“Say, ‘Be you stones or iron, or any created thing that seems even greater in your hearts.’ Then they will say, ‘Who will restore us?’ Say, ‘He who originated you the first time.’ Then they will shake their heads at you and say, ‘When will that be?’ Say, ‘Perhaps it will be soon.’” (50–51)

“Look,” O Muhammad, “at how they have coined comparisons for you” ⦗210/a⦘—they said, “A poet, a magician, a soothsayer, and a madman.” “So they have gone astray”: they have become bewildered and deviated. “Thus they cannot find a way”: that is, they cannot reach the path of truth.

“And they say, ‘When we have become bones’”—after death—“‘and fragments’”: Mujahid said, “Dust,” while others said, “debris.” Rufāt means everything that has broken apart and decayed from any thing, such as crumbs and debris. “‘Shall we truly be raised as a new creation?’”

“Say,” O Muhammad, to them: “‘Be you stones or iron,’” in hardness and strength. This is not a command requiring compliance; rather, it is a challenge intended to demonstrate their incapacity—that is, imagine in your hearts that you are stones or iron in strength. “‘Or any created thing that seems even greater in your hearts.’” It was said: the heavens, the earth, and [the mountains]. (1)

Mujahid, Ikrimah (2), and most Qur’anic exegetes said that it is death, for there is nothing greater in the soul of the son of Adam than death. That is, even if you yourselves were death, I would surely cause you to die and would surely resurrect you.

“Then they will say, ‘Who will restore us?’”: Who will raise us after death? “Say, ‘He who originated you’”—created you—“‘the first time.’” Whoever has power to originate has power to restore. “Then they will shake their heads at you”: that is, they will move them.