as long as it does not separate from his living body that possesses a soul. Thus, whatever separates from his living body that possesses a soul, life departs from it and it becomes dead. Just like a limb among his limbs—such as one of his hands or one of his feet—if it were cut off and detached (1) while the one from whom it was cut off is alive, that which became detached from his body would be dead with no soul in it due to its separation from the rest of his body in which the soul resides. They said: Likewise, his sperm-drop is alive with his life as long as it does not separate from his body possessing a soul; then when it separates from him by detaching, it becomes dead, analogous to what we described regarding the ruling on the hand, the foot, and the rest of his limbs. But this is an opinion and an aspect of Interpretation that would only hold if there were someone stating it from among the exemplary scholars whose Interpretation of the Qur'an is accepted.

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The most appropriate of the statements we have mentioned and clarified to be the Interpretation of the statement of God, Exalted be His Mention, "How can you disbelieve in God while you were dead and He gave you life," the verse, is the statement we mentioned from Ibn Masʿūd and from Ibn ʿAbbās: that the meaning of His statement, "and you were dead," is dead in reputation, obscure in the loins of your fathers as sperm-drops, neither known nor mentioned; then He gave you life by creating you as sound human beings until you were mentioned, known, and alive; then He will cause you to die by taking your souls and returning you to decayed remains, neither known nor mentioned in the Isthmus until the Day you are resurrected; then He will give you life after that by blowing the souls into you for the resurrection of the Hour and the Shout of the Resurrection; then to God you will be returned after that, as He said, "then to Him you will be returned," because God, Exalted be His Praise, will bring them to life in their graves before their gathering, then He will gather them to the place of Reckoning, as He, Exalted be His Mention, said: {The Day they will come out from the graves rapidly as if they were hastening to an idol} [Sūrat al-Maʿārij: 43] and said: {And the Trumpet will be blown; whereupon from the graves to their Lord they will hasten} [Sūrat Yā-Sīn: 51]. And the Legal cause for which we chose this Interpretation is what we have previously mentioned regarding those who held it, and the invalidity of what contradicts it as we have already clarified.

And this verse is a rebuke from God, Exalted be His Praise, to those who say, "We believe in God and in the Last Day," those whom God informed about that despite saying that with their mouths, they are not believers in Him, and that they only say that to deceive God and the believers. So God reproved them with His statement, "How can you disbelieve in God while you were dead and He gave you life," rebuking them and arguing against them—concerning their denial of what they denied of that and their rejection of what they rejected with their diseased hearts—saying: How can you disbelieve in God and deny His power to bring you to life after causing you to die, [for the resurrection of the Day of Resurrection, and recompensing the evil-doer among you for evil, and the good-doer