The Tenth Word

Addendum

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

So glorify God when you enter the evening and when you enter the morning—and (proclaim that) all praise and gratitude in the heavens and on the earth are for Him—and in the afternoon, and when you enter the noon time. He brings forth the living out of the dead, and brings the dead out of the living, and revives the earth after its death. It is in this way that you will be brought forth from the dead. And among His signs is that He created you from earth; then you have grown into a human population scattered widely. And among His signs is that He has created for you, from your selves, mates, that you may incline towards them and find rest in them, and He has engendered love and tenderness between you. Surely in this are signs for people who reflect. And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. Surely in this are signs indeed for people who know. And among His signs is your sleeping at night and in the day, and your seeking (livelihoods) out of His bounty. Surely in this are signs for people who pay heed. And among His signs is His displaying before you the lightning, giving rise to both fear and hopeful expectation, and that He sends down water from the sky, and revives with it the earth after its death. Surely in this are signs for people who reason. And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand firm by His Command. In the end, when He calls you forth from the earth, then (at once) you will come forth. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on the earth. All are obedient to Him in humble service. He it is Who originates creation and then reproduces it, and will bring it back: and that is most easy for Him. Whatever attribute of sublimity there is in the heavens and the earth, it is His in the highest degree, and He is the All-Glorious and Mighty, the All-Wise. (30:17-27)

One most significant argument included in these sublime heavenly verses, which point to one pole of belief, in these exalted sacred proofs that establish the Resurrection’s reality, is here set forth. It is a subtle instance of Divine grace that, at the end of Muhakemat (“The Reasonings”), which I wrote about 30 years ago to set down the principles of Qur’anic commentary, came the words: “A Second of Two Other General Proofs: This explains two of the proofs of the Resurrection, which the Qur’an indicates. In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.” And there it stopped.

Praise and thanks as numerous as the proofs and indications of the Resurrection to my All-Compassionate Creator that 30 years later on, I have been enabled to resume that task. About 9 or 10 years ago, God granted me The Tenth and Twenty-ninth Words, two works containing numerous strong proofs and interpretations of the Divine Decree—Look upon the imprints of God’s Mercy, how He revives the soil after its death. Surely He will revive the dead [in the same way], and He has full power over everything. The Tenth and Twenty-ninth Words silenced those who denied the Resurrection. Now, a decade or so later, He has granted to me the interpretation of the supreme verses quoted above, unassailable fortresses of belief in the Resurrection. That interpretation consists of some parts.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi