“HAVE YOU NOT SEEN THOSE WHO BEING IN THOUSANDS, LEFT THEIR HOMES TO ESCAPE DEATH? SO TO THEM ALLAH SAID, “BE DEAD.” THEN HE RAISED THEM ALIVE. SURELY, ALLAH IS ALL-GRACIOUS TO PEOPLE, BUT MOST OF THE PEOPLE ARE NOT GRATEFUL.” (SURAH AL-BAQARAH: 243)

Part 1

It is stated in the Tafsir Ibn-Kathir that this verse relates to the story of a people who had left their city and went to live at another place because plague had started in their city, but all of them still died.

In the interpretation of this verse Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE has written that the first injunction that can be derived from this verse is that running away from one’s home because of fear of plague or Jihad can not extend a person’s life, and similarly staying there does not guarantee their death. All of us are going to die one day and the time of our death has already been determined by Allah Ta’alah. A person can not hasten death, nor can he delay it. Otherwise, people who have lots of resources should have been able to run away from every place where there is disease or where there is turmoil, and should have been able to live forever. But in reality we see that that does not happen. Every person faces death when his or her time comes, regardless of what is the cause of their death.

Continued…

From Ma’ariful Quran, by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE