ART THOU NOT aware of that [king] who argued with Abraham about his Sustainer, [simply] because God had granted him kingship? Lo! Abraham said: "My Sustainer is He who grants life and deals death." [The king] replied: "I [too] grant life and deal death!" Said Abraham: "Verily, God causes the sun to rise in the east; cause it, then, to rise in the west!" Thereupon he who was bent on denying the truth remained dumbfounded: for God does not guide people who [deliberately] do wrong. 258 Or of him who, when passing by a town the roofs of which had caved in, exclaimed, "How will God restore it to life after its destruction?" Thereupon God caused him to die, and after a hundred years, brought him back to life. God asked, "How long have you remained in this state?" He answered, "I have remained a day or part of a day." God said, "No, you have remained in this state for a hundred years. Now look at your food and your drink; they have not rotted. Look at your ass. We will make you a sign to mankind. Look at the bones -- how We set them together, then clothe them with flesh!" When it had all become clear to him, he said, "Now I know that God has power over all things." 259 When Abraham said, "Show me, my Lord, how You revive the dead!" God said, "Do you not believe?" Abraham answered, "Yes, indeed I do believe, but just to reassure my heart." Then God said, "Take four birds, and train them to come back to you. Then place them separately on each hilltop, and call them: they will come flying to you. Know that God is almighty and wise." 260