Misunderstanding the Blowing of the Trumpet

Many people, when reading about the blowing of the trumpet, immediately imagine a huge trumpet that will be blown at the end of time.

This is where the misunderstanding begins.

The Quran states:

وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ

“And it is blown into aṣ-ṣūr…”

But people immediately turn aṣ-ṣūr into the image of a trumpet.

Then all attention becomes focused on an instrument that supposedly will be blown sometime in the future.

Yet what should be examined is:

WHAT HAPPENS TO HUMAN BEINGS EACH TIME THE BLOWING TAKES PLACE?

When the human journey is examined, a very clear pattern emerges:

human beings undergo three departures.

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THE FIRST BLOWING — DEPARTING FROM THE FATHER

The human journey begins when the seed leaves the father and enters the realm of the womb.

This is the first transition.

From one state, the human being enters another.

Within this reading:

heaven = father

earth = mother

The father gives.

The mother receives and nurtures.

When the two meet, the formation of the human being begins.

This is the first blowing.

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BETWEEN THE TWO BLOWINGS — FORTY

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

مَا بَيْنَ النَّفْخَتَيْنِ أَرْبَعُونَ

“Between the two blowings are forty.”

When Abu Hurairah was asked:

“Forty days?”

He did not specify.

“Forty months?”

He did not specify.

“Forty years?”

He also did not specify.

The hadith leaves only one number:

40.

Interestingly, human pregnancy is clinically commonly counted as approximately:

40 WEEKS.

Not necessarily exact down to the hour, minute and second.

That is the nature of a sign.

A sign provides an indication.

And here, the number 40 meets the human journey within the womb in a particularly clear way.

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THE SECOND BLOWING — DEPARTING FROM THE MOTHER

After passing through the realm of the womb, the human being once again emerges.

This time, from the mother into the worldly realm.

This is the second blowing.

Al-Mu’minun 23:101 states:

فَإِذَا نُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَلَا أَنسَابَ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَلَا يَتَسَاءَلُونَ

“When it is blown into aṣ-ṣūr, there will be no ties of lineage between them on that Day, nor will they ask about one another.”

Within this reading, the verse is connected with emerging from the mother.

Before emerging, the human being exists within the connection of the womb.

After emerging, the person stands as a separate physical body within the worldly realm.

Therefore:

The first blowing — departing from the father.

The second blowing — departing from the mother.

Every human being has already undergone these two blowings.

But human beings do not remember them.

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THE THIRD BLOWING — DEPARTING FROM THE PHYSICAL BODY

After living in the world, the third transition comes.

Yasin 36:51 states:

وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَإِذَا هُم مِّنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَنسِلُونَ

“And it is blown into aṣ-ṣūr, and suddenly they emerge from al-ajdāth, hastening towards their Lord.”

Here, the blowing is connected with:

DEPARTURE.

No longer departing from the father.

No longer departing from the mother.

But departing from the physical body.

Qaf 50:20 also states:

وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ يَوْمُ الْوَعِيدِ

“And it is blown into aṣ-ṣūr. That is the Day of the Warning.”

This is the third phase of the human being.

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THE THIRD BLOWING IS DIFFERENT — THIS TIME THE HUMAN BEING SEES

Az-Zumar 39:68 states:

ثُمَّ نُفِخَ فِيهِ أُخْرَىٰ فَإِذَا هُمْ قِيَامٌ يَنظُرُونَ

“Then it is blown into it once again, and suddenly they are standing, looking.”

Two words are extremely important:

قِيَامٌ — rising / standing

يَنظُرُونَ — looking

This is the great difference of the third blowing.

The human being passed through the first blowing without conscious awareness of it.

The second blowing, at birth, also did not become an experience that could be reflected upon in the way an adult reflects upon an event.

But at the third blowing:

the person sees it for themselves.

It is no longer something told by another person.

It is no longer something known through a story.

The person witnesses their own transition.

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AL-KAHF 18:99 — GATHERED TOGETHER WITH WHAT HAS BEEN CARRIED

Al-Kahf 18:99 states:

وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَجَمَعْنَاهُمْ جَمْعًا

“And it is blown into aṣ-ṣūr, then We gather them together in a gathering.”

Do not restrict “gathered” to an image of human beings merely standing together in an assembly.

Human beings come together with what they have done.

Choices.

Actions.

Deeds.

The consequences of everything they have done throughout their lives.

Therefore, the gathering can also be read as:

the human being being gathered together with the results of their own actions.

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THREE BLOWINGS — THREE DEPARTURES

Thus, the human pattern becomes very clear:

THE FIRST BLOWING

Departing from the father

↓

Entering the realm of the womb

40

THE SECOND BLOWING

Departing from the mother

↓

Entering the worldly realm

THE THIRD BLOWING

Departing from the physical body

↓

Rising and seeing

Three blowings.

Three transitions.

Three departures.

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SO, WHY ARE HUMAN BEINGS WAITING FOR A TRUMPET?

Because for too long, human beings have been taught to imagine the blowing of the trumpet as the sound of a trumpet coming from the sky.

And so they wait.

Waiting for a sound.

Waiting for an instrument.

Waiting for something outside themselves.

Yet two blowings have already taken place within their own journey.

They have already departed from the father.

They have already departed from the mother.

What remains is:

THE THIRD DEPARTURE.

And for the third time, the Quran gives a particularly striking description:

فَإِذَا هُمْ قِيَامٌ يَنظُرُونَ

“And suddenly they are standing, looking.”

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CONCLUSION

The blowing of the trumpet is not a question of searching for a trumpet.

The question is about reading the human journey.

Blowing 1 — departing from the father.

Blowing 2 — departing from the mother.

Blowing 3 — departing from the physical body.

Two have already passed.

One more awaits every human being.

And the third is different.

Because this time:

YOU WILL SEE IT FOR YOURSELF.