وَأَنَّ عَلَيهِ النَّشأَةَ الأُخرىٰ

That with Him lies the second genesis.

EXEGESIS

Nashʾah (genesis) is from nashaʾa which means to create and raise up something.^{‎[1]Nemuneh, 22/560.} It may refer to the various stages that a person goes through in the womb – and perhaps after birth as well – until they are fully formed. It may also refer to the creation of life in this world as contrasted with the life in the next world.

Ukhrā literally means another. As God created man the first time, making him grow in the womb from an admixture of seminal fluid, so too will He recreate him again on the Day of Resurrection. This is the second genesis.

EXPOSITION

Continuing with the contrasting pairs, the reader is now invited to ponder the hereafter. God is the Lord of this world and the next. In addition to creating man and woman, the one who created the first creation will also bring about the second genesis of resurrection.

The expression with Him lies indicates that resurrection is a promise God has set for Himself.^{‎[2]Tabrisi, 9/276; Zamakhshari, 4/428; Razi, 29/282; Alusi, 14/68; Mizan, 19/49; Nemuneh, 22/561. There is some disagreement about the nature of this duty. Whilst Zamakhsharī argues that it is a rational duty upon God in order to carry out justice, Rāzī argues that such duties cannot be imposed on God, but rather it is a duty of fulfilling His promise.} This is in order so that He may requite those who do evil for what they have done, and reward those who do good with the best [of rewards] (verse 31).

He has created life and death, but this is not pointless and without purpose. That purpose is accomplished through resurrection and the life in the hereafter. If after death the believers and faithless, the righteous and the tyrants, would all be the same – all of them turn into nothing – that would be a great injustice from the Creator. Shall We treat those who have faith and do righteous deeds like those who cause corruption on the earth? Shall We treat the God-wary like the vicious? (38:28).

Rāzī says that after much pondering and praying from God for guidance, he thinks that this verse should be referring to the blowing of the spirit in man. By this he means that after the human being has been created from the seminal fluid as described in the previous verses, God then breathes the spirit of life, or the soul, into that foetus. He uses as evidence the verse, then We created the drop of fluid as a clinging mass. Then We created the clinging mass as a fleshy tissue. Then We created the fleshy tissue as bones. Then We clothed the bones with flesh. Then We produced (anshaʾnā) him as [yet] another creature. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators! (23:14). The verse describes the process of the creation of the foetus and then describes a next stage with the same word used in the verse under discussion.

Rāzī then quotes the following verse: ‘… observe how He has originated the creation.’ Then Allah shall bring (yunshiʾu) about the genesis (nashʾah) of the hereafter (29:20). He says that some might use this to criticise his opinion as nashʾah is used here clearly for the hereafter. He answers this by saying that hereafter (ākhirah) is different from (ukhrā) as one comes from ākhir (last) and the other from ākhar (another).^{‎[3]Razi, 29/281.}

Be that as it may, Rāzī’s argument is not entirely convincing, as the far more apparent meaning of nashʾat al-ukhrā is the hereafter. The verses in Sūrat al-Wāqiʿah are also worthy of consideration in this regard: We have ordained death among you, and We are not to be outmanoeuvred, from replacing you with your likes and recreating (nunshiʾakum) you in [a realm] you do not know. Certainly you have known the first genesis (al-nashʾat al-ūlā), then why do you not take admonition? (56:60-62).

The first genesis is the creation of the world as it stands now, or the creation of man through the process of male and female and birth that is known to all of us, hence the expression you have known. The second genesis is the resurrection and hereafter, which we only know through the revelation that has come to prophets and is hence that which you do not know.

[1] Nemuneh, 22/560.
[2] Tabrisi, 9/276; Zamakhshari, 4/428; Razi, 29/282; Alusi, 14/68; Mizan, 19/49; Nemuneh, 22/561. There is some disagreement about the nature of this duty. Whilst Zamakhsharī argues that it is a rational duty upon God in order to carry out justice, Rāzī argues that such duties cannot be imposed on God, but rather it is a duty of fulfilling His promise.
[3] Razi, 29/281.