 'He rose up.' And Al-Nakha'i read "Nanshuzuha" with a فتح on the ن and ضم on the ش and ز, and this was narrated from Ibn Abbas and Qatadah. And Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "How can we raise it?" with a ي.

And the covering is what conceals from the garments, and the flesh was likened to it. The poet Al-Nabigha borrowed it for Islam and said:

"Praise be to Allah, for I have not met my appointed time until I have donned the garment of Islam."

It is narrated that he used to see the flesh, the sinews, and the veins, how they unite and connect. And Al-Tabari said: The meaning of His saying: "So when it became clear to him" means: when it became evident to him visibly what he had previously found objectionable in the power of Allah before seeing it, he said: 'I know.'

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is an error because he imposed what the wording does not necessitate and interpreted according to the weak saying and interpretation. And Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, Asim, and Ibn Amir read: "I know" with a separated ألف and a ضم on the م. And Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "He said, 'Know that Allah'" with a connected ألف and a سكون on the م. And Abu Rajaa read it. And Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Al-Amash read: "It was said, 'I know.'"

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: As for this, it is a clear meaning, meaning the angel said to him - and the first is a clear meaning, meaning he said: 'I know that Allah is capable of all things.' And this, in my view, is not an acknowledgment of what he had previously denied as Al-Tabari claimed, but it is a statement prompted by reflection, as a believer says when he sees something strange from the power of Allah: 'There is no deity but Allah' and similar to this. And Abu Ali said: Its meaning is: I know this type of knowledge that I did not know before.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: He means the knowledge of witnessing. And as for the reading of Hamzah and Al-Kisai, it has two possible interpretations. One of them is: The angel said to him: 'Know,' and the other is that he places himself in the position of a separate addressed person, meaning: So when it became clear to him, he said to himself: 'Know.' And Abu Ali recited - in this regard - the saying of Al-A'sha:

"Farewell, Huraira, for the caravan is departing..."

And His saying:

"Did your eyes not close on the night of Arma?"

And examples of this are many. And Abu Ali took comfort in this meaning with the saying of the poet:

"He remembered from where and from where his drink is, commanding his two souls like the one with the swift camels."