And so it became. Then it was proclaimed: “Allah commands you to come to life.” So it rose up and brayed by Allah’s permission. Allah granted Jeremiah a long life, and he is the one seen in the wilderness. Thus is His saying, exalted is He: “So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then brought him back to life”—that is, He restored him to life. “He said, ‘How long have you remained?’” That is, how long did you stay?

It is said that, when Allah restored him to life, He sent an angel to him, who asked him, “How long have you remained?” He replied, “I have remained a day.” This was because Allah Most High had caused him to die in the forenoon, at the beginning of the day, and restored him to life after a hundred years at the end of the day, before sunset. So he said, “I have remained a day,” thinking that the sun had set. Then he looked and saw that a portion of the sun remained, so he said, “Or part of a day”—rather, part of a day. The angel said, “No; you have remained a hundred years. Look at your food,” meaning the figs, “and your drink,” meaning the grape juice, “which has not changed.” That is, it had not altered: the figs were as though they had been picked that very hour, and the juice as though it had been pressed that very hour.

Al-Kisai said: It was as though the years had not passed over it. Hamzah, al-Kisai, and Yaqub recited “which has not changed” without the final ha in connected recitation; they did the same with “So follow their guidance” (al-Anam 90). The other reciters retained the final ha in both cases, whether continuing or pausing. Those who omit the ha in connected recitation regard it as an additional connective letter, saying that its original form is yatasanna; the ya is deleted because of the jussive, and a ha is substituted for it when pausing. Abu Amr said that it derives from tasannun, with two nuns, meaning change, as in His saying: “from altered mud” (al-Hajj 26), meaning, changed. A ya has been substituted for one of the two nuns, just as in His saying, “Then he went to his family, swaggering” (al-Qiyamah 33), whose original form is yatamattat; and as in His saying, “Failed indeed is the one who buried it” (al-Shams 10), whose original form is dassaytuha. Those who retain the ha in both cases regard it as an original letter, the final radical of the verb. This accords with the view that the original form of sanah, “year,” is sanhah, its diminutive being sunayhah, and that the verb derives from sanihah, the passing of years.

Though He said, “which has not changed,” rather than using the dual form despite speaking of two things, He ascribed the absence of change to the nearer of the two words, namely the drink. Mentioning one of the two was sufficient, since the same applied to the other. “And look at your donkey.” So he looked, and it was white bones. Allah Most High then assembled the bones, one upon another, clothed them with flesh and skin, and brought it to life while he watched. “And that We may make you a sign for the people.” It was said that the conjunction is superfluous and inserted. Al-Farra said that the conjunction was inserted to indicate that this is dependent on a verb following it; its meaning is: that We may make you a sign—that is, a lesson and a proof of resurrection after death. This was the view of most exegetes. Al-Dahhak and others said that he returned to his town as a young man, while his children and grandchildren were old men and elderly women, whereas the hair of his head and beard was black.

His saying, exalted is He: “And look at the bones—how We raise them up.” The reciters of the Hijaz and Basra read it as “how We revive them,” with an r, meaning: We bring them to life. It is said that Allah resurrects the dead; and Allah Most High says: “Then, when He wills, He will resurrect him” (Abasa 22), and, concerning the intransitive form, “and to Him is the resurrection” (al-Mulk 15). The other reciters read it with a z, meaning: We raise them from the earth, return them to their places in the body, and assemble them one upon another. Raising something up means lifting and moving it. One says: “I raised it, and it rose.”

They differed concerning the meaning of the verse. Most said that it refers to the bones of his donkey. Al-Suddi said: Allah Most High restored Ezra to life, then said to him: “Look at your donkey: it has perished and its bones have decayed.” Then Allah Most High sent a wind which brought the donkey’s bones from every plain and mountain, after birds and wild beasts had carried them away. They came together and were assembled one into another while he watched, and it became a donkey made of