وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَماتَ وَأَحيا

That it is He who brings death and gives life.

EXPOSITION

It is He who brings death and gives life means God brings about the causes that lead to them. Existence comes from God and so does life. Life and death are qualities unique to living beings. God is He who brings death. If He wills it, a person may live forever, and this is why there is no death in the hereafter.

Some believers in God like to only emphasise God as a giver of bounties and thus end up with an imbalanced view of God. Others, who deny His existence, point to hardships as a sign of the lack of God. The reality is that God has given both bounties and tribulations, all of them in order to test man during his short stay in this world: Every soul shall taste death, and We will test you with good and ill by way of test, and to Us you will be brought back (21:35).

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Tustarī says this verse means that He brings death to the hearts of His enemies through faithlessness and darkness, and gives life to the hearts of His beloved ones through faith and the light of understanding.^{‎[1]Tustari, p. 157. See also Thalabi, 9/156.}

Mudarrisi muses that gives life (aḥyā) may also mean to keep people alive, like in the verse, and whoever saves a life (aḥyā) is as though he had saved all mankind (5:32).^{‎[2]Mudarrisi, 14/191.}

Many other opinions have been mentioned as well.^{‎[3]For some of these see Māwardī, al-Nukat wa al-ʿUyūn, 5/404.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.^{‎[4]1 Samuel 2:6.}

[1] Tustari, p. 157. See also Thalabi, 9/156.
[2] Mudarrisi, 14/191.
[3] For some of these see Māwardī, al-Nukat wa al-ʿUyūn, 5/404.
[4] 1 Samuel 2:6.