So how, then, could the Throne be positioned beneath the sun, shading people?!

Had the report been sound, we might have said that perhaps it refers to one edge of the Throne—for Allah is capable of all things. Yet the authenticity of that particular wording is questionable. The correct view is that it speaks of a shade that Allah will create on that Day, whether from clouds or from something else—Allah knows best—a shade by which He shelters whom He wills among His servants from the sun’s scorching heat.

The Prophet said, “On a Day when there is no shade except His shade,” because in this world we seek shelter under buildings we erect, under the trees we plant, along mountain slopes, beside walls, and so forth—finding shade in things we fashion with our own hands and in things Allah has created.

In the Hereafter, however, no such shade will exist. Allah, exalted is He, says, “They ask you about the mountains. Say, ‘My Lord will pulverize them completely’” (Q 20:105). Every mountain, no matter how vast, will be blasted apart; the greatest peaks will become sand, scattered dust borne on the wind. He also says, “You see the mountains, thinking them firmly fixed, yet they drift like clouds—it is the handiwork of Allah, who perfected all things” (Q 27:88). They will glide through the air even though you once assumed them solid and motionless.

I have heard some contemporary people claim that the phrase “You see the mountains, thinking them motionless” refers to the present world and therefore proves that the earth rotates, arguing that the Day of Resurrection is a day of certitude in which there is no room for conjecture.

Such a claim only exposes their ignorance, for Allah the Almighty says, “O humanity, fear your Lord; the convulsion of the Hour is indeed a tremendous thing. The Day you behold it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling, every pregnant woman will miscarry, and you will see people drunk…” (Q 22:1–2).