So why do you not believe? This is an encouragement to believe. It is either regarding creation, because although they are believers in it, their doctrine contradicts what belief necessitates, as if they are denying it. Or it is regarding resurrection, because the One who created initially is not prevented from creating a second time. What you desire, meaning what you cast into the wombs from the drops. Abu al-Samal read with an open 'ta', it is said: he caused the drop to be conceived. Allah, the Most High, said: 'From a drop when it is conceived.' You create it, you estimate it and imagine it. We have decreed death among you with a decree and divided it among you as a division of sustenance according to our will, so your lifespans differ, some short, some long, and some average.

And it is read: We have decreed with a lighter pronunciation. To precede someone in something means to overpower them and not allow them to attain it. Thus, the meaning of His saying: 'And We are not to be outdone in replacing you' is that We are capable of that; you cannot overpower Us in it. 'And your likes' is the plural of 'like', meaning that We can replace you and your place with your counterparts from creation, and that We can create you in a creation that you do not know and of which you have not experienced anything like it. This means: We are capable of both matters: creating what is similar to you and what is not similar to you, so how could We be incapable of bringing you back? It is also possible that 'your likes' is the plural of 'like', meaning that We can replace and change the attributes you have in your creation and your morals, and create you with attributes that you do not know.

It is read 'the creation' and 'the creation'. And in this is evidence for the validity of analogy, as He has made them ignorant in neglecting to compare the other creation to the first.