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Lesson Thirteen
The Resurrection
of Man in Both His Dimensions
Now let us see what the nature of
life will be in the hereafter. Will resurrection be exclusively corporeal,
so that man is restored to life in the material form that characterizes
his body, or will his eternal life be exclusively in the realm of the spirit,
without any kind of attachment to the material body? Or will his return
to life have on the contrary both dimensions, spiritual and semi-corporeal?
Our use of the word semi-corporeal implies that what comes
to life is a subtle body, one that may be regarded as the essence of his
present form. Finally, since the nature of man is a compound of body and
spirit, will man's life after resurrection embrace both these dimensions,
so that neither will his body that element which gives rise to a whole
series of physical and chemical reaction perish completely, nor will his
spirit be the separated from his bodily form?
All these represent various theories put forward concerning the nature
of resurrection; let us now examine each one in turn.
Some scholars espouse the first theory and say that when death overtakes
the body and its physical and chemical reactions are brought to an end,
everything reaches its point of termination. However, when resurrection
takes place, the scattered form of man is reassembled out of the particles
that have been buried in the earth, scattered in the air, or drowned in
the ocean. When the body thus begins its new life, the spirit which counts
as one of the properties of the mechanism of the body is bound also to
come back to life.
The second theory has also been espoused by many philosophers. They believe
that since the spirit represents both the source and the essence of human
existence and its very structure predisposes it to continual life, it bids
eternal farewell to the material body when death occurs for the structure
of the body predisposes it to perishing. After enjoying for a brief time
the life-giving rays of the spirit, the body finds that its role is at
an end. The compound nature of the body permitted it to house the abstract
spirit only for a limited time, after which it inevitably fell prey to
decay and death. The spirit, by contrast, being ultimately free of the
body and its properties, remains eternal and immortal, and it is therefore
the spirit alone which appears on the plain of resurrection. Were this
not the case, resurrection would have no meaning. This theory implies,
of course, that punishment and reward are exclusively moral or spiritual.
There is no firm evidence in support of this theory, but it used to have
many supporters. Now it has very few followers, for the realistic theories
put forward by scholars have thoroughly undermined it.
The third analysis of the question is that which was made by a number of
ancient philosophers. They said that when we die, our body is indeed destroyed:
its elemental and material elements are dissolved in such a way that they
cannot be reassembled. The spirit then remains, but not in a state of utter
abstraction; it is lodged in a subtle body that is not capable of physical
and chemical reactions but nonetheless resembles our present body. This
subtle body, also known as the imaginal body, is extraordinarily active
and has the ability to transcend all obstacles, and is able to live eternally.
There is yet a fourth theory, which is held by many theologians and philosophers
both of the past and the present. It is based on the principle that resurrection
represents a complete and comprehensive return to life for nothing that
pertains to man can ever be fully destroyed. Man resumes his life in the
next world with all his qualities and properties, the only difference being
that his resurrectional life unfold in a more elevated realm than this
world. On that plane we will attain a state in which matter and spirit
retain their separate essences but become so closely interrelated that
their existence becomes manifest as a single unit.
The reality of resurrectional life must be envisaged, according to the
view, as containing both dimensions of man, not separate but joined, just
as was the case in this world.
No intellectual argument can be advanced as evidence for
the nature of life after death; it is only the necessity of resurrection
and its simultaneously spiritual and physical nature that are topics for
philosophical and rational analysis. Philosophy and the intellect have
no key for unlocking the mystery of which, out of all possible forms, will
definitely occur in the hereafter. Nonetheless, when we look at the way
in which the last of the theories outlined above seeks to answer this question,
we see that it contains an element of truth, for it points in the same
direction as the authoritative texts of Islam and is compatible with them.
The Qur'an which is the principal source for all such topics repeatedly
states that resurrection will be bodily. It proclaims, clearly and unmistakably,
that man will be resurrected with the body he has had in this world. The
verses in question are indeed so explicit as to leave no room for symbolic
interpretation. Consider, for example, these verses:
God begins creation, then He renews it, and after that causes
it to return to Him (30:11).
Does man imagine that We will not gather together his bones? We
are able to recreate even the tips of his fingers (75:3-4).
The second of these two verses states that those who imagine the body to
be incapable of renewed life, after the dissolution and scattering of its
particles, are, in reality, unaware of God's infinite power; they do not
understand that the reconstruction of human life out of the scattered particles
of the body, even to the extent of reproducing the minutiae of the fingertips,
represents a small and insignificant task for the boundless power of the
Creator.
