Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:68

(And the Trumpet will be blown): It is well known that the one who blows it is a single angel, namely Israfil (peace be upon him). Indeed, Al-Qurtubi narrated a consensus on this. However, in a hadith extracted by Ibn Majah, Al-Bazzar, and Ibn Marduyah from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri as a marfu’ (elevated) report, it is stated that there are two who blow it. Other reports also indicate this, including what Ahmad and Al-Hakim extracted from Ibn Umar that the Prophet (may Allah grant him peace and blessings) said: "The two blowers in the second heaven—the head of one is in the East and his feet in the West—are waiting for when they will be commanded to blow into the Trumpet, so they will blow." In some reports, there is evidence that it is one, and that he is staring with his eyes—meaning Israfil (peace be upon him)—having not blinked since Allah the Exalted created him, waiting for when He signals him to blow into the Trumpet. The Trumpet (al-sur) is a great horn containing openings corresponding to the number of every created soul and breathed life. Abu al-Shaykh extracted from Wahb that it is made of white pearl with the clarity of glass, having holes equal to the number of souls, and in its center is a breach like the breadth of the heavens and the earth. We believe in it and entrust its reality to the Knower of the Unseen, may His majesty be glorified. Some rejected this and said: "It is the plural of surah (form)," as in the reading of Qatadah and Zayd ibn Ali (in the suwar) with a fatha on the waw, and the discussion on that has already passed. Expressing it in the past tense signifies the certainty of its occurrence, and the verb is put in the passive voice because there is no purpose in identifying the doer, so as to emphasize the action itself from whomever it may come; it is as if it were said: "And the blowing in the Trumpet took place."

(Then whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will swoon): That is, they will die as a result of it. It is also possible that they will first fall unconscious and then die. In al-Asas, a man "swoons" (sa’iqa) if he falls unconscious from a tremor or a loud sound that he hears, and he "swoons" if he dies. In Sahih Muslim, there is a long hadith mentioning the Dajjal: "Then the Trumpet will be blown, and no one will hear it without tilting his head and raising his head; and the first person to hear it is a man who is plastering his camels' trough, so he will swoon," and people will swoon. It was also read (fasu’iqa) with a damma on the sad.

(Except whom Allah wills): Al-Suddi said: "Gabriel, Israfil, Michael, and the Angel of Death (peace be upon them)." It is also said: "They are the Bearers of the Throne," for they die afterwards. There is confusion regarding the order of their death, which is mentioned in al-Durr al-Manthur. Others said: "Ridwan, the Houris, Malik, and the Zabaniyah (guards of Hell)," a view narrated from al-Dahhak. Others said: "Those who died before that," meaning those in the heavens and earth die except for those whose death had already passed, because they were already dead. He (the author of al-Bahr) said: "This is like the verse: 'They will not taste therein death except the first death'." It is strange that it is narrated therein that the exception is Allah the Almighty, and the state of that claim is not hidden from you, whether the exception is connective (muttasil) or disconnected (munqati’). Some said: "It is Moses (peace be upon him)," and the discussion regarding the verification of this will come, if Allah the Exalted wills. Others said something else. By "the heavens," according to the majority of opinions, is meant the direction of height; otherwise, the exception would not be connected, for the Bearers of the Throne, for instance, are not in the "heavens" in the known sense. It is also said that there is no authentic report regarding their designation.

(Then it will be blown again): That is, in the Trumpet. This is apparent in that it is not a plural, for otherwise it would have been said "in them" (fiha). It refers to another blowing, which indicates that what is meant by the first "And the Trumpet was blown" is a single blowing, as has been explicitly stated in many places, because the conjunction implies a difference. If the absolute were meant, encompassing the other, there would be no reason for mentioning it here. ("Another" (ukhra)) allows for the accusative case, being an adjective to an implied verbal noun—meaning "another blowing"—or the nominative case, being an adjective to the deputy subject (na'ib al-fa'il). In the former case, the deputy subject would be the prepositional phrase. It has been confirmed in the Sahihayn of Bukhari and Muslim that Allah the Exalted will send down water from the sky between the two blowings; it came in some narrations that it is like dew (al-tal), and in others like the semen of men, from which the bodies of people will sprout. Between the two blowings is forty; this is from Abu Hurayrah as a marfu’ report, though it does not clarify what these forty are.

