Tafsir of Surah Al-Anbiya' - Verse 104

The Heavens will be rolled up on the Day of Resurrection

Allah says: this will happen on the Day of Resurrection:

يَوْمَ نَطْوِى السَّمَآءَ كَطَىِّ السِّجِلِّ لِلْكُتُبِ

(And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heaven like a Sijill for books.) This is like the Ayah:

وَمَا قَدَرُواْ اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ وَالاٌّرْضُ جَمِيعـاً قَبْضَـتُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ وَالسَّمَـوَتُ مَطْوِيَّـتٌ بِيَمِينِهِ سُبْحَـنَهُ وَتَعَالَى عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ

(They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified be He, and High be He above all that they associate as partners with Him!) 39:67 Al-Bukhari recorded that Nafi` reported from Ibn `Umar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«إِنَّ اللهَ يَقْبِضُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ الْأَرَضِينَ وَتَكُونُ السَّمَوَاتُ بِيَمِينِه»

(On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will seize the earth and the heavens will be in His Right Hand.) This was recorded by Al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him.

كَطَىِّ السِّجِلِّ لِلْكُتُبِ

(like a Sijill rolled up for books.) What is meant by Sijill is book. As-Suddi said concerning this Ayah: "As-Sijill is an angel who is entrusted with the records; when a person dies, his Book (of deeds) is taken up to As-Sijill, and he rolls it up and puts it away until the Day of Resurrection." But the correct view as narrated from Ibn `Abbas is that As-Sijill refers to the record (of deeds). This was also reported from him by `Ali bin Abi Talhah and Al-`Awfi. This was also stated by Mujahid, Qatadah and others. This was the view favored by Ibn Jarir, because this usage is well-known in the (Arabic) language. Based on the above, the meaning is: the Day when the heaven will be rolled up like a scroll. This is like the Ayah:

فَلَمَّا أَسْلَمَا وَتَلَّهُ لِلْجَبِينِ

(Then, when they had both submitted themselves (to the will of Allah), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead.) 37:103 There are many more linguistic examples in this respect. Allah knows best.

كَمَا بَدَأْنَآ أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُّعِيدُهُ وَعْداً عَلَيْنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا فَـعِلِينَ

(As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it. (It is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall do it.) means, this will inevitably come to pass on the Day when Allah creates His creation anew. As He created them in the first place, He is surely able to re-create them. This must inevitably come to pass because it is one of the things that Allah has promised, and He does not break His promise. He is able to do that. Because He says:

إِنَّا كُنَّا فَـعِلِينَ

(Truly, We shall do it.) Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn `Abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood among us exhorting us, and said:

«إِنَّكُمْ مَحْشُورُونَ إِلَى اللهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ حُفَاةً عُرَاةً غُرْلًا، كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُعِيدُهُ وَعْدًا عَلَيْنَا، إِنَّا كُنَّا فَاعِلِين»

(You will be gathered before Allah barefoot, naked and uncircumcised. As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it. (It is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall do it.) And he mentioned the entire Hadith. It was also recorded in the Two Sahihs, and Al-Bukhari mentioned it in his Tafsir of this Ayah.

يَوْمَ نَطْوِي السَّمَاءَ كَطَيِّ السِّجِلِّ لِلْكُتُبِ (The Day when We roll up the sky like a scroll rolls up the writings. - 21:104.) According to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ the word سِّجِلِّ means a sheet of a book. ` Ali Ibn Abi Talhah, 'Aufi’, Mujahid, Qatadah, Ibn Jarir and Ibn Kathir have all adopted the same meaning of the word. The word کُتُب in the verse is used for المَکتُوب that is something written. So the meaning of the verse is that the sky will be rolled up like a scroll with its writings. (Ibn Kathir)

Sahih al-Bukhari contains a story on the authority of Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn ` Umar ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that on the Day of Judgment Allah Ta` ala would roll up all the seven skies and the seven worlds along with all the created things thereon in His hand, and all of them together would be no more than a grain of rye in His hand. (Ibn Kathir)

The expanse of the present universe was brought into existence for the purpose of creating a testing ground. Subsequently, when the time comes for creating the world of reaping results (the Hereafter), God will wind up this world, and perhaps with the same material will create another world which will fulfil result-and reward- oriented purposes. The coming into existence of one world (the present world) itself provides sufficient proof of the fact that another world can be brought into existence. In the present world, bad persons attain positions of greatness, but this is only for as long as the period of trial lasts. When the period of trial is over and God’s eternal and perfect world is created, every kind of comfort and honour will be in evidence, but only for those who had proved to be God’s true subjects in this world of trial. This has been set down in detail in the Bible, ‘And do not envy the evil people....Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday – for evil-doers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever.’ (Psalms, chapter 37, verses 1, 3, 6, 9 and 27).