(105–112) “They ask you about the mountains. Say, ‘My Lord will blow them away completely, * leaving the earth a level plain, * in which you will see neither dip nor rise. * On that Day they will follow the caller without deviation. Voices will be hushed before the Most Merciful, and you will hear nothing but a faint sound. * On that Day no intercession will be of benefit except from one to whom the Most Merciful has granted permission and whose words He approves. * He knows what lies before them and what lies behind them, while they cannot encompass Him in knowledge. * All faces will be humbled before the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining, and whoever bears the burden of wrongdoing will have failed. * But whoever does righteous deeds while being a believer need fear neither injustice nor deprivation.’”
Allah Most High tells of the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and the upheavals and turmoil it will contain. He says: “They ask you about the mountains”—that is, what will be done with them on the Day of Resurrection, and whether they will remain as they are. “Say, ‘My Lord will blow them away completely’”—that is, He will remove them and uproot them from their places, so that they become like tufts of wool and sand. He will then crush them and turn them into scattered dust, whereupon they will vanish and disintegrate. He will level them with the ground and make the earth a flat, open plain. It will be so level that you, the beholder, will see no unevenness in it, “nor any rise”—that is, no valleys, low-lying places, or elevated areas. The earth will thus lie exposed and become spacious enough for all created beings. Allah will spread it out as a hide is spread, and they will all stand in one place: the caller’s voice will reach them all, and a single gaze will encompass them all. He therefore says:
“On that Day they will follow the caller.” This will occur when they are resurrected from their graves and rise from them. The caller will summon them to appear and assemble at the place of gathering, and they will hasten toward him, neither turning away from him nor veering to the right or left. His words, “without deviation,” mean that there will be no deviation in the caller’s summons. Rather, his summons will be true and genuine and will extend to all creation. They will all hear him, and he will call out to every one of them. They will then appear at the standing of Resurrection, their voices humbled before the Most Merciful: “and you will hear nothing but a faint sound”—that is, either the sound of footsteps or secret whispers so quiet that only the lips move. Awed submission, stillness, and attentive silence will overcome them as they await the judgment of the Most Merciful concerning them. Their faces will be humbled—that is, abased and submissive.
At that tremendous scene, you will see rich and poor, men and women, free people and slaves, kings and commoners, all silent and attentive, their gazes lowered, their necks bowed, kneeling upon their knees with abased faces. They will not know what will be decided for any of them or what will be done to them. Each person will be preoccupied with himself and his own plight to the exclusion of his father, brother, friend, and beloved: “Each person among them on that Day will have enough concern of his own.” The just Ruler and Judge will then pass judgment among them, rewarding those who did good for their goodness and depriving the evildoers.
Our hope in the Generous Lord, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, is that creation will witness from Him such bounty and kindness, pardon, gracious overlooking, and forgiveness as tongues cannot express and minds cannot conceive. All creation will then look expectantly toward His mercy because of what they witness, [but the believers in Him and His messengers will be singled out for mercy] (1). If it is asked, “What grounds do you have for this hope?”—or, if you prefer, “What grounds do you have for this knowledge of what you have mentioned?”
We reply: Because we know that His mercy prevails over His wrath and because of the vastness of His generosity, which encompasses all creatures; and because of the successive blessings we witness in ourselves and others in this world, particularly in the context of the Resurrection. Consider His words, “Voices will be hushed before the Most Merciful,” and “except from one to whom the Most Merciful has granted permission,” together with His words, “True sovereignty on that Day belongs to the Most Merciful,” and the statement of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him:
“Allah has one hundred portions of mercy. He sent down one portion to His servants, by which they show mercy and affection to one another. Even an animal lifts its hoof away from its young for fear of trampling it—that is, because of the mercy placed in its heart. When the Day of Resurrection comes, He will join this portion to the other ninety-nine and thereby show mercy to His servants.”
Also consider the Prophet’s statement—peace and blessings be upon him: “Allah is more merciful to His servants than a mother is to her child.” Speak of His mercy as much as you will; it surpasses all you can say. Conceive of it however you will; it is beyond that. Glory be to Him who is merciful in His justice and punishment, just as He is merciful in His grace, kindness, and reward. Exalted is He whose mercy encompasses everything and whose generosity reaches every living being. Majestic is He who has no need of His servants yet is merciful to them, while they remain in constant need of Him in every circumstance and cannot do without Him for even the blink of an eye.
His words, “On that Day no intercession will be of benefit except from one to whom the Most Merciful has granted permission and whose words He approves” ⦗514⦘ mean that no created being can intercede before Him unless He has granted permission for intercession (2). He grants permission only to those whose words—that is, whose intercession—He approves, namely the prophets, messengers, and His servants who have been brought near. Their intercession will be on behalf of one whose words and deeds He approves, namely the sincere believer. If any one of these conditions is absent, no one can obtain intercession from anyone.
People at that standing will fall into two groups:
The first consists of those who wronged themselves through disbelief and evil. Nothing will befall them but failure, deprivation, painful punishment in Hell, and the wrath of the Judge.
The second consists of those who believed with the faith commanded of them and performed righteous deeds, whether obligatory or recommended. Such a person “need fear neither injustice”—that is, any increase in his evil deeds—“nor deprivation”—that is, any reduction of his good deeds. Rather, his sins will be forgiven, his faults cleansed, and his good deeds multiplied: “If there is a good deed, He will multiply it and grant a great reward from Himself.”