Why should it not be possible to rejoin these scattered substances...

Why should it not be possible to rejoin these scattered substances, which have been dispersed to every remote corner, by gathering them all from the embrace of the earth and the clutches of the winds, and bring them together in a new form and shape? In fact, at the beginning of its creation, the same thing had occurred, and in the same manner. This was a glance at one aspect of the astonishing and abiding greatness of God regarding the arrival of the day of judgement.

However, it seems that what is more important and arresting in the simile used in the verse above describing the dispersal and thronging of mankind on the day of gathering ( mashhar ), is their emergence from their graves which resembles the swarming of locusts out of the ground. The beginning of the verse alludes to this also. Human beings lie in the earth after death for an interval, waiting for the command of God to bring the dead back to life and to emerge from the graves.

This will occur after the second blowing of the trumpet and the piercing shout, which will envelop the entirety of creation and immediately bring humanity back to life and out of their graves. Similarly, locust larvae lie dormant and buried in the earth just like the dead. The pregnant locusts insert their bodies into the ground and lay their eggs deep in the earth and then secret a liquid over the eggs to cover them.

This liquid protects them from the elements and in fact, forms a temporary tomb for them. The larva capsule of the locust remains inert in the ground just like a dead corpse in the tomb that has been prepared for it to be buried in; although it possesses a very thin and delicate wall, the wall is sufficient to protect the larva for the necessary time. In fact, it is just like the shroud ( kafan ) that has been wrapped around the body of a dead person.

During the autumn and winter months, the larvae remain motionless and then, when spring comes, they open up to release the locust within. The insects are now ready to bring to an end their waiting ( barzakh ) and to leave their tombs. After emerging out of the ground, according to certain factors and circumstances, they take to flight. Indeed, the situation with dead humans is the very same.

The various parts of the human body that have decomposed into the earth are changed like everything else, according to the laws of nature.