Or such as he who passed by a town: in other words, have you considered the example of he who passed by a town whose inhabitants had perished under its fallen roofs and collapsed walls, and who then marvelled that it could be brought back to life, being as he was a wayfaring seeker who had not yet attained the station of certainty and had not been prepared to receive the light of the self-disclosure of the Life-giver. The most widespread opinion is that this [man] was Ezra. So God made him die, that is, He made him subsist upon a death of ignorance, just as He said our Lord You have caused us to die twice [Q. 40:11], according to [the interpretation of] one opinion, and He also said when you were dead and He gave you life [Q. 2:28], a hundred years: it is possible that in their time a single year was based on the lunar cycle, making it 8 [proper] years and 4 months; or it could have been based on the seasons of the year, making it 25 years, and [it is also possible] that at that time their spans of life were [considerably] longer; then He raised him up, with true life and asked him to consider the period he had tarried; he did not think that it had been longer than a day or part of a day, deeming insignificant the duration of time he had tarried in that death of ignorance which is finite in relation to everlasting life and also because he did not sense the passing of this period, as with one who is asleep and oblivious to the passage of time. Then after he had reflected, God pointed out to him how long the period of ignorance and the death of obliviousnessn had been by [informing him] that it had been a hundred years. Or [it could be understood] that He made him die through voluntary death during one of the periods mentioned so that the period then represents the time spent in spiritual discipline, wayfaring and struggling in the way of God. Or [still] that He made him die a natural death such that his spirit became attached to the body of another of his own genus in order to acquire perfection either after a certain period or immediately until one of the three mentioned periods had passed without him looking into his state, unaware of his origination and his [ultimate] return: in this way he had been dead throughout his actual life. He then looked into his state through the light of knowledge and came to know his origination and his return. As for his words: 'I have tarried a day, or part of a day', these are similar to God's statement [elsewhere] And on the day when We shall gather them as if they had not tarried but an hour of the day [Q. 10:45], and His statement The day they see it, it will be as if they had only tarried for an evening or the morning thereof [Q. 79:46], and His statement And on the Day when the Hour comes the guilty shall swear that they had not tarried more than an hour [Q. 30:55]: all of that is because of their obliviousness to the passage of time. Similar is the case of one who after having parted with a brother or a companion or some such thing is reunited after a lengthy period of separation: it will be as if that period had never been, for he no longer senses it after it has passed [and he has been reunited], even though he may have suffered its hardship before the reunion. Look at your food and drink, it has not spoiled: they say that his food was figs and grapes, his drink wine and milk. Figs are an allusion to the universal objects of perception since they are made up totally of kernels and since the particulars that are in them are there potentially, just like the seeds that are in the figs. Grapes are an allusion to the particulars because material appendages remain with them upon perception, such as the dregs of the juice and its seeds. Milk is an allusion to beneficial knowledge, such as the prescriptions of the divine law. Wine is an allusion to the fervent love [of the divine], will, the gnostic sciences and the realities. 'It has not spoiled': in other words it has not changed from what has been since pre-eternity in accordance with the primordial nature, deposited as it is within you. Indeed these various aspects of knowledge are stored within every soul in accordance with its preparedness, as he [the Prophet], peace be upon him, has said: 'Mankind are minerals like gold and silver minerals. Even if they are veiled by [other] materials and are hidden for periods of time as they endure fluctuation in the shadows of barzakhs, they are not spoiled and do not change their state, such that when the veil is removed through the purity of the heart, they manifest themselves as they had once been. That is why he [the Prophet], peace be upon him, said: 'Wisdom is a believer's ultimate goal'. And look at your ass, that is, [at] your body in its present state, according to the first and second interpretation; according to a third it means [look at your ass] how its bones have crumbled and wasted; so that We might make you a sign for people, that is, and so that We might make you a proof of [the truth of] the resurrection for people, We resurrected you. And look at the bones, how We shall set them up, how We shall make them become upright, and then clothe them with flesh': in both aspects the meaning is obvious [enough], for when he is resurrected and comes to know his state and his disengagement from his body, he will know that his body is composite by [the act of] the bones being raised, gathered and clothed with flesh. So, when it, the gathering forth and the resurrection, was made clear to him, he said, 'I know that God has power over all things'.