Sura-50 [Qaf Mecca 34]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:
أَئِذَا
مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا
تُرَابًا ...
50:3. "What!
when we die and become dust, (shall we live again?).
C4942. Cf. 37:16.
... ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ﴿٣﴾
That is a (sort of) Return far (from our understanding)."
قَدْ
عَلِمْنَا مَا
تَنقُصُ الْأَرْضُ
مِنْهُمْ ...
50:4. We already know how much of them the earth takes away:
C4943. The earth only corrupts and takes away the body when they are dead; it has no power over the soul. The full account of the soul's doings is in Allah's Record.
... وَعِندَنَا كِتَابٌ حَفِيظٌ ﴿٤﴾
with Us is a Record guarding (the full account).
بَلْ
كَذَّبُوا
بِالْحَقِّ
لَمَّا جَاءهُمْ
فَهُمْ فِي
أَمْرٍ مَّرِيجٍ
﴿٥﴾
50:5. But they deny the truth when it comes to them:
So they are in a confused state.
C4944. If they deny what has been made clear to them, their minds must necessarily get into confusion.
All nature declares the glory and goodness of Allah. Revelation explains the inequalities of this life and how they will be redressed in the Hereafter. If they do not accept this, they are not in a logical position. They cannot reconcile the known with the unknown.
Other versions:
In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:
(50:3) Why - [how could we be resurrected] after we have died and become mere dust? Such a return seems far-fetched indeed!"
50:4 Well do We know how the earth consumes their bodies, 3 for with Us is a record unfailing.
(50:5) Nay, but they [who refuse to believe in resurrection] have been wont to give the lie to this truth whenever it was proffered to them; and so they are in a state of confusion. 4
[[Asad’s notes
3 Lit., "what the earth diminishes of them" - implying that God's promise of resurrection takes the fact of the dead bodies' decomposition fully into account. Consequently, resurrection will be like "a new creation" (cf. 10:4, 21:104, 30:11, 85:13, etc.), recalling the recurrent process of creation and re-creation visible in all organic nature (cf. 10:34, 27:64, 30:27).
4 Since they reject a priori all thought of life after death, they are perplexed by the lack of any answer to the "why" and "what for" of maris life, by the evident inequality of human destinies, and by what appears to them as a senseless, blind cruelty of nature: problems which can be resolved only against the background of a belief in a continuation of life after bodily "death" and, hence, in the existence of a purpose and a plan underlying all creation. ]]