Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:49
And you will see the criminals that Day bound together in shackles,
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
He, exalted be His mention, says: Allah is indeed avenging يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ — against the polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people, O Muḥammad, of Quraysh, and all others who disbelieved (kufr) in Allah and denied your prophethood and the prophethood of His messengers before you. The word "day" is connected as an expansion to "vengeance."
The exegetes differed over the meaning of His saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ . Some said: the meaning is that the earth on which people live today in the world will be replaced by another earth — and it will be like a white earth of silver.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthanná related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, saying: I heard ʿAmr ibn Maymūn transmit a report from ʿAbd Allāh, that he said about this verse يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ : an earth like silver, pure, upon which no blood was ever shed and upon which no sin was ever committed. The caller makes them hear and the gaze penetrates them; barefoot, naked, standing — I think he said: as they were created — until the sweat stands in their mouths like a bit while they stand, and that alone.
Shuʿba said: Then I heard him say: I heard ʿAmr ibn Maymūn — and he did not mention ʿAbd Allāh. I then asked him about it again; he said: Hubayra related it to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, saying: Abū Isḥāq informed us, saying: I heard ʿAmr ibn Maymūn — and sometimes he said: ʿAbd Allāh said, and sometimes he did not say it — I asked him: on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh? He said: I heard ʿAmr ibn Maymūn say about يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : a white earth, pure as silver, upon which no blood was ever shed and upon which no sin was ever committed. The gaze penetrates them and the caller makes them hear; barefoot, naked, as they were created — I think he said: standing until the sweat stands in their mouths like a bit.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd — about his saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ : he said: the earth will be replaced by a white, pure earth as though it were silver, upon which no blood was ever wrongfully shed and upon which no sin was ever committed.
Al-Muthanná related to us, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh — about his saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: the earth of the Garden (janna), white and pure, upon which no sin was ever committed; the caller makes them hear and the gaze penetrates him; barefoot, naked, standing, while the sweat stands in their mouths like a bit.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn — about يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: a white earth like silver, upon which no blood was ever wrongfully shed and upon which no sin was ever committed.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Zayd related to us, saying: ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala informed us, on the authority of Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, that he recited this verse يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ وَبَرَزُوا لِلَّهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّارِ and said: A white earth will be brought, like a bar of silver, upon which no blood was ever shed and upon which no sin was ever committed. He said: The first thing about which judgment will be passed among the people is the cases of bloodshed.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Hishām related to us, on the authority of Sinān, on the authority of Jābir al-Juʿfī, on the authority of Abū Jubayr, on the authority of Zayd, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent someone to the Jews and said: "Do you know why I have sent them?" They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: "I have sent them to ask them about the saying of Allah يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ — on that day it will be white as silver." When they came, he asked them; they said: it will be white as pure white bread (al-naqī).
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Tirmidhī related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa related to me, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, on the authority of Sinān ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, that he recited this verse يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ and said: Allah will replace it on the Day of Resurrection with an earth of silver upon which no sins were committed; the Almighty, Blessed and Exalted, will descend upon it.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us; and al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — about his saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: an earth as though it were silver. Al-Ḥasan added in his report through Shabāba: and the heavens likewise, as though they were silver.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — about يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: an earth as though it were silver, and the heavens likewise.
Ibn al-Barqī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Maryam related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar informed us, saying: Abū Ḥāzim related to me, saying: I heard Sahl ibn Saʿd say: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "The people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection upon a white, yellowish earth like a round loaf of pure white flour." Sahl or another said: there is no mark upon it of anything else.
Others said: it will be turned into fire.
* Mention of who said this:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Qays ibn al-Sakan, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: On the Day of Resurrection the whole earth is fire, and the Garden (janna) is above it; you see its cups and its full-bosomed maidens. By Him in whose hand is the soul of ʿAbd Allāh: a man sweats so profusely that the sweat seeps into the earth down to his foot, then it rises up to his nose, without his having undergone all the reckoning. They asked: By what then, O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān? He said: because of what the people see and endure.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Khaythama, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: on the Day of Resurrection the whole earth is fire, the Garden (janna) is behind it, its full-bosomed maidens and cups are visible, and the sweat bridles the people or reaches them — without their having reached the reckoning.
Others said: the earth will be replaced by an earth of silver.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn al-Muthanná related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: I heard al-Mughīra ibn Mālik transmit a report from al-Mujāshiʿ or al-Mujāshiʿī — Abū Mūsā doubted — on the authority of someone who heard ʿAlī say about this verse يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : the earth is of silver and the Garden (janna) is of gold.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Mughīra ibn Mālik, he said: a man of the Banū Mujāshiʿ — named ʿAbd al-Karīm or Ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm — related to me; he said: this man related this to me — I think it was in Samarqand — that he heard ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib recite this verse يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ and say: the earth is of silver and the Garden (janna) is of gold.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Mughīra ibn Mālik, on the authority of a man of the Banū Mujāshiʿ, named ʿAbd al-Karīm or with the kunya Abū ʿAbd al-Karīm, who said: he had me stop before a man in Khurāsān, and said: this man related to me that he heard ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib — and he mentioned it identically.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning his saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ to the end of the verse: he claimed that it will become of silver.
Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa related to me, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, on the authority of Sinān ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik: Allah will replace it on the Day of Resurrection with an earth of silver.
Others said: it will be replaced by a loaf of bread.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Saʿd Saʿīd ibn Dall — from Ṣughāniān — related to us, saying: al-Jārūd ibn Muʿādh al-Tirmidhī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Bishr al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — concerning his saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: it is replaced by a white loaf of bread from which the believer eats from beneath his feet.
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī or of Muḥammad ibn Qays — about يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: a loaf of bread from which the believers eat from beneath their feet.
Others said: the earth is replaced by another earth.
* Mention of who said this:
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Kaʿb — concerning his saying يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ : he said: the heavens will become gardens of paradise and the place of the sea will become the Fire. He said: and the earth is replaced by another.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Rāfiʿ al-Madanī, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of a man of the Anṣār, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, on the authority of a man of the Anṣār, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: " يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ — He will spread it out and level it and stretch it as the leather of ʿUkāẓ is stretched, so that you see in it no crookedness or unevenness. Then Allah will summon the creation with a single thunderclap, and they will be upon this replacing earth in the same places as upon the first: whoever was in its interior is in its interior, whoever was on its back is on its back. That is when He folds up the heavens as a scroll of parchment is rolled up for the books, then He casts them away, and afterward the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bishr related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn al-Awdī, who said: the people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection upon a white earth upon which no sin was committed for forty years; the sweat stands in their mouths like a bit.
ʿĀʾisha said the following about this:
Ibn Abī al-Shawārib, Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada, and Ibn Bazīʿ related to us, they said: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, who said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, when the earth is replaced by another earth and they come forth before Allah, the One, the All-Subduing — where are the people then?" He said: "Upon the Ṣirāṭ."
Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada and Ibn Bazīʿ related to us, he said: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — identically.
Isḥāq ibn Shāhīn related to me, saying: Khālid related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Masrūq, who said: I said to ʿĀʾisha: "O Mother of the Believers, what do you say about the saying of Allah يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ وَبَرَزُوا لِلَّهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّارِ — where are the people then?" She said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about that and he said: "Upon the Ṣirāṭ."
Ibn al-Muthanná related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAnbasa al-Warrāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm — meaning Ibn Sulaymān al-Rāzī — related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, who said: "I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the saying of Allah يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ . I said: O Messenger of Allah, when the earth is replaced by another earth, where are the people then?" He said: "Upon the Ṣirāṭ."
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Zakariyyā related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha — identically.
Ibn al-Muthanná related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, Mother of the Believers, who said: "I am the first of the people to ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse." Then he mentioned it identically.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Rabʿī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Asadī — brother of Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm — related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿĀmir, who said: ʿĀʾisha said: "O Messenger of Allah, what is your judgment when the earth has been replaced by another earth? Where are the people then?" He said: "Upon the Ṣirāṭ."
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn al-Jund related to us, saying: al-Qāsim informed me, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan [say]: ʿĀʾisha said: "O Messenger of Allah, يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ — where are the people then?" He said: "That is something no one has ever asked me about. Upon the Ṣirāṭ, O ʿĀʾisha."
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: al-Walīd related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ḥassān ibn Bilāl al-Maznī, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, that she asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the saying of Allah يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ . She said: "O Messenger of Allah, where are the people then?" He said: "You have asked me about something that no one of my community has ever asked me about. That is when the people are upon the bridge (jisr) of Hell (jahannam)."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda — about يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ : it has been mentioned to us that ʿĀʾisha said: "O Messenger of Allah, where are the people then?" He said: "You have asked about something that no one of my community before you has asked about. On that day they are upon the bridge of Hell (jahannam)."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, that ʿĀʾisha asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it — and he mentioned it identically, except that he said: "Upon the Ṣirāṭ."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Asmāʾ, on the authority of Thawbān, who said: "A scribe of the Jews asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: Where are the people on the day that the earth is replaced by another earth? He said: They are in the darkness before the bridge."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAwn related to me, saying: Abū al-Mughīra related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Maryam related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Thawbān al-Kalāʿī related to us, on the authority of Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, who said: A scribe of the Jews came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "Tell me — when Allah says in His Book يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ — where is the creation then?" He said: "They are guests of Allah; He will not forsake them."
The most correct view about this is that of him who said: the meaning is that the earth on which we are today will, on the Day of Resurrection, be replaced by another, and likewise the present heavens — as He, exalted be His praise, said. It is possible that the earth which replaces it is another earth of silver, possible that it is fire, possible that it is bread, or possibly something else still. We do not possess a report by a path that obligates acceptance to determine which of the two it will be. Hence no interpretation is valid except what the outward meaning (ẓāhir) of the revelation indicates.
In accordance with what we have said about the meaning of وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ the exegetes also spoke.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — about يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الأرْضُ غَيْرَ الأرْضِ : he said: an earth as though it were silver. وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ — likewise.
His saying وَبَرَزُوا لِلَّهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّارِ — He says: they have come forth before Allah, the One in sovereignty, Who overcomes all things and disposes according to His will; Who gives life to His creation when He wills and causes death when He wills; Who is overcome by nothing and Whose will is submitted to by no one — out of their graves, alive, before the standing-place of the Day of Resurrection.
