The Meaning of Qiamah: Rising, Not Destruction

A major misunderstanding about Qiamah begins when people read the Quran as though they were reading an Arabic newspaper: merely as text, stories and distant events that supposedly have yet to happen to them personally.

Yet the Quran is not a book of fairy tales.

The Quran must become a reality that can be witnessed in the universe and within human beings themselves:

وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِّلْمُوقِنِينَ ۝ وَفِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ

“And on the earth are signs for those who have certainty. And within yourselves. Will you not then see?”

— Az-Zariyat 51:20–21

EARTH IS NOT THE WORLD

The Quran describes the earth as a resting place:

الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا

“Who made the earth a resting place for you.”

— Al-Baqarah 2:22

And:

إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى الْأَرْضِ زِينَةً لَّهَا

“Indeed, We have made whatever is on the earth an adornment for it.”

— Al-Kahfi 18:7

Therefore:

EARTH = the stage

WORLD = life, structures, systems, wealth and adornments upon the stage

The earth and the world are not the same thing.

HUMAN QIAMAH

Every human being will certainly die.

Therefore, every human being will certainly experience their own Qiamah.

Al-Mu’minun 23:15–16:

ثُمَّ إِنَّكُم بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ لَمَيِّتُونَ ۝ ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ تُبْعَثُونَ

“Then, after that, you will surely die. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will be raised.”

Al-Baqarah 2:243:

مُوتُوا ثُمَّ أَحْيَاهُمْ

“Die, then He brought them back to life.”

In this interpretation, when a human being dies, the process of rising begins.

Like a bird emerging from its cage.

Like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon and transforming into a butterfly.

Therefore:

DEATH → THE PROCESS OF RISING → QIAM

MISUNDERSTANDING: “DEATH FOLLOWED BY SLEEPING IN THE GROUND”

The depiction of human beings dying and then merely entering an “empty sleep” in the ground until a time when everyone is resurrected together must be examined in light of authentic Hadith.

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that when a person is placed in his grave, he hears the footsteps of those leaving him. Then two angels come and questioning takes place. The Hadith also mentions that a believer is shown his place in Paradise and the place in Hell from which he has been spared. (Sunnah.com)

In another Hadith, the Prophet ﷺ stated that the dead truly experience the punishment of the grave, to the extent that other creatures can hear it. (Sunnah.com)

This demonstrates that after death, the human condition is not merely an “empty sleep without any experience”.

THE PROPHET ﷺ SAW THE INHABITANTS OF PARADISE AND HELL

The Prophet ﷺ said:

اطَّلَعْتُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ فَرَأَيْتُ أَكْثَرَ أَهْلِهَا الْفُقَرَاءَ، وَاطَّلَعْتُ فِي النَّارِ فَرَأَيْتُ أَكْثَرَ أَهْلِهَا النِّسَاءَ

“I looked into Paradise and saw that most of its inhabitants were the poor; and I looked into Hell and saw that most of its inhabitants were women.” (Sunnah.com)

Pay attention to the wording:

فَرَأَيْتُ — then I saw

أَهْلِهَا — its inhabitants

In another Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ was shown people who were receiving their recompense: liars, those who neglected the Quran, adulterers, those who consumed riba, believers and martyrs.

He was also informed that his own place already existed, but that he still had a remaining portion of his worldly life to complete. (Sunnah.com)

This is extremely important.

At the very least, these Hadith challenge the overly simplistic depiction that:

All the dead remain in an empty state without any experience until some distant time in the future.

The reality after death already involves consciousness, questioning, recompense and the revelation of one’s destination.

In the interpretation presented in this article, this indicates that human beings pass through the stages beyond this world progressively, rather than everyone waiting in an empty state to rise simultaneously.

QIAMAH DOES NOT BEGIN IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

People assume that Qiamah must occur instantaneously.

Yet even an individual’s death does not necessarily happen in the blink of an eye.

Before death, there is:

NAZAK

Therefore, by analogy:

Human nazak

= the transition towards death

The world’s nazak

= the transition towards the end of the world

It is the world that undergoes nazak, not the earth.

THE 10 MAJOR SIGNS = THE PROCESS OF THE WORLD’S NAZAK

A Hadith in Sahih Muslim mentions that al-Sa‘ah will not occur until ten signs have appeared before it.

