“He brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living. And He revives the earth after its death. And thus shall you be brought out (resurrected).”

(Surat Ar-Rûm (The Romans):19)

Interpretation of This Ayah by Scholars:

According to Tafseer Al-Jalalein, “He brings out the living from the dead…” such as human beings from a nutfah (sperm-drop) and a bird from an egg.

 Nonetheless, “…and brings out the dead …” denotes the example of the existence of the nutfah (sperm-drop) and the egg in living beings.

  “…And He revives the earth after its death.…”.  Giving life to earth occurs by the growing of plants in barren lands.

The creation of a living cell from the elements of a non-living earth is one of the greatest forms of bringing out the living from the dead which the ayah refers to, in addition to its resurrection on the Day of Judgment. 

Before we explain the scientific implication of this blessed ayah, we must first define and differentiate between the words al-hayy (the living) and al-mayyit (the dead).

The Dead in Our Universe:

74 % of the identified universe consists of hydrogen, the simplest and lightest gas. Due to its gaseous composition, it is non-living.

  The next largest gas constituent of the universe is helium, which forms 24 % of the universe’s substances.

  Helium is produced inside the sun by the fusion of four hydrogen nuclei, which release energy in the process.  This means that the other known chemical elements, whose number exceeds 100, form less than two percent (2%) of the universe.

All of these gases are non-living and are produced by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei.

  With the formation of igneous rocks by volcanic eruptions, Allah (SWT) brought out from inside the earth its water and gas.

 These three components: rocks (lithosphere), water (hydrosphere) and gas (atmosphere) are all dead substances, with no spirit or life.

The age of the earth is estimated to be approximately 4600 million years.   Since the oldest trace of living on earth is estimated to be 3800 million years old, it can be concluded that it took at least 800 million years to prepare the earth to accept life on it.

 Certainly, Allah (SWT) is capable of commanding the earth to exist by merely saying the word ‘be', but this stepwise development of the earth is meant for humans to understand Allah’s creation.  It is also meant for human beings to understand the sending of vicegerent to earth and that every person should abide by his duties.

The Living Beings on our Earth:

There are billions of living beings on this earth, on its land, in its waters and in its air, which form about two million species.  They are classified under six different kingdoms: monera, protista, fungi, plants, animals and humans.  These are, in turn, divided into many: classes, orders, families, genera, species and varieties.

Using the total number of species discovered until today, scientists estimate that the total number of living things that have lived on this earth, including those which became extinct, may reach up to five million, each represents billions of individuals.  It is estimated that the main living age of each species ranges from 500,000 to five million years. 

Allah (SWT) gave each of these living species the ability to carry out the activities expected of them, including feeding, carrying out metabolic activity, excretion, breathing, growth, reproduction, adaptability, movement (with the exception of plants), and sense. 

These abilities, in addition to other factors, differentiate the living from dead things.

Scientific Implications of this Blessed Ayah:

 The above ayah refers to the Omnipotence of Allah (SWT) to create living things from preliminary substances made available after His creation of the universe. 

One of the other signs of Allah’s miraculous abilities is His granting of plants the ability to transform the non-living components of the earth, such as water and air, into living components, which is what occurs during the process of photosynthesis.

The constant transformation of the dead components of the earth – its air, water and energy provided by the sun – to produce the essential and other non-existent building blocks of life is one form of bringing out the living from the dead as well as the bringing out of the dead from the living.

These building blocks include carbohydrates, proteins and other substances that are required for the growth and reproduction of living beings.

Such substances are dead ones with no spirit nor life.  Likewise, after extracting the spirit from a living thing, the body returns to its preliminary state from which it was created.

  In other words, when these living beings die, their remnants return to the earth.  Hence, this is evidence for bringing the dead from the living.

 It is important to note that these were unknown facts to humans until the end of the 20th Century, and which on the other hand, were already mentioned in the Qur’an years ago.

This is an evidence that this Qur'an is not manmade, but rather the words of Allah (SWT) the Creator.  It is further a proof of the Prophethood of Muhammad (SAWS), the accuracy and truth of his message, which was taught to him by the Creator of the heavens and the earth.