[وَإنَّا لَنَحْنُ نُحْىِ وَنُمِيتُ]

(And certainly We! We it is Who give life, and cause death,) Here Allah tells us of His power to initiate creation and renew it. He is the One Who brings life to creatures out of nothingness, then He causes them to die, then He will resurrect all of them on the Day when He will gather them together. He also tells us that He will inherit the earth and everyone on it, and then it is to Him that they will return. Then He tells us about His perfect knowledge of them, the first and the last of them. He says

[وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْنَا الْمُسْتَقْدِمِينَ مِنكُمْ]

(And indeed, We know the first generations of you who had passed away...). Ibn `Abbas said, "The first generations are all those who have passed away since the time of Adam. The present generations and those who will come afterward refer to those who are alive now and who are yet to come, until the Day of Resurrection.'' Something similar was narrated from `Ikrimah, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah, Muhammad bin Ka`b, Ash-Sha`bi and others. Ibn Jarir reported from Muhammad bin Abi Ma`shar, from his father, that he heard `Awn bin `Abdullah discussing the following Ayah with Muhammad bin Ka`b:

[وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْنَا الْمُسْتَقْدِمِينَ مِنكُمْ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْنَا الْمُسْتَـْخِرِينَ ]

(And indeed, We know the first generations of you who had passed away, and indeed, We know the present generations of you (mankind), and also those who will come afterwards), and it was stated that it refers to the rows for prayer. Muhammad bin Ka`b said, "This is not the case.

[وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْنَا الْمُسْتَقْدِمِينَ مِنكُمْ]

(And indeed, We know the first generations of you who had passed away) it refers to those who are dead or have been killed, and;

[الْمُسْتَـْخِرِينَ]

(and also those who will come afterwards) meaning those who have yet to be created.

[وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ إِنَّهُ حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌ ]

(And verily your Lord will gather them together. Truly, He is Most Wise, (and) Knowing).'' `Awn bin `Abdullah said, "May Allah help you and reward you with good.''

[وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنسَـنَ مِن صَلْصَـلٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ - وَالْجَآنَّ خَلَقْنَـهُ مِن قَبْلُ مِن نَّارِ السَّمُومِ ]

(26. And indeed, We created man from dried (sounding) clay of altered mud.) (27. And the Jinn, We created earlier from the smokeless flame of fire.)