Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:67

When a human being truly knows a great thing, and appraises it in his soul with its true appraisal, and magnifies it with its true magnification, he says: "And they have not appraised Allah with true appraisal." It is also recited with a shadda (doubling the letter), meaning: They have not magnified Him with the essence of His magnification. Then, He alerts them to His greatness and the majesty of His status through the method of takhayyul (imaginative representation), saying: "And the earth entirely will be [within] His grip on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand."

The purpose of this speech, when taken in its entirety and totality, is solely to depict His greatness and to inform [the listener] of the essence of His majesty—nothing more. It is not to be taken as referring to a grip or a right hand in a literal sense, nor in a metaphorical sense. Such is the ruling regarding what is narrated:

(973) That Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: "O Abu al-Qasim, Allah will hold the heavens on the Day of Resurrection upon a finger, the earths upon a finger, the mountains upon a finger, the trees upon a finger, the soil upon a finger, and the rest of the creation upon a finger. Then He will shake them and say: 'I am the King.'" The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) laughed in wonder at what he said, then recited in confirmation of it: "And they have not appraised Allah with true appraisal..."

The most eloquent of the Arabs (ﷺ) laughed and wondered only because he understood from it nothing but what the scholars of bayan (rhetoric) understand—without imagining a holding, a finger, or a shaking. Rather, his understanding fell, from beginning to end, upon the essence and the core: which is the indication of overwhelming power, and that these great actions—which baffle the intellects and minds and which imaginations cannot fathom—are easy for Him, with an ease that the listener can only grasp by employing expressions in this method of takhayyul.

You will not find a chapter in the science of rhetoric more precise, more subtle, or more delicate than this chapter. Nor is there anything more beneficial or helpful in undertaking the interpretation of the ambiguous (mutashabihat) verses of the Book of Allah, the other heavenly books, and the speech of the Prophets. For most of it—and its difficulty—consists of takhayyulat (imaginative representations) upon which feet have slipped in the past. Those who slipped were only brought down by their lack of care in research and investigation, until they might have known that among the precise sciences is a science which, if one appraised it with its true appraisal, it would not be hidden from them that all sciences are dependent upon it and are its dependents; for none can untie their tangled knots or loosen their binding chains but it. How many verses of the Revelation and Hadiths of the Messenger have been wronged and subjected to humiliation by weak interpretations and wretched viewpoints, because the one interpreting them has no share in this science, nor does he know its beginning from its end.

"And the earth": The seven earths. Two witnesses testify to this: His saying "entirely" (jami'an) and His saying "and the heavens." Furthermore, the context is one of exaltation and magnification, which necessitates hyperbole. With the intention of gathering and emphasizing it with "entirely," the "entirely" followed the gathering to emphasize it before the predicate arrived, so that it might be known from the start that the news to come does not concern one earth, but all the earths.

"The grip" (al-qabda): The instance of gripping, as in: "I took a handful (qabdatan) from the track of the messenger" (Ta-Ha: 96). Al-qabda (with a damma) is the amount gripped by the palm. It is also said: "Give me a qabda of such-and-such," meaning the amount gripped, naming it by the source-noun, as it is narrated:

(974) That he forbade the snatching of the wolf. Both meanings are possible. The meaning is: "The earths entirely are His grip," meaning: they are the objects of His grip; He grips them in one grip. It means that the earths, despite their greatness and vastness, do not amount to more than one grip of His grips, as if He grips them with one palm. Just as you say: "The camel is a mouthful for Luqman," and "The sea is a gulp for him," meaning: they are the objects of his mouthful and his gulp; you mean that they do not suffice except for a single mouthful of his mouthfuls, and a single gulp of his gulps. If the meaning of "the amount gripped" is intended, it is obvious, for the meaning is: the earths in their entirety are the amount He grips with one palm.

If you ask: What is the aspect of the one who recites qabdatuhu (in the accusative)? I say: He made it an adverbial phrase (zarf) likened to the definite time-bound noun.

"Folded" (matwiyat): From the folding (tayy) which is the opposite of spreading, as the Almighty said: "The Day We will fold the heaven like the folding of a written scroll for the records" (Al-Anbiya: 104). It is the custom of one who folds a scroll to fold it with his right hand.

It is said: "His grip" means His dominion without an opposer or challenger, and "with His right hand" means by His power. It is also said: "Folded in His right hand" means annihilated by His oath, for He swore that He would annihilate them. Whoever has smelled a scent of this science of ours should be presented with this interpretation so that he may amuse himself by wondering at it and its author, then weep for the sanctity of the speech of Allah—miraculous in its eloquence—and what it has been afflicted with in terms of such interpretations. More burdensome to the soul and more painful to the liver is the scholars' recording of this [interpretation], their approval of it, their recounting of it from the pulpits, and their eliciting of excitement from the listeners by it.

It is recited: (matwiyatin) [in the genitive] following the structure of "the heavens" in the ruling of "the earth," and their inclusion under the grip, and the accusative (matwiyatin) as a state (hal).

"Exalted is He and High": How far removed is His power and greatness from this, and how high is He above the partners attributed to Him.