Hûd
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[11:7]
And He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons; and [ever since He has willed to create life,] the throne of His almightiness has rested upon water.
[God reminds you of your dependence on Him] in order to test you [and thus to make manifest] which of you is best in conduct. For thus it is: if thou sayest [unto men], "Behold, you shall be raised again after death!" – they who are bent on denying the truth are sure to answer, "This is clearly nothing but an enchanting delusion!"

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* v.7 : As regards my rendering of ayyām (lit., “days”) as “aeons” and ‘arsh as the “throne of [God’s] almightiness,” see sūrah 7, note 43. The symbolic reference to “the throne of His almightiness resting upon water” would seem to point to the God-willed evolution of all life out of water – a fact clearly brought out by the Qur’ān (see 21:30 and the corresponding note 39) and in modern times confirmed by biological research. This tentative interpretation is strengthened by the mention, in the preceding verse, of “living creatures.” My interpolation, between brackets, of the phrase “ever since He has willed to create life” is in accordance with the views advanced by Rashīd Ridā’ in his lengthy commentary on this verse (Manār XII, 16ff.).
* The expression la’in (lit., “indeed, if...”) appearing here as well as in each of the next three verses is meant to stress the typical – i.e., recurrent – character of the situation to which it refers. In my opinion, it is best rendered as “thus it is: if...,” etc.
* The term sihr, which is often used in the sense of “sorcery” or “magic,” denotes, primarily, “the turning of something from its proper [i.e., natural] condition of being into another condition” (Tāj al-‘Arūs); hence, it signifies any act which causes something that is false or unreal to assume the appearance of reality. Since, however, the Qur’anic statement that “you shall be raised again after death” is not – as has been pointed out by Rāzī – an “act” in the proper connotation of this word, it would be illogical to assume that this statement could be characterized as “sorcery” even by those who do not believe in it. On the other hand, it is obvious that they dismiss it contemptuously as a mere “enchanting delusion” intended to prevent those who are able to do so from enjoying their worldly life to the full (Rāzī) or, alternatively, to induce the poor and unfortunate to remain passively satisfied with their miserable lot on earth: and this is the meaning of sihr in the above context. (Cf. 10:2, where the epithet sāhir – in the sense of “spellbinder” – is applied by unbelievers to the Prophet Muhammad.)