وَحُمِلَتِ الأَرضُ وَالجِبالُ فَدُكَّتا دَكَّةً واحِدَةً

And the earth and the mountains are lifted and levelled with a single levelling.

EXEGESIS

Dakkah (levelling) is like duqqa, which is to grind or pulverise, except that dakkah suggests a more severe crushing or pounding; it is to break a thing until it is powder. In fact, the word dakk means a smooth and level ground.^{‎[1]Raghib, d-k-k.} See also the Exegesis of 89:21.

The verb dakka also appears in 89:21 to describe the earth being levelled to a plain, and in 7:143 for the levelling of a mountain.

Just like the trumpet’s single blast, the single levelling is also to show the force and might with which it will be executed without needing a second levelling.

EXPOSITION

The lifting of the earth and the mountains highlights God’s power, and of course there is a purpose to all this destruction: the world as we know it must pass away to pave way for a new one (14:48) in which all the sentient inhabitants of the previous world are gathered for accounting and for the start of their journey to their final abodes.

In this new reconstruction of the earth, He will leave it a level plain. You will not see any crookedness or unevenness in it (20:106-107), meaning there will be no mountain left standing nor any valley uncovered.

The mountains are mentioned in particular because they appear solid, tall, and indestructible (27:88). The mountains are also created to act as pegs or stakes (78:7); their removal therefore expedites and enhances the earth’s destruction. They will be shattered into bits and become scattered dust (56:5-6) until they become like carded wool (101:5) and dunes of shifting sand (73:14), and they are set moving and become a mirage (78:20) and drift away like passing clouds (27:88). See also 18:47, 52:10, 70:8-9, and 81:3.

This levelling appears to happen through natural phenomena like major earthquakes (22:1, 56:4, 73:14, 99:1) and upheavals, one leading to, and affecting, another.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.^{‎[2]Isaiah 2:19-21.}
2. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.^{‎[3]Isaiah 13:13.}
3. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:^{‎[4]Joel 2:10.}
4. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.^{‎[5]Joel 2:31.}
5. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.^{‎[6]Peter 3:10.}
6. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.^{‎[7]Revelation 6:12-14.}

[1] Raghib, d-k-k.
[2] Isaiah 2:19-21.
[3] Isaiah 13:13.
[4] Joel 2:10.
[5] Joel 2:31.
[6] Peter 3:10.
[7] Revelation 6:12-14.