Tafsir for verses: 23:78, 23:79, 23:80, 23:81, 23:82, 23:83
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنشَأَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمۡعَ وَٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرَ وَٱلۡأَفۡـِٔدَةَۚ قَلِيلٗا مَّا تَشۡكُرُونَ ٧٨ ﴿78﴾ وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِي ذَرَأَكُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَإِلَيۡهِ تُحۡشَرُونَ ٧٩ ﴿79﴾ وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِي يُحۡيِۦ وَيُمِيتُ وَلَهُ ٱخۡتِلَٰفُ ٱلَّيۡلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِۚ أَفَلَا تَعۡقِلُونَ ٨٠ ﴿80﴾ بَلۡ قَالُواْ مِثۡلَ مَا قَالَ ٱلۡأَوَّلُونَ ٨١ ﴿81﴾ قَالُوٓاْ أَءِذَا مِتۡنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابٗا وَعِظَٰمًا أَءِنَّا لَمَبۡعُوثُونَ ٨٢ ﴿82﴾ لَقَدۡ وُعِدۡنَا نَحۡنُ وَءَابَآؤُنَا هَٰذَا مِن قَبۡلُ إِنۡ هَٰذَآ إِلَّآ أَسَٰطِيرُ ٱلۡأَوَّلِينَ ٨٣ ﴿83﴾
78He is the One who created for you ears and eyes and hearts. Little you are grateful. 79And He is the One who created you on the earth, and it is He unto whom you will be gathered together. 80And He is the One who gives life and brings death, and it is He who controls the alternation of night and day. So, do you not understand? 81But they say as the earlier people had said. 82They said, “Is it that, when we will die and become dust and bones - is it that we will be raised again? 83This is what has been promised to us and to our fathers before. It is nothing but the tales of the ancients.”
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Commentary

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And He is the One who created for you hearing, sight, and hearts; little is what you give thanks." "And He is the One who spread you on the earth, and to Him you will be gathered." "And He is the One who gives life and causes death, and to Him belongs the alternation of night and day. Do you not understand?" "Rather, they said, like what the former ones said." "They said, 'When we have died and become dust and bones, will we indeed be resurrected?'" "We have been promised this, we and our forefathers, before; this is nothing but the tales of the ancients."

He, exalted and majestic is He, began by enumerating blessings in the very enumeration of them as a proof of His great power, and that the matter of resurrection is not beyond His ability nor is it great.

"Created" means "fashioned," and "hearing" is a source, and for this reason it is singular. It is said that He intended the genus. And "hearts" refers to the minds, and this is an indication of speech and intellect. His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "little" is an adjective for a deleted source, its estimation being: "little thanks you give." A group has gone to say that He meant: "little among you who give thanks," meaning who believe and give true thanks.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The first is more apparent.

"Spread" means "dispersed and created," and His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "and to Him you will be gathered" has a deleted addition, meaning: to His judgment and decree. "You will be gathered" refers to the resurrection.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "and to Him belongs the alternation of night and day" means: He has the power from which that comes. "Alternation" here refers to succession and the state of being opposite, and it is possible that it refers to clear contradiction.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Rather" is a disjunction, and the denial before it is implied, as if He said: They do not reflect on these verses, or something like this. "The former ones" refers to the disbelieving nations such as 'Aad and Thamud. His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "will we indeed be resurrected" means: will we be returned to life. And their saying: "and our forefathers" if he narrated the statement from the Arabs, they mean by it those who preceded from the world, considering them forefathers in terms of being of one kind. And if he narrated that from the former ones, the matter is straightforward regarding them. "Tales" is said to be the plural of "story" like "wonder" and "wonders" and "tale" and "tales." It is said to be a plural of a plural; it is said: "line" and "lines" and "tales."

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Ibn AtiyyahʿAbd al-Ḥaqq ibn Ghālib Ibn ʿAṭiyyah
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