67 Al-Mulk (Dominion)
Medina Period
In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:
67:1 HALLOWED be He in whose hand all dominion rests, since He has the power to will anything:
67:2 He who has created death as well as life, 1 so that He might put you to a test [and thus show] which of you is best in conduct, and [make you realize that] He alone is almighty, truly forgiving. (3) [Hallowed be] He who has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another: 2 no fault will thou see in the creation of the Most Gracious. And turn thy vision [upon it] once more: canst thou see any flaw?
Ali’s version and the Arabic text
تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ ...
67:1. Blessed be He in Whose hands is Dominion:
... وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ﴿١﴾
and He over all things Hath Power --
الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ ...
2. He Who created Death and Life,
C5556. "Created Death and Life." Death is here put before Life, and it is created. Death is therefore not merely a negative state.
In 2:28 we read: "Seeing that ye were without life (literally, dead), and He gave you life: then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye retum."
In 53:44, again, Death is put before Life. Death, then, is
the state before life began, which may be non-existence or existence in some other form:
the state in which Life as we know it ceases, but existence does not cease; a state of Barzakh(23:100), or Barrier or Partition, after our visible Death and before Judgment; after that will be the new Life, which we conceive of under the term Eternity.
... لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ...
that He may try which of you is best in deed:
C5557. Creation, therefore, is not in mere sport, or without a purpose with reference to man. The state before our present life, or the state after, we can scarcely understand. But our present Life is clearly given to enable us to strive by good deeds to reach a nobler state.
... وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ ﴿٢﴾
and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving --
C5558. All this is possible, because Allah is so Exalted in Might that He can perfectly carry out His Will and Purpose, and that Purpose is Love, Mercy, and Goodness to His creatures.
[[Asad’s note -1 Since what is termed "death" is stated here to have been created, it cannot be identical with "non-existence", but obviously must have a positive reality of its own. To my mind, it connotes, firstly, the inanimate state of existence preceding the emergence of life in plants or animated beings; and, secondly, the state of transition from life as we know it in this world to the - as yet to us unimaginable - condition off existence referred to in the Qur'an as "the hereafter" or "the life to
come" (al-akhirah).
2 Or: "conforming [with one another]", this being the primary significance of tibaq (sing, tabaq). For the meaning of the "seven heavens", see surah 2, note 20.]]