Say: He will give life to the bones Who created them for the
first time; certainly He is aware of all His creation. (36:79).
A Story from the Qur'an
The Noble Qur'an presents narratives concerning the prophets Uzayr and
Ibrahim, the Friend of God, each of which includes a living example of
bodily resurrection. God clarifies the matter for each of these great prophets
by placing before them a concrete example of dead forms being restored
to life once the necessary circumstances come to obtain by divine order:
the spirit becomes manifest anew in the body so that its life resumes.
We read in the story of Uzayr that mounted on his donkey he once came
across a ruin in the course of a journey. In that ruin he was confronted
by the dreadful sight of the rotting bones of men who had long since died.
He plunged deep into thought and asked himself, How will God bring
these back to life?
At that very moment God took his soul, but one hundred years later He brought
him back to life. He asked him, How long have you been here?
He immediately answered, One day or less.
Uzayr was then informed that he had been in that place for a hundred years,
lying lifeless on the ground exactly where he had fallen. He was instructed
to look at his donkey, and saw that its body was thoroughly decomposed:
then God brought it back life.
In the story of Uzayr, we also see that in order to demonstrate the limitlessness
of His power God preserved water and foodstuffs intact for a hundred years,
objects that decay or vaporize more quickly than living beings on account
of their exposure to natural factors such as heat, sunlight, wind and dust.
He addressed Uzayr as follows:
Look at your food and drink; it has not changed and it shows no
sign of age. Look too at your donkey, so that its story becomes apparent
to you and We may make of you a proof for people so that they no longer
deny resurrection. Look at the rotten bones, and see how We bring them
together and make flesh grow on them. When all this was shown clearly to
him (the verse continues), he said, I know now for certain that God is
empowered over all things' (2:259).
The Qur'an depicts another concrete instance of bodily resurrection in
one of the narratives concerning Ibrahim, upon whom be peace. It tells
with the utmost clarity how Ibrahim witnessed with his own eyes the reassembling
of the scattered particles of a body:
When Ibrahim said: O God, show me how you bring the dead back
to life, God responded, Do you not believe?' He said, I do, but I wish
my heart to be reassured.' So God said, Choose four types of birds, and
mix their flesh together, and place portions on the top of mountains. Then
summon the birds, and they will come hastening to you. You will then know
that God is empowered over all things and is aware of the truth of all
things. (2:260).
Ibrahim was rationally and logically convinced of the truth of resurrection,
but he wished also to witness it in sensory fashion. He posed the very
wise question of how the dead are brought back to life.
One may believe in a variety of things without being aware of their precise
nature, a simple example being that we believe in the reality of radio
and television without knowing anything of how the sounds and images reach
us.
Ibrahim believed in the principle of resurrection and the renewal of life,
but he wished also to understand how the dead are brought back to life,
to know it directly by means of a concrete example, and to satisfy his
inner feelings by means of sensory experience.
After Ibrahim witnessed that remarkable scene, he was instructed to ponder
upon it and to realize that God is capable of all things and that given
His infinite knowledge and power it is a small matter for Him to identify
and reassemble the scattered particles of the dead.
Imam al-Sajjad, upon whom be peace, said:
At the time of resurrection men's bodies will grow out of the ground
like plants. The particles that were transformed into earth will rejoin
each other, through the will and the power of God, so that if even a thousand
people should have been buried in the same grave and their flesh and their
rotting bones intermingled, they will separate on the day of resurrection;
the earthly remains of each dead person will be quite distinct. (Li'ali
al-Akhbar, p. 456)
There are many clear verses in the Qur'an, additional to those we have
cited, which point clearly to the nature of resurrection. They refute all
restriction of renewed life to the spirit, Using such expressions such
as God will certainly resurrect the dead from their tombs
(22:6).
In another verse we read, You will return to Him just as He created
you (7: 29).
In concise and eloquent fashion, this verse draws the attention of man
to his original creation, reminding him how the form of his body was fashioned
from the various solid elements of the earth and from water. The different
elements which were compounded in him had first existed in the form of
foodstuffs fruits and vegetables scattered over the face of the earth or
drops of water taken from the depths of the ocean to be transformed into
vapor and rain. Why then should man not believe that those same materials,
separated from each other and scattered by wind and by storm, will be gathered
together again and resume their previous shape and form? If the restoration
of life is impossible, how is it that an exactly similar process took place
at the beginning of creation?
