claiming that you have neither Creator nor Lord, then why were you not brought into existence as a kind of being that death cannot consume—like stone or iron, or even something greater in your own estimation? And if you say, “We were created in a condition that, by its very nature, cannot endure,” what, then, could prevent your Creator and Originator from bringing you back as a new creation?

The argument may be put another way: Even if you were stone, or iron, or any creature greater than the two, He is fully able to annihilate you, transform your very essence, and shift you from one state to another. One who can exercise such control over these bodies—despite their hardness and solidity—by reducing them to nothing and altering them, what could possibly render Him powerless regarding anything less resilient?

He then tells us that they move on to yet another question, asking, “Who will restore us when our bodies have perished and disintegrated?” He answers: “Say, ‘The One who produced you the first time.’” Once the proof has overwhelmed them, they turn to a different question—merely as a pretext for someone whose argument has collapsed—namely, “When will that be?” He replies: “Say, ‘Perhaps it is near.’”