Translation:
(Remember) when Abraham said, “O My Sustainer! Show me how you give life to the dead,” God asked, “Do you not believe?” 143 He (Abraham) replied, “Yes, I do, but this is to put my heart at ease.” God then instructed, “Take four birds and tame them to respond to you. Then put pieces of them in every mountain and afterward call them—they will come flying to you.” You should know that God is Mighty, Wise!
Interpretation:
143 Prophet Abraham is known to be the father of monotheism, and his belief in God and his commitment to live his life according to the will of God is legendary. He was tested in many ways, and in every instance he proved to be worthy of God’s grace and honor. In the particular instance mentioned in this verse, we see him genu- inely wanting to see and convince himself of God’s power over the dead in bringing them back to life. But his desire was out of a genuine pursuit to reinforce his belief as opposed to questioning God’s ability, as the pharaoh and others did in the past and as world leaders continue to do even to this day.
At some point in our lives each of us questions some of the unseen realities, such as life and death, the process of creation, the nature of the soul, the vastness of the universe, what happens when death comes, what God looks like, and so on. In the fields of human endeavor, such as science, some of us are better endowed with an ability to see some of these things beyond normal capabilities—these opportunities are attained through the gift of God given to those humans who endeavor. In all instances, God’s gift comes after intense effort, reflection, and experimentation by the individual or the community. God’s willingness to listen and offer a confirmation either physically or spiritually is His prerogative. Even in our own lives we see and feel differently over time, a development that occurs as we grow to be more mature and increase our insights.
Even though we do not fully comprehend the reason for life and death, we see the process every day as babies are born and as people pass on right in front of us. That much is known, and while we have mapped out the process of birth and death from a physical perspective, we do not fully understand the nature of the soul and what role it plays in our lives. God’s humility and patience to teach Abraham about life and death should be an example for Muslim elders who sometimes get impatient and question the faith of the younger generation because they may want to understand more about the faith through questioning and reasoning while they themselves, as an older generation, accepted the faith without questioning. Their impatience and lack of ability to explain practices are reflective of their shortcomings rather than the arrogance or disobedience of the younger generation, as is commonly perceived. We owe it to our younger generation to provide them with adequate opportunities for learning, supporting environments, and intellectual nourishment so that they can become believers with full conviction and commitment.
Reflection:
People of faith and people of responsibility have to have faith in the unseen world created by God, since it is not within their realm of complete under- standing to see and since God has kept many aspects hidden from our everyday experiences; still, He expects us to make them a part of our realities and factor them into our daily lives and decision making. We know from our own personal experiences that things we did not know existed or did not know how to engage in productive use became realities, such as the Internet and mobile telephony, and previous generations would have coined such ideas as fairy tales and unreal. Each one of us is born from virtually nowhere and nothing with remarkable capabilities and with tools such as the brain, heart, mind, and soul, well equipped to survive, grow, reason, communicate, make choices, and take action while also having the supporting environment of Mother Earth that we did not ask for or know existed.
Action:
Each one of us has to reflect seriously on the matter of the unseen and genuinely commit to factoring them into our decision making and actions; God’s omnipresence, our accountability on the Day of Judgment, Heaven and Hell, and the Devil and his treachery to mankind are all unseen, yet they are matters of importance that influence the choices we make each and every day with respect to ourselves and others.