From the moment that the spirit is connected to the human body, a special
kind of union between the two comes into existence which becomes deeper
and more complete with the passage of time. A precise and subtle affinity
and harmony comes to prevail, as a result of which spirit and body fall
under each other's influence; attributes of the spirit appear in the body,
and attributes of the body appear in the spirit. Even the occurrence of
death and the separation of the spirit from the body combined with its
transfer to another world do not bring this affinity to an end. The various
changes that the spirit and the particles of the body separately undergo
also fail to affect this affinity, and although the earthly particles of
the body exist in different material circumstances from before, they retain
their links with the spirit.
Thus the material body and the non-material spirit are linked through the
very circumstances of their origin; acquiring a whole series of shared
characteristics that further join them together, they retain their affinity
throughout the changes and motions they separately undergo.
A corollary of this is that hidden within every drop of sperm are both
spiritual characteristics and physical properties.
The affinity between body and spirit causes each spirit to incline in the
direction of the body and its particles, by means of the appropriate motions
that have come to adhere to the spirit, and also attracts each body towards
the spirit, in accordance with a particular set of circumstances and a
series of divinely decreed norms. After passing through various stages
of change the body leaves its earthly form behind and by an act of God
is transformed into a more perfect form, in which it resumes its close
link and union with the spirit.
It is worth mentioning that the changes mentioned above are also repeated
in the world of being. The earthly particles of our present body are the
result of transformations that have taken place because of a specific set
of causes. Not only does the body take shape by means of those transformations;
each body also is constantly renewed through the decay of the elements
and particles that compose it and the replacement of those elements and
particles by new ones.
The Noble Qur'an says the following about the comprehensive and all-embracing
transformation by means of which the whole order of being will be changed
into something other than itself:
The day on which the heavens and earth will be changed into other
than the heaven and earth, and all will be brought before God, the One
and All-Powerful (14:48).
The earthly particles of the human body follow therefore the general transformations
that the whole order of being undergoes; they are transformed, in fact,
in conjunction with the totality of that order, taking on a more complete
aspect in which their true nature becomes apparent and man recovers his
true being.
It must be remarked that although the body man will possess in the hereafter
is fashioned from the particles of his present body and has the same shape,
it will nonetheless have acquired new characteristics which are incompatible
with the recognized criteria of this world and are inconceivable to our
minds. Our body in the hereafter will be capable of new effects fully compatible
with that realm, the comprehension of which, together its interrelations
and the norms that govern it, requires a higher consciousness than we now
possess.
The Qur'an says the following, in expounding another matter
concerning bodily resurrection;
When they enter hellfire, their eyes and ears and the skins on
their bodies shall give witness against them on account of the sins they
have committed. They will address their skins asking them, Why do you
give witness against us?' They will receive this answer: The Lord Who
gave speech to all things and Who first created you has given speech to
us, too; certainly you will return to him.' (41:20-21)
Here a remarkable, indeed shattering scene is described. No one expects
the organs of his own body to rise up and bear witness against him in the
tribunal of the hereafter. The skin of the body, which is closer to man
than any other part of his physical being, has been chosen to testify concerning
him. Those who used to sin and do wrong in secret, because of their defective
notions about the reach of God's knowledge, who strove to conceal the ugliness
of their acts from the view of others, will see on that day that their
eyes and the skin of their bodies, transformed into an organ of vision,
have stood up to give testimony against them. In their astonishment they
will therefore ask the organs of their bodies: Why are you giving
testimony against us? They will receive a firm answer, delivered
in tones of reproach by their bodily organs, He is the Creator Who
first brought you into existence and to Him you will return.
The Commander of the Faithful, Ali, upon whom be peace,
said:
Matters will succeed each other and ages will pass away, one after
the other, until resurrection finally arrives. Then God will bring men
forth from the pits of their tombs, from the nests of ravenous birds, from
the lairs of wild animals, and from battlefields. They will hasten toward
the divine presence, in obedience to God's command, to be sent on to their
eternal abode. They will stand before Him, silent and in groups. Although
their numbers will be vast, none of them will be hidden from God's limitless
knowledge and penetrating vision. (Nahj al-Balagha, ed. Subhi
Salih, p. 108)
Certain verses also mention the body that man will have at resurrection
as being similar to his body in this world. An example is:
Although the skin on their body will burn, We will clothe them
in new skins so they may taste the severity of our torment. (4:56)
A terrifying panorama of prolonged sensory torment is conjured up here,
showing that the painful punishment of the sinners will be constantly repeated.
