Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 259 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:259

أَوْ كَٱلَّذِى مَرَّ عَلَىٰ قَرْيَةٍ وَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّىٰ يُحْىِۦ هَـٰذِهِ ٱللَّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۖ فَأَمَاتَهُ ٱللَّهُ مِا۟ئَةَ عَامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُۥ ۖ قَالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتَ ۖ قَالَ لَبِثْتُ يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ ۖ قَالَ بَل لَّبِثْتَ مِا۟ئَةَ عَامٍ فَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰ طَعَامِكَ وَشَرَابِكَ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ ۖ وَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰ حِمَارِكَ وَلِنَجْعَلَكَ ءَايَةً لِّلنَّاسِ ۖ وَٱنظُرْ إِلَى ٱلْعِظَامِ كَيْفَ نُنشِزُهَا ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًا ۚ فَلَمَّا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُۥ قَالَ أَعْلَمُ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“Or [consider such an example] as the one who passed by a township which had fallen into ruin. He said, "How will Allāh bring this to life after its death?" So Allāh caused him to die for a hundred years; then He revived him. He said, "How long have you remained?" He [the man] said, "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said, "Rather, you have remained one hundred years. Look at your food and your drink; it has not changed with time. And look at your donkey; and We will make you a sign for the people. And look at the bones [of this donkey] - how We raise them and then We cover them with flesh." And when it became clear to him, he said, "I know that Allāh is over all things competent."”

Saheeh International

Essence

A man asked how a dead town could live again; Allah made him, his donkey and his food the answer.

A reflection

A hundred years that felt like an afternoon

A man goes back to his childhood village after forty years abroad. In his head it has stayed as he left it. The oak he climbed has gone. The corner shop sells phone repairs. Nobody knows his name.

The man in this ayah was asked, 'How long did you stay?' He answered, 'A day, or part of a day'. The commentators explain why. He died early in the day and was raised before sunset. Seeing the sun still up, he assumed it was the same afternoon. He was wrong by a century.

Then comes the striking pairing. 'Look at your food and drink: it has not aged. And look at your donkey'. The same hundred years passed over both. One stayed fresh, as if the years had never come. The other had become scattered white bones. Time did not treat them the same. It did what it was told.

That is where the ego shrinks. We live as if our clocks are in charge. We plan in quarters and five-year strategies. We assume we will notice the years as they pass. This man could not even tell a day from a century. The One who held both his food and his donkey decides what time touches, and how deeply.

A sceptic may ask why the story ends with 'Allah is over all things competent'. Is it a boast? Rather, it is the man's own confession, drawn out of him by what he saw. He needed to say it, for his own sake. Allah's power did not grow by a hair when he admitted it. He is free of all need (35:15).

Our sense of time is a borrowed instrument, and not a precise one. Let that humble every plan you make. Say 'if Allah wills' and mean it.

The full entry has 7 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.