Non-Living & Living

Abstract 

Non-living and living are states of being! Our Ever-Living Creator has created these alternate states of existence. We exist in death as much as we exist in life. 

Full Text 

كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

How can you refuse to acknowledge God, seeing that you were lifeless and He gave you life, and that He will cause you to die and then will bring you again to life, whereupon unto Him you will be brought back?

[Al-Quran 2:28, Translation: Muhammad Asad]

Scientists classify things into living and non-living things. Rather, non-living and living are states of being! Our Ever-Living Creator has created these alternate states of existence. 

In Surah al-Mulk, the purpose of these alternate states of existence is explained: 

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ

Blessed is Causes to flourish He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He has power over all things,

Who created death and life that He may try you-- which of you is best in deeds; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,

[Al-Quran 67:1-2, Translation: Shakir; edited in italics]

Death is a creation as much as Life is a creation. Life has been given for the purpose of testing... 

We exist in death as much as we exist in life. However, in life, a person exists and can flourish, in different ways, and in varying degrees. This flourishing is in Allah's hand to whom belongs The Kingdom. Whenever Allah wills, he can decrease, cease and reverse the flourishing state to a state of slow decline, death and disintegration: 

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَهْلَكَنِيَ اللَّهُ وَمَن مَّعِيَ أَوْ رَحِمَنَا فَمَن يُجِيرُ الْكَافِرِينَ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

قُلْ هُوَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ آمَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا فَسَتَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ هُوَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِين

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَاؤُكُمْ غَوْرًا فَمَن يَأْتِيكُم بِمَاءٍ مَّعِينٍ

Say thou: bethink ye if Allah destroy me and those with me; or have mercy on us, who will protect the infidels from a torment afflictive?

Say thou: He is the Compassionate; in Him we have believed, and in Him we have put our trust. -And anon ye will know who it is that is in error manifest.

Say thou: bethink ye, were your water to be sunk away, who then could bring you water welling-up? 

[Al-Quran 67:28-30, Translation: Abdul Majid Daryabadi]  

A major difference between non-living and living things is the welling-up of water inside each living cell which provides the medium for a living thing to exist, function and flourish! Dehydration leads to death, that is, transition into the non-living state. Death comes when decreed, and after death the body generally loses water and perishes. Though I've retained the word 'destroy' in the above translation, I think a clearer translation of (أَهْلَكَنِيَ) should be 'causes me to perish'.  

The Inhabitants of The Tombs  

The Quran is quite clear that humans are created from dust. Dust can and does exist is both non-living and living states. We were lifeless; we have been granted a temporal life, and we continue to exist in death as well. Surah al-Mumtahinah concludes thus: 

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الْآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ

You who believe, do not patronize any folk whom God has become angry with; they despair of the Hereafter just as disbelievers despair of the inhabitants of tombs.

[Al-Quran 60:13, Translation: T. B. Irving]  

O you who believe! do not make friends with a people with whom Allah is wroth; indeed they despair of the hereafter as the unbelievers despair of those in tombs.

[Al-Quran 60:13, Translation: Shakir]  

Believers do not take as allies those with whom God is angry. They have despaired of the Hereafter, as unbelievers despair of those buried in their graves.

[Al-Quran 60:13, Translation: Safi Kaskas]  

The Barrier

لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلَّا إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَائِلُهَا وَمِن وَرَائِهِم بَرْزَخٌ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ

Haply I may do good in that which I have left. By no means! it is a (mere) word that he speaks; and before them is a barrier until the day they are raised.

[Al-Quran 23:100, Translation: Safi Kaskas]  

There exists a barrier between the realms of the non-living and living, such that once this temporal life ends, the dead cannot return to this life. 

Communicating with the Non-Living 

وَمَا يَسْتَوِي الْأَحْيَاءُ وَلَا الْأَمْوَاتُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَاءُ وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِي الْقُبُورِ

Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allah makes whom He pleases hear, and you cannot make those hear who are in the graves.

[Al-Quran 35:22, Translation: Shakir]  

The non-living and the living cannot communicate with each other. We humans cannot make the dead listen to what we want to say to them. Yet, Allah can make them listen! The non-living state is a state of existence! 

The Life

وَمَا هَٰذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ

And this life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; and as for the next abode, that most surely is the life-- did they but know!

[Al-Quran 29:64, Translation: Shakir]  

Last edited on: September 9, 2019