Is Jibril Dead?
- philhoraia
- Dec 6, 2024
- 3 min read
S 16:20-21 And those they invoke instead of Allah do not create anything and they are created. / Dead, lifeless. And they do not perceive when they are raised.
Isa and the angels were supposedly invoked. Jibril is supposedly an angel. Isa created a bird and an angel creates in the womb and gives life. They are created. The Arabic non-past. They are being created. As idols were invoked, does Allah create them? They're dead. So they must have been alive at one time. Isa, as quran clearly shows, died. As verse 21 apparently refers to those invoked, the angels must be dead and as Jibril is supposedly an angel, is he dead? Apparently all of those invoked (including idols?) would be resurrected. If resurrected, are they all buried on Earth?
If they are being created and are dead, does Allah create them dead? But dead indicates that there was once life.
If the angel of death is dead, how might there be human death?
If Jibril, supposedly an angel, died before this verse was 'sent down', and if he 'sent quran down', how might he have? If Jibril sent down the preceding surahs, how might this be part of 'the' quran? This is the 70th surah chronologically. That would leave another 44 surahs to go. Who might send those down?
The Jalalayn on these verses:
And those whom you invoke tad‘ūna or read yad‘una ‘they invoke’ besides God namely the idols do not create anything but are themselves created fashioned from stones and other materials.
They are dead possessing no life amwātun ‘dead’ is a second predicate not living an emphasis and they the idols are not aware when is the time in which they shall be raised that is creatures so how can they be worshipped? For only the Creator the Living the Knower of the Unseen can be a God.
How might an idol have ever been alive? How might they be raised if they never lived? Are they creatures? If so, how?
The Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
(Those unto whom they cry) they worship (beside Allah created naught) they cannot create anything like Our creation, (but are themselves created) they are themselves carved.
((They are) dead) they are lifeless idols, (not living. And they know not when they) i.e. the idols (will be raised) from the graves and give account; it is also said that this means: the disbelievers do not know when they will give account for their deeds; and it is also said: the angels do not know when they will give account. altafsir.com
How can an idol be dead? To be dead, one has to be first alive. Would idols be buried, maybe given a funeral? What disbeliever might be invoked, given that invocation is spoken of? Ibn Aminah is invoked in the Tashahhud and we might look at verses regarding his having been a 'believer'.
Further reading:
One of the problems with this passage is: who is "they"? And does the "they" shift to refer to the creations of "they"? I suggest it's all about Mo's tribe, like this:
And those they invoke instead of Allah do not create anything and they are created.
[1, Muhammad pauses, 2 & 3]
Dead, lifeless. [They are in the grave.]
And they do not perceive when they are raised. [the last day]
Why this? Mo is using a pattern of three contrasting words, a rhetorical trick that is part of his eloquence from Waraqa, to emphasize that they are created (and trying to imply Allah created them), then talks about the last day and how they're raised by Allah, not…