of land, he will find it turned into a collar around his neck made up of the seven earths on the Day of Resurrection. The earths are seven in number, as the Sunnah states explicitly and as Allah alludes to in His words: “He who created seven heavens, and of the earth the like thereof” (At-Talaq 65:12). It is self-evident that this likeness is not one of form, for the difference between heaven and earth is as great as the distance that separates them; the heavens are far vaster, broader, and more magnificent. Allah says, “We built the heaven with might” (Adh-Dhariyat 51:47)—that is, with power—and He says, “We built above you seven mighty ones” (An-Nabaʼ 78:12), meaning strong and steadfast.

Thus, when a person wrongfully seizes even a handspan of land, he will be yoked with a collar fashioned from the seven earths on the Day of Judgment—Allah’s refuge is sought. He will carry it before all people, before all of creation, bring­ing public disgrace and exhausting torment upon himself. The phrase “a handspan of land” is not meant as a precise limit but as hyperbole: if he usurps anything less than that, he will still be collared. The Arabs employ such expressions for emphasis—meaning that even something as small as a handspan will be hung about his neck on that Day.

This ḥadith further proves that whoever owns a parcel of land owns its depth all the way to the seventh earth. No one may excavate a tunnel beneath your property without your permission. Suppose you own a strip of land three meters wide lying between two plots that belong to your neighbor, and he wishes to open a tunnel linking his two properties beneath your land—it is not his right to do so. You own the land and all that lies beneath it down to the seventh earth, just as the airspace above it is yours up to the sky; no one may build a roof over your property without your consent. Hence the scholars say: the airspace follows the ground, and the ground is fixed down to the seventh earth. The human being