The Ocean of the Quran

A verse by verse explanation of The Ultimate Scripture

Al-Inshiqāq – Verse 3

وَإِذَا الأَرضُ مُدَّت

When the earth is spread out.

EXEGESIS

Muddat (is spread out) is the passive feminine verb of the past tense madda, which has the meaning of extending or stretching something out, like in the verse, your Lord spreads (madda) the twilight (25:45). It also means to bring one thing after another consecutively.‎[1] From the same root comes madad, meaning to add or increase something.‎[2] Hence, it can be used in the sense of plenty as well, and furnished him with extensive (mamdūd) means (74:12).

EXPOSITION

As part of the events of the final hour, the earth will be stretched‎[3] and flattened, becoming smooth, without mountains (20:105-107).‎[4] This expands its expanse, increasing its size – like tanned leather stretched taut.‎[5], ‎[6] Leather used to be stretched out with ropes on the frame of a rack during the process of tanning. This helped keep the hide flat and taut as it dried, which opened the grain of the leather to allow the tanning agents to penetrate effectively and prevented it from shrinking into a stiff mass. When the tanned leather is stretched out in such a manner, it will also result in the elimination of most creases and folds, resulting in a smoother piece of leather.‎[7] The example thus illustrates how a stretched out earth will also lose any mountains that are on it, becoming smoother, as it were.

In the period between the two blowings of the trumpet, the cosmos and the whole of existence will undergo major and significant changes, The day the earth is transformed into another earth and the heavens [as well] (14:48). This will result in a new type of existence. The earth will undergo massive upheavals, many of which are described in the Quran.

The verse in this surah might also indicate that the earth will become larger in size, perhaps merging with other celestial objects for that purpose.‎[8] What such changes to the earth means for it sustaining life or how it will affect physical forces, such as the possibility of increased gravity, is unknown, as we do not know what natural and physical laws will exactly be at work in the hereafter, nor the specific attributes of our physical bodies.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Rāzī argues that the stretching out of the earth is necessary so that it may accommodate all the people who have ever lived.‎[9] However, his assertion is highly speculative.

Current estimates of the total number of humans to have ever lived vary greatly as reliable census data only exists for approximately the previous three centuries. Scholars also debate matters such as when the first humans appeared and the rate of infant mortality. It is important to remember that human societies could not sustain large populations like today, prior to the agricultural revolution (c. 10,000 BCE). Additionally, a sizeable percentage of those that have died in the past constitutes children, since infant mortality was significantly higher than what it is today. In any case, one of the widely cited estimates places the totality of the human population to ever have lived to be slightly more than 100 billion.‎[10] Bear in mind that areas built by humans as of today (urban and rural) make up a very small portion (likely less than 1%) of the earth’s total surface area (including 29% land and 71% ocean).

Be as it may, once again we do not know the specifics of human biology or indeed even physical laws in the hereafter, making any such speculations about feasibility of the earth sustaining large populations, or the logistics of the Day of Resurrection, moot. However, this was only mentioned to illustrate the immenseness of the throngs that will gather on that day for judgement, something which is also alluded to in the next verse.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

  1. ‘The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.’‎[11]
  2. ‘Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.’‎[12]
  3. ‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare’‎[13]
  4. ‘Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.’‎[14] 
[1] Tibyan, 7/100; Baghawi, 3/222.
[2] Tabari, 16/31.
[3] Tibyan, 10/308.
[4] Tabrisi, 10/699; Zamakhshari, 4/725-726.
[5] Tibyan, 10/308. This opinion is attributed to Ibn Abbas (Tabrisi, 10/699, Zamakhshari, 4/726).
[6] Tibyan, 10/308; Thalabi, 10/158; Tabrisi, 10/699; Baghawi, 5/228; Zamakhshari, 4/725; Razi, 31/96; Qurtubi, 19/270; Muhit, 10/436. This expression is sometimes attributed to the Prophet, sometimes to Ibn Abbas, and sometimes to other people. Many of the exegetes also just mention it as an opinion. See also Ibn Majah, 2/1365, h. 4081; Mustadrak.S, 4/488-489; and Nahj, saying 47, which borrows the same expression, but for a different context.
[7] Zamakhshari, 4/726; Muhit, 10/436.
[8] See 75:9.
[9] Razi, 31/97.
[10] See Carl Haub and Toshiko Kaneda, How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?. Accessed at https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/. See also Ciara Curtin, ‘Do Living People Outnumber the Dead’ in Scientific American, vol. 297 (Sep. 2007), issue 3, pp. 126-126, DOI: 10.1038/scientificamerican0907-126.
[11] Psalms 97:5.
[12] Isaiah 13:13.
[13] 2 Peter 3:10.
[14] Isaiah 40:4.