(13–18) “Then, when the Trumpet is blown with a single blast, and the earth and mountains are lifted up and crushed with a single blow, on that Day the Inevitable Event will come to pass. The sky will split apart and on that Day will be frail. The angels will stand at its edges, and above them, on that Day, eight will bear the Throne of your Lord. On that Day you will be presented, and nothing about you will remain hidden.”

After mentioning what the Exalted did to those who denied His messengers, how He requited them and hastened their punishment in this world, and how Allah saved the messengers and their followers, He made this a prelude to mentioning the recompense of the Hereafter and the full requital of deeds on the Day of Resurrection. He therefore mentions the tremendous events attending the Resurrection. The first is that, once the bodies have fully regrown, Isrāfīl blows “into the Trumpet” with “a single blast.” The souls then emerge, each soul enters its body, and suddenly all people are standing before the Lord of the worlds.

“And the earth and mountains are lifted up and crushed with a single blow.” That is, the mountains will be broken into pieces and vanish, mingled with the earth, and scattered across it. Everything will become a flat, level plain in which no depression or elevation can be seen. This is what will be done to the earth and all that is upon it.

As for what will be done to the sky, it will convulse and surge, split apart, and change color. After all its former solidity and immense strength, it will become frail. This will be only because a tremendous event has shaken it and an immense, terrifying distress has enfeebled and weakened it.

“The angels”—that is, the noble angels—“will stand at its edges,” meaning at the sides and extremities of the sky, humbly submissive to their Lord and subdued before His greatness.

“And above them, on that Day, eight will bear the Throne of your Lord.” They are angels of tremendous strength. This will occur when He comes to decide among His servants and judge between them with His justice, equity, and grace.

Thus He says, “On that Day you will be presented” before Allah, “and nothing about you will remain hidden”: nothing pertaining to your bodies and physical forms (1), nor any of your deeds [and your attributes]. Indeed, Allah Most High knows the unseen and the seen.

The servants will be gathered barefoot, naked, and uncircumcised upon a level plain, where the caller will make himself heard to them all and the observer’s gaze will encompass them all. He will then requite them for what they did. He therefore describes how this recompense will take place, saying: