Surah 13. Ar-Ra'd, Ayah 5

I.e., while it is amazing that one can refuse to believe in God despite all the evidence, accessible to human observation, of the existence of a definite purpose in all life-phenomena, and thus of the existence of a conscious Creative Power, it is no less amazing to see people who, while vaguely believing in God, can yet refuse to believe in individual resurrection: for, if God has created the universe and the phenomenon of life as such, He obviously has the power to re-create life - and its requisite physical vehicle - in a new act of creation.

By denying the possibility of resurrection, they implicitly deny God's almightiness, and thus, in effect, His reality.

A metaphor of man's wilful self-abandonment to false values and evil ways, and of the resulting enslavement of the spirit (cf. Zamakhshari, Razi, Baydawi). See also surah {34}, note [44].

After seeing the Signs in nature and the Signs in revelation, it is indeed strange that people should deny their Creator. But if they admit the Signs of the Creator, Who works marvels before their very eyes every day, why should they doubt that when they are reduced to dust, they can be raised up again? If one creation is possible, what difficulty can there be in accepting a renewed creation? It becomes then a question of an obstinate and rebellious will, for which the punishment is described.

Aglal: yokes (of servitude): Cf. vii. 157 and n. 1128. The punishment may be conceived of in two stages: immediately, yokes of servitude to superstition, falsehood, etc., as against the freedom in Faith; and finally, the Fire which burns the very soul.