al-Baqara 2:28 — A proof in four stages

2/28

2/28 — A proof in four stages

"How can you cover over God? You were dead, and He gave you life; then He will make you die, then He will give you life again, then to Him you will be returned."

In a short verse there is a piece of reasoning in four steps:

	Stage	Status
1	You were dead	The state of non-being
2	He gave life	The present life — already realised
3	He will make die	Accepted, not disputed
4	He will give life	Objected to

The proof is this: the fourth step you object to is a repetition of the second step, which has already occurred once. Someone who has experienced being brought into being out of nothing cannot count being brought into being again impossible. The Qurʾān builds this proof still more plainly elsewhere: "It is He who begins the creation, and repeating it is easier for Him" (al-Rūm 30/27).

The force of the argument lies in its using the hearer's own existence as evidence — it asks for no proof from outside.