Verses such as this in no way contradict the verses previously quoted,
because the constantly renewed skins are fashioned from the same original
skin; it is there alone that change and increase or decrease may take place.
It will be fitting an explanation given by Imam al-Sadiq, on whom be peace,
which clarifies the lack of contradiction involved.
Someone once asked Imam al-Sadiq what sin those various skins had committed
to make them deserving of chastisement. He answered that from one point
of view they are the same as the original skin and from another point of
view different from them. The man then asked him to explain the matter
further by means of a comparison. The Imam said:
Have you ever seen someone break a brick, and then pour it in a mold
and restore it to its original shape? From one point of view the second
brick is identical with the first, and from another point of view it is
different from it. (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. VII, p. 38)
Once the Prophet of Islam was speaking about bodily resurrection, a subject
that was baffling, inexplicable and even unacceptable for the polytheists.
They reacted therefore with their customary stupidity.
In that milieu where obsolete criteria and destructive superstitions had
taken the place of free thought and decay had spread like the plague destroying
the fabric of society, it was the aim of the Qur'an to guide the ailing
minds of men to a search for the truth. The Qur'an thus reproduces the
words of those foolish ones as follows:
The unbelievers shall say: Shall we show to you a man who says
that after you die and the particles of your body are scattered, you will
be brought back to life? Is such a person a liar against God or is it lunacy
that impels him to utter such words?' No, it is those who do not believe
in resurrection who will suffer torment in the hereafter and here they
are misguided, far distant from salvation. (34:7-8)
All these clear and categorical verses, which leave no room for symbolic
interpretation, speak unmistakably of bodily resurrection.
To approach the matter from a different point of view, certain deductions
can be made that permit us to conclude that the body and the soul are two
entities linked together the mutual inclination of which brings man into
being: whatever motion or activity arises from man in this world bear within
it a part of both elements.
If we view the matter in this way, not only is there no need to postulate
a separation between body and soul; we are also provided with a realistic
indication that the two must necessarily be compounded anew in life after
death.
We know that neither body nor soul represents a complete entity in itself
if isolated from the other. The body is an instrument of the soul, and
the role it plays in assuring the continuous activity of the soul is crucial.
All legislators throughout history have regarded legal and penal provisions
as being addressed to man in both the dimensions of which he is compounded,
the bodily and the spiritual, so that neither of these dimensions is forced
to bear the burden of responsibility alone. In similar fashion, both dimensions
are called to account jointly for their deeds when the final reckoning
is made on the plain of resurrection.
Is it, indeed, conceivable that man should be held as legally accountable
in this world with both dimensions, but in the hereafter all responsibility
should be placed on the fragile shoulders of his spirit?
The fundamental purpose of resurrection is that human beings should attain
ultimate felicity and complete the final stages of their development, by
virtue of the pure belief they have held and the good deeds they have performed.
The attainment of such an aim requires careful and precise planning, and
all divine religions have therefore laid down a series of precepts and
commands the fulfillment of which will enable man to reach the lofty summit
for which he is destined.
The most practical and effective method for the fulfillment of this plan
consists of simultaneously encouraging man and inducing fear in him; on
the one hand establishing reward and giving the glad tidings of the infinite
blessings of paradise, and on the other hand threatening him with punishment
and warning him of torment and unendurable pain. Both reward and punishment
must be recognizable and perceptible to ordinary human perception for the
final outcome of good deeds and the abandonment of evil to become firmly
rooted in man's inner being.
Purely spiritual rewards and punishments would not be comprehensible for
the masses of humanity; it is corporeal enjoyment and torment that are
capable of arousing their attention. They both encourage man to do good
deeds, in obedience to the law, and inspire in him fear of the consequences
of violating the law.
For most people, the concept of pleasure is simultaneously corporeal and
spiritual; few indeed are those who could adequately grasp the notion of
purely spiritual pleasure or punishment.
This being the case, to promise men infinite joys of a spiritual nature
or to warn them of an exclusively spiritual torment would not work a transforming
effect in the depths of men's soul; it would be unable to control the disparate
tendencies at work within man or to prevent him from entering the forbidden
zone of sin.
It is only those whom God has chosen as His friends and possess accordingly
sublime minds in whose souls the anticipation of non-material rewards will
arouse the desire to obey even to love God's commands.