In a hadith extracted by Abu Dawud, it is forty years. Abd ibn Humayd extracted from Abdullah ibn al-’As that he said: "The first blowing will be from the Eastern gate of Iliya (Jerusalem), or he said the Western, and the second blowing from another gate."

(Then at once they will be standing): Standing up from their graves (looking on). That is, they are waiting for what they are commanded to do, or waiting for what will be done to them. It is said: "They are casting their gazes in all directions, with the look of one who is bewildered when a great calamity suddenly overtakes him." This is countered by the fact that their statement upon rising, "Who has raised us from our sleeping place?", apparently contradicts this view.

It is suggested that "standing" (qiyam) is the opposite of movement; i.e., they are stopped and frozen in their places due to their bewilderment. This is objected to by the verse: "And the Trumpet will be blown, and at once they will rush from their graves to their Lord," because "rushing" (naslun) implies speed in walking. Likewise: "They will emerge from the graves as if they were racing toward a goal." Zayd ibn Ali read it as (qiyaman) in the accusative, where the sentence "they are looking on" is their predicate, and "standing" is a state (hal) from the pronoun in "looking on" for the sake of the rhyme, or from the subject, according to those who permit it. In al-Bahr, the accusative as a state for the subject of the sentence (al-mubtada') is linked to the adverbial "if" (idha), which is of sudden occurrence (fujaiyyah). This is a necessary state as it is the point of interest, unless the predicate is assumed to be omitted, i.e., "then they are resurrected or existent while standing." If "standing" is in the accusative as a state, its operative agent is that omitted predicate; if we do not assume that, then the agent is the one that governs the adverbial. If "if" (idha) is an adverb of place—as the apparent view of Sibawayh suggests—then the estimation is "at the presence, standing." If it is an adverb of time—as al-Riyashi held—then the estimation is "in that time in which it was blown, they are," i.e., their existence. This addition was necessary because an adverb of time cannot be a predicate for a material object (juthah). If "if" is a particle, as the Kufans claim, then the predicate must be assumed, unless we believe that "they are looking on" is the predicate and acts as the governor for the state. By my life, the school of the Kufans is less forced.

Here there is a problem, based on the fact that they interpreted the "swooning" blowing as the first blowing by which those remaining on the face of the earth die. For Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Imam Ahmad, and others extracted from Abu Hurayrah that a Jewish man in the market of Medina said: "By Him who chose Moses over all mankind!" A man from the Ansar raised his hand and slapped him, saying: "Do you say this while the Messenger of Allah (may Allah grant him peace and blessings) is among us?" I mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah, and he said: "Allah the Exalted said: 'And the Trumpet will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will swoon, except whom Allah wills. Then it will be blown again, and at once they will be standing looking on.' I will be the first to raise my head, and I will find Moses holding onto a pillar of the Throne; I do not know if he raised his head before me or if he was among those whom Allah excepted." This contradicts the interpretation of the blowing as the "swooning" blowing, necessarily, because Moses (peace be upon him) died thousands of years before that blowing. The possibility that he did not die, as is said regarding Al-Khidr and Ilyas, is something no living person should utter. It indicates, as some eminent scholars said, that it is the blowing of the Resurrection.

Qadi Iyad said: "It is possible that this is a swooning of terror after the catastrophe when the heavens split, so the verses and hadiths are reconciled, and the blowings are three." This is the choice of Ibn al-Arabi, but Al-Qurtubi rejected it by stating that Moses (peace be upon him) holding onto the pillar of the Throne is only at the blowing of Resurrection. He claimed the correct view is that there are only two blowings, not three or four as is claimed. Then he said: "What removes the problem is what some of our shaykhs said: 'Death is not absolute non-existence in relation to the Prophets (peace be upon them) and the martyrs, for they are existent and alive even if we do not see them. So when the blowing of swooning occurs, everyone in the heaven and earth swoons. The swooning of those other than the Prophets is death, and their swooning is unconsciousness. So when the blowing of Resurrection occurs, those who died live again, and those who were unconscious recover.'" That is why it occurred in the Sahihayn: "I will be the first to recover." It is not hidden that this requires saying that a shared term (mushtarak) can be used in both its meanings simultaneously, or resorting to a general metaphor, or adhering to the intention that they were rendered unconscious, and that the death of those who die after unconsciousness is informed by another matter. So reflect.