ثُمَّ يُعيدُكُم فيها وَيُخرِجُكُم إِخراجًا

Then He makes you return to it, and He will bring you forth [without fail].

EXEGESIS

Yuʿīdukum is from ʿawd, which is the return back of something to another, after having departed from it. And this departure may be in the physical sense, in words or action, or even in intention, such as a return back from a firm resolve and decision. A habit is called ʿādah because one goes back to the same action time after time.^{‎[1]Lane, ʿ-w-d.} And an annual day of festivity is called ʿīd, such as the ʿīd (Eid) of fiṭr marked after the last day of fasting of the month of Ramadan, because it recurs every year.

The inmates of hell, for example, will cry out: Our Lord! Bring us out of this! Then, if we revert (ʿudnā), we will indeed be wrongdoers (23:107). Their words if we revert (ʿudnā) may refer to reverting to doing the wrong they did (meaning a return to an action or habit) as understood also from the verse: But were they to be sent back they would revert (la-ʿādū) to what they were forbidden (6:28), or it may mean a physical return, as in ‘if we come back to the fire’ then we will indeed be wrongdoers.

And, at times, it is obvious that the return is non-corporeal, such as when the faithless threatened the apostles of God, that they would either expel them from their towns, or you should revert (taʿūdunna) to our creed (14:13, 7:88). Other examples of how the verb ʿawd is used, and what it implies, include: God is He who originates the creation, and then He will bring it back (yuʿīduhu) (30:27) and, He warned the Children of Israel, but if you revert (ʿudtum), We [too] will revert (ʿudnā) (17:8).

However, in this verse under discussion, the meaning of ʿawd is in the physical and literal sense. Then He makes you return (yuʿīdukum) to it means return to the earth that you came forth from the first time, as a physical death.

The Day of Resurrection is also called maʿād (the return), implying the return to a physical existence once again, after having experienced physical death.

And He will bring you forth is the final resurrection, to remind man that the end is not to return to dust but to come forth from it, after having lived a previous life. From it did We create you, into it We return you, and from it shall We bring you forth another time (20:55) (see also 2:28, 7:25).

EXPOSITION

There are a number of phrases in this surah where the verb and the infinitive noun from the same verb are given together in the same verse. For example, istakbarū istikbāra (disdainful in arrogance) (verse 7), asrartu lahum isrāra (confided with them privately) (verse 9), anbatakum … nabāta (made you grow… with a [vegetable] growth) (verse 17), yukhrijukum ikhrāja (He will bring you forth, without fail) (verse 18), and makarū makran kubbāra (devised an outrageous plot) (verse 22). These repetitions of the same word, as verb and noun, are not merely for rhyme but rather for emphasis, to show an action that is complete and perfect in itself. So when they showed pride, it was absolute haughtiness (verse 7); when Prophet Noah (a) confided with them, it was completely private (verse 9); He makes you grow exactly or completely like the growth of a plant (verse 17); when He brings you forth it will be most certain and complete, without fail (verse 18); and when they plotted, it was a serious and outrageous plot that, in their minds, was perfect with nothing amiss (verse 22).

There is also a gradual, yet noticeable, transition from God’s unicity (tawḥīd) in verse 13 to the resurrection (maʿād) in this verse, showing the close relationship between the two theological concepts. It is as if Prophet Noah (a) was arguing for God’s unicity and proving it, through the perfection seen in God’s creation and through the resurrection. Just as the resurrection proves God’s dominion over the universe, God’s unicity and justice prove the need for the resurrection and a day of accounting and recompense. The Quran often speaks of belief in Allah and the Last Day together (2:62, 3:114, 4:59, 5:69, 9:18, 24:2, 33:21, 58:22, 60:6, 65:2, and so on).

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Tabatabai notices that the verse begins with thumma (then), which indicates another phase, yet the prefix to He will bring you forth is simply the conjunction particle wa (and) and not another thumma, as if to suggest death and resurrection are not two distinct phases, one following another, but rather one realm. And this, he argues, is because unlike the world, which is the abode of illusion and deception (dār al-ghurūr) (3:185, 35:5, 57:20), the world of return (death) and the world of resurrection (the hereafter), both belong to the world of reality (dār al-ḥaqq).^{‎[2]Mizan, 20/33.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.^{‎[3]Genesis 3:19.}
2. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.^{‎[4]Psalm 90:3.}
3. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.^{‎[5]1 Corinthians 15:42-44.}

[1] Lane, ʿ-w-d.
[2] Mizan, 20/33.
[3] Genesis 3:19.
[4] Psalm 90:3.
[5] 1 Corinthians 15:42-44.