In addition, God's abundant favor and wisdom necessitate that He bestows
all conceivable material and non-material blessings on His pure, sincere,
and devoted servants, and that He should punish bloodthirsty and bestial
tyrants with a comprehensive punishment that is both material and non-material.
The comprehensiveness both of blessedness in the hereafter and of requital
can be assured only by man being resurrected in both his dimensions.
The Qur'an promises both material and spiritual blessings to the virtuous
and the pious:
God promises the believers, both women and men, that He will cause
them to enter a paradise where rivers flow beneath the trees, and have
them dwell in splendid palaces. He will also bestow on them His pleasure
and satisfaction, which is greater and loftier than material bounties.
This spiritual reward is, in truth, the supreme achievement for the pure
(9:72).
The Limited Capacity of the Earth
Some people might voice the objection that the globe cannot possibly accommodate
on the day of resurrection all the human beings who have lived upon it
throughout time. This objection is, however, completely unfounded, because
as the Qur'an makes entirely clear, the orderly rotation of the heavens
will be thoroughly disrupted when the end of the world comes. An awesome
power will grind the mountains into dust and scatter them in every direction;
the sun and the moon will lose their familiar splendor and light and grow
dark; and the whole coherent order of the universe, formed of sublime phenomena
that are fashioned from the crudest of materials, will utterly collapse.
An entirely new order and structure of creation will come into being on
the silent and dead ruins of the old.
It can, then, be easily understood that any objection based on an alleged
lack of space on the globe is quite unwarranted.
Those whose system of thought is opposed to the view of believers in God
and who are accustomed to raising all kinds of objections also raise another
question. They point out that the cells in the human body are replaced
annually so that every individual changes his physical form several times
in the course of his life, gradually and imperceptibly. Now it is obvious
that every body performs acts, in the course of its specific lifespan,
that deserve reward or punishment; which body will it be, however, that
must ultimately held responsible for those deeds at the time of resurrection?
The answer to this objection in obvious. Given the fact that each new cell
inherits the characteristics and attributes of its predecessor so that
even the external appearance of the body is indistinguishable from the
old, it is plain that the final body of man represents a compendium of
the attributes of all the preceding bodies.
The resurrection of the last body which is visible to us is therefore tantamount
to the resurrection of all its predecessors.
Scarcity of Matter and the Multitude of Men
Another objection which is raised is that of the limited nature of the
earthly materials which contain in themselves the remains of countless
men who have been turned into earth. It is said that the amount of earth
presently available will not suffice for the fashioning anew of so many
people.
The baselessness of this objection, which does not originate in any serious
search for the truth, becomes obvious when we make the following calculations.
Every square kilometer of earth is enough for making a hundred million
men. This amount occupies a very paltry portion of the earth's surface,
but it would be enough for refashioning twenty times the present population
of the world.
Based on this calculation, an extremely small plot of land would yield
enough material for making anew the bodies of billions upon billions of
men, so the objection that the raw materials needed for resurrecting so
many people would be lacking turns out to be groundless.
Furthermore, one of the properties of matter is that it takes on different
forms. If for example the atoms comprising one cubic meter of stone are
split, they can occupy millions of cubic meters of space; their dimensions
expand to an unimaginable degree.
The Qur'an proclaims: A day will come on which the earth will
be transformed into other than itself (14:48).
The Eater and the Eaten
There is a very ancient and interesting objection that we should not pass
over in silence. This relates to the transformation of the particles of
the bodies of the deceased into substances that are then consumed by others,
causing those particles to become intermingled with the bodies of others.
It is true that not a single human body can be found which is entirely
free of contamination by other elements. However, this intermingling with
alien substances is so slight, in the circumstances of this world, both
quantitatively and qualitatively, as to be imperceptible. However, it is
conceivable that when bodies are reconstructed in the hereafter a kind
of rivalry and struggle for the possession of certain materials may take
place.
It is entirely possible that this struggle should not be confined to two
individuals, taking place instead among a number of claimants each seeking
possession of a certain particle as its true owner. Who should in fact
take possession of it?
This then is the problem.
When we look back to the first sign of life, we see that we began as monocellular
beings. Then our body took shape through the multiplication and growth
of the different parts and limbs of our body. In the past, it was imagined
that our personality and our physical characteristics were contained only
in the mass of reproductive cells, but it is known now that they are present
within each individual cell. Each cell acts separately as a mirror in which
the whole appearance of man is reflected. This holds true not only of man
but also of all other living creatures.
