Thou will be Raised Afresh

They say: ‘When we are turned to bones and particles (of dust), shall we truly be raised up as a new creation?’ Tell them: ‘(You will be raised afresh even if) you turn to stone or iron; or any other form of creation you deem hardest of all (to create from).’ They will certainly ask: ‘Who will bring us back (to life)?’ Say: ‘He Who created you in the first instance.’ They will shake their heads at you and inquire: ‘When will that be?’ Say: ‘Perhaps that time might have drawn near; on the Day when He will call you and you will rise praising Him in response to His call, and you will believe that you had lain in this state only for a while.’

(Al-Qur’ān – 17:49-52)

These verses enjoin the believers to remove the misapprehensions of unbelievers about the Day of Resurrection.

As regards the statement that man will rise, praising God, this points to a significant reality. For on the Last Day everyone, both believers and unbelievers, will have God’s praise on their lips. A believer’s praise of God will be emanating from his faith and conviction. But an unbeliever will praise God in the Hereafter since to do so is innate in human nature and despite the fact that his inherent conviction about God had remained suppressed in the world because of his own folly. Naturally, with the commencement of a fresh phase of existence, when all artificial barriers have been removed, the unbeliever will be forced to give vent to what had always been embedded in his nature; in the Hereafter he too will praise God.