Muslim likewise narrated—through the isnād of Abū Sallām, from Abū Asmāʾ al-Raḥabī, from Thawbān—that a ḥabr (Jewish scholar) asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the verse, “On the Day when the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens.” He said, “Where will people be on that day?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “They will be in the darkness beneath the Bridge.” (1)

Ibn Jarīr reported: Ibn ʿAwf told us; Abū al-Mughīrah narrated to us; Ibn Abī Maryam narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn Thawbān al-Kalāʿī narrated to us, from Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, who said: A ḥabr from the Jews came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “When Allah says in His Book, ‘On the Day when the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens,’ where will the creation be then?” He replied, “They will be the guests of Allah, and what He possesses will not elude them.” Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded the same account through the transmission of Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam.

It may be that this replacement occurs after the Gathering, constituting a second transformation into a form different from the first—and Allah knows best. Ibn Abī al-Dunyā said: Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us; Wakīʿ narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from al-Mughīrah ibn Mālik, from a man of Banū Mujāshiʿ called ʿAbd al-Karīm—or, it is said, nicknamed Abū ʿAbd al-Karīm—who stated: “He placed me beside a man in Khurasān who told me that he heard ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) recite, ‘On the Day when the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens,’ and say, ‘We have been informed that the earth will be turned into silver and the heavens into gold.’” (2) Similar reports come from Ibn ʿAbbās, Anas ibn Mālik, Mujāhid ibn Jabr, and others. Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

[Mention of the length of the Day of Resurrection and the reports concerning its measure]

The Exalted says: “They ask you to hasten the punishment, but Allah will never fail in His promise. Truly, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of what you count.” (47) [al-Hajj]

Some exegetes said that this refers to the Day of Resurrection.

He also says: “A questioner asked for a punishment bound to befall—upon the disbelievers; none can avert it—from Allah, Lord of the ways of ascent. The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in a day whose measure is fifty thousand years. So be patient with gracious patience.” (1–5) [al-Maʿārij]

In our Tafsīr we have already cited the differing views of the early and later scholars concerning this verse. Layth ibn Abī Sulaym and others narrated—from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās—that he said: it is the distance from the Throne down to the seventh earth.

Ibn ʿAbbās also said, about His words, “He directs the affair from the heaven to the earth; then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years of what you count” (as-Sajdah: 5): the command descends from heaven to earth, and from earth to