إِن كانَت إِلّا صَيحَةً واحِدَةً فَإِذا هُم جَميعٌ لَدَينا مُحضَرونَ

It will be but a single cry, and, behold, they will all be presented before Us!

EXEGESIS

Muḥḍarūn (presented) is a plural passive participle of the form four verb aḥḍara, which implies that someone or something caused them to be brought forward and presented.^{‎[1]Lane, p. 589.} The focus is on them being brought and not on who brought them. This form has been used in ten Quranic verses, nine of which indicate the presence of the wicked ones or their deeds for accountability and reckoning, similar to this verse. Only one verse uses this verb to indicate that both good and bad deeds would be presented on the Day of Judgement: The day when every soul will find present (muḥḍaran) whatever good it has done; and as to whatever evil it has done it will wish there were a far distance between it and itself. Allah warns you to beware of [disobeying] Him, and Allah is most kind to [His] servants (3:30).^{‎[2]H d r in the online Quranic Arabic Corpus, < https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=HDr >.}

EXPOSITION

Again, a summary of what will happen. We will be presented, finally, all of us, before Allah. That is the encounter (liqāʾ) which will eventually arrive. O man! You are labouring toward your Lord laboriously, and you will encounter Him (84:6). That is the destination of our journey and the prime moment of our eternal existence.

This verse alludes to the fact that raising the dead in their multitudes is easy for God and takes not more than a single blast. It also implies that the world of the hereafter is a world of presence before God. It is a stage where the evolution of the creation as a whole would come to its completion. To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and toward God is the destination (24:42). We belong to God, and to Him do we return (2:156). His presence is felt everywhere and in everything, unlike this world in which He is hidden behind the chain of the causes and effects for the people of weak or no faith.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘On that day God will gather those who came before and after, to stand in obedience for the conversation about the reckoning and the recompense for deeds. Sweat would restrain their mouths, while the earth would tremble with them. The best condition among them would be for he who would find a resting place for both his feet and an open place for his breath.’^{‎[3]Nahj, sermon 102.}
2. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘The likeness of people on the Day of Resurrection, when they would stand up for the Lord of the worlds, is like an arrow in the quiver. He will have no place on earth except for his foot, like an arrow in a quiver, that cannot move anywhere here or here.’^{‎[4]Kafi, 8/143.}
3. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘The earth [grave] will not split open for anyone on the Day of Resurrection unless two angels will be holding that person’s shoulders, saying: “Respond to the Lord of might.”’^{‎[5]Bihar, 7/106.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

The use of the feminine in certain nouns indicates their greatness and eminence. It is observed that the word used for cry (ṣayḥah) in this verse is a feminine noun, similar to wāqiʿah in 56:1. Such gives an image of the enormity of the Day of Judgement. For that reason, other names of the Day of Resurrection used in the Quran are feminine nouns as well, such as the Day of Resurrection (al-qiyāmah), the catastrophe (al-qāriʿah), the inevitable (al-ḥāqqah), and so on.^{‎[6]Razi, 26/90.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them … Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.^{‎[7]Revelation 8:2, 6.}
2. Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”^{‎[8]Revelation 10:5-7.}
3. The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.”

[1] Lane, p. 589.
[2] H d r in the online Quranic Arabic Corpus, < https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=HDr >.
[3] Nahj, sermon 102.
[4] Kafi, 8/143.
[5] Bihar, 7/106.
[6] Razi, 26/90.
[7] Revelation 8:2, 6.
[8] Revelation 10:5-7.