Abu Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā said:

Fudayl ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb narrated to us; Hushaym informed us, from Abū Bishr, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said:

Al-ʿĀs ibn Wāʾil once came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ holding a decayed bone (1). He crumbled it between his fingers and said, “Muhammad, will Allah really bring this back to life?” The Prophet replied,

“Yes. Allah will cause you to die, then He will bring you back to life, and then He will admit you into the Fire of Hell.”

Thereupon the revelation came:

“And he strikes out a parable for Us, forgetting his own creation, and says, ‘Who will revive these bones when they have crumbled?’ Say: He who produced them the first time will revive them, for He has full knowledge of every created thing.” (Yā Sīn 78–79) (2)

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk, commenting on the words of the Almighty,

“And you have already known the first creation” (56:62),

said: this refers to the creation of Adam and to your own creation. Concerning His words,

“We created you; so why do you not affirm the truth?” (56:57),

he said: so why do you not believe? (3)

Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir said:

It used to be said: “How astonishing that someone denies the second creation while witnessing the first! How utterly amazing that a person rejects resurrection after death when he himself is raised up every day and night.” Related by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (4).

Abū al-ʿĀliyah, regarding the verse,

“He is the One who originates creation, then brings it back again, and that is even easier for Him” (30:27),

said: bringing it back is easier for Him than originating it, though both are effortless for Him. Reported by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (5).

Imām Aḥmad related:

ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar narrated to us, from Hammām ibn Munabbih, from Abū Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Allah, Exalted be He, says: ‘My servant has denied Me, though he has no right to do so, and he has reviled Me, though he has no right to do so. As for his denying Me, it is his saying, “He will not bring me back to life as He created me the first time.” As for his reviling Me, it is his saying, “Allah has taken a child,” whereas I am al-Aḥad, al-Ṣamad, who begets not, nor is begotten, and there is none comparable to Me.’”

This narration is authentically established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (6).

In those same two Ṣaḥīḥs is the story of the man who, when death approached, instructed his sons: “When I die, burn me, then on a windy day scatter half of my ashes on land and cast the other half into the sea. By Allah, if Allah is able to get hold of me, He will punish me with a torment the like of which He will inflict on no one else in all creation.” He gave these instructions because he had not stored up a single good deed with Allah. When he died, his sons carried out his wishes exactly. Allah then ordered the land, and it gathered whatever of him it contained; and He ordered the sea, and it gathered whatever of him it contained, and there he was—standing before his Lord. Allah said to him, “What moved you…?”