The verse is not talking about the soul of a person; it talks about the worldly things, which we behold in awe on this earth. The preceeding verses allude to many manifestations of God's providence and wisdom; these exhort men that they should not be deluded away by the illusive notion that this entire magnificent set up has come into being all by itself; everything on the face of earth bears testimony to the undeniable fact that God Almighty created them. The implication of this verse seems to me: Look how magnificent this all is! It was meant to disclose higher realities of life to you! But, alas, you are obsessed with it when this is not going to last; it will all perish and you will be brought to account. How ignorant man is!

Going a little ahead, we find that the Holy Qur'an is talking about the Day of Judgment and it is saying that the deceived and the arrogant will be known by their marks, and will he taken by the forelocks and put into the frightening pit of hellfire.

In summary, the verse is taking about the destruction that is bound to take place before the Day of Judgment; when everything will be annihilated save the Lord--the Creator and the Cherisher. Then man will be resurrected to account.

No. I do not think that 'all' connotes something else . You are right in what you are saying. But do you see any connection between death [or destruction or annihilation] and Resurrection? What is it that preceeds Resurrection?

Soul is taken away; it does not perish. The Holy Qur'an tells us that souls are stationed in a place which may be called Barzakh and where they will remain till the Day of Reckoning. This is why I said that the verse, in its context, talking about the worldly things which include man; each and every man is to taste death and everything else will also be destroyed. Then man will be resurrected to account for his deeds.

However, we also need to appreciate that soul , in its essence, is also mortal. It is not that soul perpetuate on its own. It is only the divine scheme that has allowed soul to perpetuate. Hence, it is Allah alone who was, is and will be on His own. There is none like Him!

Lets see what the verse mean to you, Mr. Zest.

You however have commented:

You want to say man is included in 'all on earth' and his soul is excluded because God does not want to destroy it. But were there no other words to communicate this phenomenon?

No. I do not want to say that man is included and soul is excluded. What I said is that the purport of the verse is related to the earthly things; what is on earth shall be destroyed. Does Soul seem earthly to you?

Isn't this verse the same as the Holy Qur'an says: Every Nafs is to taste death. We see no implication of destruction of soul in this verse nor do we see at other places in the Holy Qur'an, where there is a saying goes like O man you shall die and then brought back to me.

The fact remains that soul cannot perpetuate on its own. But it is also true that the soul is beyond the purport of this verse.

There is however one contradiction in your statement.

You first say:

Ruh has not been made of some material.

This sentence is negating the possibility that soul has been made of some material--an assertion, though negative, which needs solid grounds.

Then you yourself acknowledge:

The knowledge of its ingredients has also not been given to man.

How can we pass a negative or postive verdict as regards the soul when we have not been given knowledge of its ingredients? Hope you would reconcile these two statements of yours.