just as it listened and obeyed when it was first created. At the beginning of its creation, Allah, Exalted is He, said:

“Then He turned to the sky while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, ‘Come, willingly or unwillingly.’ They said, ‘We come willingly’” [Fussilat: 11].

Reflect, O child of Adam—frail human being—on how these mighty creations listen to and obey Allah, Mighty and Majestic, with such complete obedience at both the beginning and the end of creation. At the beginning of creation, He said, “Come, willingly or unwillingly.” They said, “We come willingly.” At the end of creation: “When the sky splits open and obeys its Lord, as it must.” It is only right for it to obey—to listen and submit. He then repeated, “And obeys its Lord, as it must,” emphasizing that it listens to its Lord and obeys Him.

“And when the earth is spread out.” The earth upon which we now live is not spread out in this manner. First, it is a rounded sphere. Although its northern and southern regions are slightly spread out—that is, slightly extended—it is presently round. Second, it is also uneven: it has very high places and low places, valleys, plains, and sands. It is therefore not level. On the Day of Resurrection, however, “when the earth is spread out,” it will be stretched into one continuous expanse, like a hide being stretched—that is, like stretching out a skin—as though one were laying out a hide or a mat. It will be spread out so completely that everyone upon it—the whole of creation—will hear the caller, and the eye will take them all in. At present, however, the eye cannot take them all in. If people were spread out across the earth, you would find that those far away were lower down, and you would not be able to see them. But on the Day of Resurrection, when the earth is spread out, the farthest of them will be like the nearest, as stated in the hadith: “On the Day of Resurrection, Allah Most High will gather the first and the last upon a single plain; the caller’s voice will reach them all, and the eye will take them all in” (1).

“And it casts out all that is within it and becomes empty.” That is, on the Day of Resurrection it will cast out the bodies of the children of Adam. It will cast out these bodies, and they will emerge from their graves unto Allah, Mighty—