Rāfiʿ, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazī, who said:

“It has reached me that the last of creation to die will be the Angel of Death. He will be addressed: ‘O Angel of Death, die a death after which you shall never live again.’ At that he will let out a scream which, if the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth were to hear it, they would die from terror. Then the Exalted will proclaim:

‘To whom belongs the dominion today? To Allah, the One, the Subduer. (16)’ [Ghafir] (1).

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā also narrated it through Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl, from Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUyaynah, from Ismāʿīl ibn Rāfiʿ [from Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazī], from a man, from Abū Hurayrah, as a marfūʿ report with this wording (2).

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī likewise transmitted it by way of Muḥammad ibn Shuʿayb ibn Shābūr, from Ismāʿīl ibn Rāfiʿ, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ in a similar report, in which these words occur:

‘O angel, you are a creature of Mine; I created you for what you have accomplished. Die now, and you shall never live again.’

Abū Mūsā remarked: Ismāʿīl was not followed in transmitting this phrase, and most narrators did not mention it.

He continued: When the Angel of Death has died and none remains save Allah—the One, the Unique, the Single, the Ever-Self-Sufficient, Who neither begets nor is begotten and to Whom none is comparable—He will be Last just as He was First. He will roll up the heavens and the earth like a scroll rolled for writing; then He will spread them out, then gather them three times, saying, ‘I am al-Jabbār,’ three times. After that He will call out in a loud voice: ‘To whom belongs the dominion today?’ three times, and no one will answer. He will then say to Himself, exalted is He: ‘To Allah, the One, the Overpowering.’

Allah will replace the earth with another earth and the heavens likewise; He will stretch it out, level it, and extend it like a broad, flawless hide—you will see therein neither curve nor unevenness. Then Allah will summon the creation with a single call, and behold, they are upon this new earth just as they were upon the first: whoever had been inside it is inside it, and whoever had been upon its surface is upon its surface. Allah will send down upon them water from beneath the Throne and command the sky to rain; it will rain for forty days until the water stands twelve cubits above them. Thereafter Allah will command the bodies to sprout like al-ṭarāthīt (3) or like garden herbage, until, when their forms are complete and have become as they were before death, Allah the Exalted will say, ‘Let the bearers of My Throne come to life,’ and they will rise. He will order Isrāfīl to take the Trumpet and place it at his mouth; then He will say, ‘Let Gabriel and Michael come to life,’ and they will revive. Allah will then summon the souls; they will be brought—the souls of the Muslims glowing with light and the others wrapped in darkness. He will gather them all, cast them into the Trumpet, and command Isrāfīl to blow the Blast of Resurrection. He will blow, and the souls will stream forth from the Trumpet like swarming bees, filling the space between heaven and earth. Then Allah, exalted in His glory, will say: ‘By My might and Majesty, every soul shall surely return…’