This being the case, if even a single cell from man's body, with the entirety
of his personality inscribed within it, is placed in suitable circumstances,
it is capable of undertaking by itself the entire task of reconstructing
the body, through dividing and giving birth to new cells.
Now if particles of the body become absorbed into the structure of another,
the particles belonging to that individual will return to their original
locus. By thus returning the particles it had borrowed from a stranger,
the second body will in fact be preserving its own original being. It should
also be stressed that since each of the two bodies retains its respective
characteristics even though their constituent elements become intermingled,
there is nothing to prevent each of them from displaying anew its respective
identity. Even if the original particles left over from each body be exceedingly
few even if, for example, only a single cell survives it will still be
possible for that body to reconstruct itself, and nothing can prevent it
from doing so.
In any event, irrespective of whether the work of repair and reconstruction
be completed swiftly or gradually, every particle retains the capacity
of building anew the original body, just as that body once emerged from
a single drop of sperm.
The same problem can be solved in another way.
As we know, the body is engaged in constant dissolution and replacement.
The entire bodily frame changes once every few years, gradually and imperceptibly.
If a person appropriates elements of the being of another, directly or
indirectly, using them to nurture himself, it is obvious that only a part
of that stranger becomes intermingled with him, for he is, after all, a
complete person in his own right. Out of all the nutrition that a person
consumes, only three percent is absorbed into his body. Why then should
the remaining ninety seven percent which is not absorbed into the body,
not be available for the resurrection of the individual with whom they
originated?
Apart from this, in accordance with the laws of physics, all forms of energy
in the world may be transformed into each other, given the appropriate
conditions. Man is himself a source for the production of energy and even
after his death his body is transformed from one form of energy into another.
At the time of resurrection, all the energies of living beings will exist
in utter freedom, and they will be able to return to their original form
by means of a kind of inverted reaction. The mere fact that we do not know
precisely how this change will take place does not give us the right to
dismiss it as impossible.
As for punishment in the hereafter, it should be realized that what causes
pain and torment has a connection to the spirit, so that if part of the
body of a believer become attached to that of an unbeliever, it is the
unbeliever that will suffer the pain of torment not the believer.
In addition to all the foregoing, it must be stated that it is entirely
possible for God to restore life to a body that has changed, gradually
and imperceptibly, the cells composing its brain, nerves and bones, as
much as ten times in the course of a lifetime. Any individual today is
different from what he was ten years ago. It is a matter of indifference
to which of those versions of the body the spirit be rejoined at resurrection,
for that upon which the humanity of an individual depends and which serves
as the guarantor of the uniqueness of his personality, is the non-material
spirit, which is charged with the administration and governance of his
body from its first appearance until death.
From the first beginning of creation down to the present, billions of human
beings have come into existence, and even if they now lie intermingled
with each other, the spiritual characteristics of each of them remain utterly
distinct. If a person committed a crime ten years ago, it cannot be said
that since his physical form has changed, he should not be tried in place
of that person who committed the crime ten years ago.
If we offset a book, the new printing will be exactly the same as the old,
although the paper and binding may be different.
Since man needs matter as the means whereby he manifests his existence,
he must necessarily be resurrected with his body. However, it is not at
all necessary that an individual come back to life at resurrection with
all the forms his body has had from birth to death; it can be said that
they all appear together in a single form at the time of resurrection.
If this be true, it completely disposes of the objection that particles
which have transferred from one body to another cannot be simultaneously
present in two persons at the time of resurrection.
Furthermore, the real dimensions of the body are composed of a single insignificant
atom; the rest is made up of empty space. If some powerful form of pressure
were brought to bear on the body, making it compact and eliminating the
spaces between its electrons, the basic matter of the body would be seen
to be a minute atom visible only to a microscope.
It is therefore not at all necessary for the spaces between the particles
of the body to be recreated at resurrection; it will be quite sufficient
for the particles themselves (either some of them or all of them) to return.
None of the possibilities mentioned above should be regarded as categorical
answers to the problems posed by the restoration of life to man; they are
merely avenues to understanding that lie within our reach. We cannot restrict
our reflections on this subject to the arguments set out above. Our aim
has been only to prove that doubts and objections such as those we have
reviewed should not be allowed to affect our basic belief in resurrection
and the restoration of life to the body which is so strongly emphasized
by the revealed religions, especially, the Qur'an.
