Stories of revival after death (the ruined town and Abraham's request)

Sha'rawi tells the story of the man who passed a ruined town, whose 'roofs had fallen in', and whom God caused to die for a hundred years and then revived. He ties it to Abraham's question about how God revives ^{1 2}.

He holds that asking how does not show doubt. It shows wonder at a fact one does not doubt, as one wonders how the pyramids were built ².

He notes that the food had not changed, which confirmed the man's view that he had stayed a day or part of one, while the donkey had turned to bones, which confirmed the hundred years. God contracts time for one thing and expands it for another ^{5 3 4}.

He reports that most scholars take the passer-by to be 'Uzayr, who had memorised the Torah, and he tells how the people of the town recognised him. These narratives have not been checked against their sources ^{4 6}.

He compares the story with the sleep of the People of the Cave and likens the suspension to the winter sleep of snakes ⁷.

The narratives of 'Uzayr, the maidservant and the buried Torah are given as Sha'rawi tells them and have not been checked against their sources. No academic or non-Sunni view has been checked.