[2:259] Or such as he who passed by a city that was fallen down upon its turrets, he said, 'How shall God give life to this now that it is dead?'. So God made him die a hundred years, then he raised him up; He, said, 'How long have you tarried?'; he said, 'I have tarried a day, or part of a day'; He said, 'Nay; you have tarried a hundred years. Look at your food and drink, it has not spoiled; and look at your ass so that We would make you a sign for the people. And look at the bones, how We shall set them up, and then clothe them with flesh'. So, when it was made clear to him, he said, 'I know that God has power over all things'.
This was not a question of denial, a matter of ignorance, or an indication of doubt in the [divine] power of deliberation, since this report is about Ezra (ʿUzayr) the prophet (ʿa) and it is not possible for the prophets (ʿa) to doubt or be ignorant. Rather, it was a question of amazement. In this conversation [Ezra] wanted an increase in certainty, so God showed him that in himself by making him die and then bringing him to life, and then reviving his ass while he watched. He became more and more certain. Demanding certainty from God and the tactic of posing difficulties is the practice of oppositional people, but God excused Ezra in this conversation and even ordained for him the increased certainty he sought. Then he said, 'I know that God has power over all things' in giving life and causing death, i.e., 'My knowledge has been increased by what I saw. He showed me that which increased my certainty from powerful signs'. His food and drink did not change in this long period. His ass died and his bones decayed, whereas the food and drink would have been more likely to spoil.