In this interpretation, the 10 major signs can be understood as the process of the world’s nazak:

1. Ad-Dukhan

2. Dajjal

3. Dabbatul-Ard

4. The sun rising from the place of its setting

5. The descent of Isa ibn Maryam

6. Ya’juj and Ma’juj

7. Khasf in the east

8. Khasf in the west

9. Khasf in the Arabian Peninsula

10. A fire that drives humanity forward

Just as human beings experience signs when approaching death, the world also has signs as it approaches its end.

THE WORLD BEGINS ITS NAZAK → THE SIGNS APPEAR → WORLDLY LIFE COMES TO AN END

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF QIAMAH

1. Human Qiamah

The death of the individual and the beginning of the process of rising.

It happens to every human being.

2. The World’s Qiamah

The end of the lives of all human beings in the worldly realm.

As long as human beings are still alive in this world, the world’s chapter has not yet ended.

When the last human being has departed from this world, the world as a realm of human life has reached its end.

EVERYONE EXPERIENCING SOMETHING DOES NOT MEAN EVERYONE EXPERIENCES IT SIMULTANEOUSLY

Human beings:

• are not conceived simultaneously

• are not born simultaneously

• do not die simultaneously

Therefore:

EVERYONE EXPERIENCES IT ≠ EVERYONE EXPERIENCES IT SIMULTANEOUSLY

Misunderstanding arises when the statement “everyone will be resurrected” is immediately imagined to mean “everyone must rise at exactly the same moment”.

The Hadith describing how the dead experience questioning, see their destinations and receive recompense, together with the Prophet ﷺ himself witnessing the inhabitants of Paradise and Hell, make the depiction of “everyone waiting together in an empty state” overly simplistic. (Sunnah.com)

TABDIL MEANS TRANSFORMATION

Ibrahim 14:48:

يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الْأَرْضُ غَيْرَ الْأَرْضِ

“On the Day when the earth is changed or replaced with another earth.”

تُبَدَّلُ comes from the root ب د ل:

• changed

• exchanged

• replaced

Therefore, the focus is on transformation, rather than the simplistic depiction of “the earth disappearing and a new planet emerging”.

AKHIRAT IS THE FINAL STAGE

الآخرة comes from the root أ خ ر:

• later

• last

• ending

• final

Therefore, Akhirat is the final stage of the entire human journey.

That journey passes through several checkpoints:

1. The realm of souls / data

2. The father’s seed

3. The mother’s womb

4. The world

5. The grave / Barzakh

6. Reckoning

Then:

AKHIRAT = FINAL / THE END

CLAIMING TO BELIEVE WHILE NOT TRULY BELIEVING

Al-Baqarah 2:8:

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَا هُم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And among the people are those who say, ‘We believe in Allah and the Last Day,’ while they are not believers.”

The following verse continues:

وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّا أَنفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ

“They deceive none but themselves, yet they do not realise it.”

— Al-Baqarah 2:9

The mouth may declare:

“I believe in the Day of Qiamah.”

But a declaration does not necessarily mean understanding.

DO NOT TURN RELIGION INTO A FAIRY TALE

The Quran is not a book to be imprisoned within its text.

Do not read the Quran as though you were reading an Arabic newspaper: finishing a story and then waiting for everything to happen at some unknown time in the future.

The Quran invites human beings to observe:

the universe

the self

life

death

transformation

resurrection

Qiamah is not someone else’s story.

It will happen to you personally.

SUMMARY

EARTH = the stage

WORLD = life and adornments upon the stage

HUMAN NAZAK = the transition towards death

HUMAN QIAMAH = the death of the individual and the beginning of the process of rising

THE REALM OF THE GRAVE = not an empty sleep; there is consciousness, questioning and recompense

THE 10 MAJOR SIGNS = in this interpretation, the process of the world’s nazak

THE WORLD’S NAZAK = the transition towards the end of the world

THE WORLD’S QIAMAH = the end of human life in the world

AKHIRAT = the final stage / the end

QIAMAH IS NOT DESTRUCTION. QIAMAH IS RISING.

DEATH IS NOT AN EMPTY SLEEP IN THE GROUND.

THE HADITH SHOW THAT THE REALITY AFTER DEATH ALREADY INVOLVES CONSCIOUSNESS, QUESTIONING AND RECOMPENSE.

THE PROPHET ﷺ HIMSELF SAW PARADISE, HELL AND THEIR INHABITANTS.

THEREFORE, DO NOT TURN RELIGION INTO A FAIRY TALE IMPRISONED WITHIN TEXT.