Tafsir of Al-Haqqah 69:14

They are raised from their positions by the sheer power of the Divine, without the mediation of any created being, or through the mediation of something like wind or an angel. It has been said that it may be through an earthquake—meaning that it has a role in the lifting, not that it is the lifter and carrier of them, lest it be said that an earthquake involves no "carrying" but is merely a disturbance.

It is also said that it is permissible for Allah the Exalted to create from the celestial bodies that which possesses the power to attract the mountains and lift them from their places, or that the celestial bodies existing today possess such power, but there is an obstacle between them preventing the attraction and lifting, which will later be removed, thus resulting in the lifting. Similarly, it is permissible to consider the same regarding the earth, and that the forces of the two attractors might differ. Once the lifting of each reaches the limit intended by Allah the Exalted, that which causes the cessation of that attraction—such as the loss of alignment and the like—occurs within the attractor, and there occurs between the mountains and the earth that which necessitates collision. It is also possible that forces occur within the earth that necessitate it casting off the mountains, and that there occurs for the earth itself that which necessitates its lifting from its position. That among forces there are those which are repulsive and those which are attractive is a matter that can hardly be denied.

It is further said that their lifting could be caused by a collision with some celestial bodies, such as comets, as has been newly suggested regarding the earth, whereby the mountains would separate and rise due to the severity of the collision, and the earth would be lifted from its position. It is not hidden that all of this—despite its content—is unnecessary, and it suffices us to say that the lifting is by the Divine Power, which nothing can resist.

Ibn Abi ‘Ablah, Ibn Miqsam, al-A‘mash, and Ibn ‘Amir (in the narration of Yahya) read wa-hummilat with a shaddah on the mim, signifying intensity. It is also permissible that it be for the purpose of moving [transitive], in which case "the earth and the mountains" would be the first object placed in the position of the subject, and the second object is omitted—meaning: "by power," or "by wind," or "by angels." Or, the second object is placed in the position of the subject and the first is omitted, which is one of the aforementioned entities.

The two bodies are struck against each other following their lifting, a single strike, until they crumble and return—as the Almighty said—to a shifting heap of sand. It is also said that their parts disperse, as He said: "scattered dust." They distinguished between dak (crushing/leveling) and daq (pounding): in the former, there is the separation of parts, and in the latter, there is the pulverizing of them.

Some of the eminent scholars said: the root of dak is striking that which is elevated in order to flatten it, and it usually entails leveling as a consequence. Hence, it became common in usage until it became the literal meaning. From this is "a dak earth" for an expanse that is flat, and a male camel (adakk) or female camel (dak'a) [that is low-backed] when they are weak, such that their humps do not rise and their shoulders are level with their backs. Thus, the meaning here is: they are spread out with one spreading and leveled, so that they become an earth in which you see no crookedness or unevenness. Perhaps the crumbling is also a prelude to the leveling.

Al-Raghib said: dak is soft, level earth. The saying of the Almighty "then they are crushed" means: they are made like soft, level earth. This also returns to the meaning of leveling, as is not hidden. It is narrated in Majma' al-Bayan that when they are crushed, the mountains crumble and the wind scatters them, and the earth remains level. The dual pronoun is used because it refers to both bodies, as we have indicated.