JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE
  AS EXPOUNDED IN THE QUR`AN
  (Excerpts Only)

By: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

Chapter 6
The Final Collapse

The Qur`an describes the end of this creation as a catastrophic event, a day of great noise or cacophony, when mountains will float away and everything will collapse upon itself. The physicality of creation will disintegrate and vanish into nothingness. The orbital courses of the sun, moon, and stars will be disrupted so that they will all be brought together. The end of the physical expanding universe is the beginning of disintegration and collapse.

And the mountains shall be moved off so that they shall remain a mere semblance. (an-Nabâ':20)

The verbal root of sarâb (semblance, mirage) is to flow or leak, and in one form means to slink away, or to glide along. The closer one gets to the mirage, the more it disappears. The more one tries to find it, to unify with it, the further it is from one. One great master says: hâdhihi-d-dunyâ sarâb, "(the whole of) this world is a mirage". It will never nourish man. He may think it is all about getting this situation fixed up, this house, that job, this freedom; but when he reaches his goal, he realizes that it is not what he had expected to be.

The mountains will, in time, revert to their original components. They will disintegrate from solid mass into dust, and the dust will become gas, and finally everything will disappear as if one were seeing a film of creation in reverse. The process of creation that first occurred from the explosion of dense matter will be repeated in reverse at the end of time.

We experience an echo of that in our own lifetime, for after reaching maturity we begin to decline, as though back into childhood. After the cosmos matures, it will also decline; reverting in time, it will become a mirage and recede as it came forth.

When the sun is covered, And when the stars darken, (at-Takwîr:1-2)

The verbal root of the word kuwwirat (is covered) is to roll or wrap something up, to make it into a round bundle; from it is derived the word for ball, kurah. It indicates that the sun is no longer a spherical expanse, bubbling with explosions, but will collapse upon and consume itself.

Kadura, the root of inkadarat (darken) is to be gloomy, muddy or grimy. The word implies uncleanliness, ill health, and depression. The stars are depressed and darkened, that is to say, they no longer function as they used to.

And when the mountains are set in motion, (at-takwîr:3)

Even the mountains are moved along. Although they appeared solid – though even now they are not solid for they are always moving – they will have their movement enhanced to the point of collapse, and therefore, will disappear.

And when the camels are left untended, (at-Takwîr:4)

`Ishâr are she-camels when ten months pregnant: they symbolize the main capital the Arabs had. `Uttilat (left untended) means that these prized possessions of the Arabs will be neglected and left alone. When the earth comes to an end, one will no longer tend to what was of value to him before. That former system of ecology will have ceased to function.

And when the wild animals are herded together, (at-Takwîr:5)

Wuhûsh are wild animals, and wild animals do not normally want to be collected together. This indicates that the former patterns of life no longer hold. What were once roaming wild, scattering as wild beasts do, are now gathered. At this stage another mechanism is at work. Mulla Sadra, may Allah have mercy upon him, said, in reference to this âyah, that it referred to human beings, for the beasts in us are shown clearly on that day.

Another great shaykh once said that if one were to look inside most people, one would find either asses, dogs, or wolves. Every one of us has predominating animal nafs (lower self). All the outer animals are there too, but one of them predominates. Animals do not only exist outside of oneself. Great movements of the pre-Islamic period often based their teachings on overcoming the dog or the pig in oneself. One can still find pictures of chariots drawn by a dog and a pig – wallowing in one's filth and thriving on it are the characteristics of the lower nafs.

And when the seas are set on fire, (at-Takwîr:6)

Two opposites, fire and water, will be brought together. One can imagine the fire to be volcanoes erupting from the sea. This âyah, like many others, emphasizes the fact that our present natural ecosystems will cease to function according to the laws of creation as we have known them. Fire and water, once the enemies of each other, are brought together and unified in a blaze.

And when the female infant buried alive is asked for what sin she was killed, and when the books of (men's deeds) are spread, and when the heaven has its covering removed, and when the hell is fiercely kindled up, and when the garden is brought near, every soul shall (then) know what it has put forward. (at-Takwîr:8-14)

These âyât are about the majority of people who are in doubt. Most of us lack `ilm al-yaqîn; the knowledge of certainty that everything is already done and written in the book. On the micro level the book will unfold in our lives, and on the macro level, in the journey of the universe.

On that day of resurrection everything will be resurrected. The burying of female infants was a cultural habit of the Arabs and other peoples before the advent of Islam. This was done for various reasons, one being fear of provision, another was fear of dishonor by the female. By interfering with nature, with the highest of creation – which is man and his offspring – one is playing God. People who do such things do not see themselves in this life being judged by the Creator, so they take on the role of the Creator, and Giver and Taker of life, into their own hands. If they accept that the purpose of creation is to single-pointedly go through trials and tribulations in a state of worship and acceptance of what is in front of them, they will cease to act unjustly.

Elsewhere in the Qur`an it says: yawma tashhadu `alayhim alsinatuhum wa aydîhim wa arjuluhum bi-mâ kânû ya'malûn; "On the day when their tongues and their hands and their feet shall bear witness against them as to what they did" (an-Nûr:24). Man's every action and intention will leave its trace somewhere. They are the witnesses. Witnesses are not in the form of people coming up to the witness stand to testify. In this existence energies can only manifest in a form. In the next experience it is the reverse. Nothing will escape; everything will be brought forth. Here we can say it is unimportant, but we cannot really tell because the value system behind the coming judgment is based on another system, on ultimate justice, truthfulness, and honesty.

And when the trumpet is blown with a single blast, and the earth and the mountains are borne away and crushed with a single crushing. On that day shall the great event come to pass, And the heavens shall cleave asunder, so that on that day it shall be frail. (al-Hâqqah:13-16)

Just as the acceleration of creation was so fast and explosive to begin with, so too will the coming of the end be rapidly hastened on. The heavens will just crack. The mountains will explode and drift away like tufts of cotton. Everything as we know it will collapse, as though reverting backward in time, returning to the eternal void.

This scenario is one with which we cannot be familiar. We cannot imagine it in its magnitude for it is a unique event. All the natural laws and forces we know of seem to be ineffectual and out of order when the new phase of existence sets in.

So when the sight becomes dazed, (al-Qiyâmah:7)

Barq is lightning or flashes of light. Al-Burâq was the name of the horse on which the Prophet Muhammad made his ascension into the seven heavens. The name, al-Burâq, derives from the same root as barq. This implies that the horse moved faster than light. The Prophet's journey was completed in an instant, and an instant is beyond time.

The end will likewise come in a flash because it is closer in nature to timelessness. Timelessness was the state that existed before creation; from it rose creation and the experience of time. When the end comes, living beings will be dazed by the instantaneous transformation.

And the moon becomes dark, and the sun and the moon are brought together, (al-Qiyâmah:8-9)

As creation expanded outwardly, it will collapse on itself. Khasafa is to sink down, to disappear, to give away. Khusûf is a lunar eclipse. The moon collapsing means it is no longer what it was during the time in which it used to reflect the light of the sun. Its usual pattern of existence is destroyed.

Just as it was before creation when the sun and moon were in oneness, so they will once again reunite, because the end is the day of gathering – yawm al-hashr. What appears to be in dispersion now is, in reality, in gatheredness. In this existence there is an apparent dispersion which arises from the confusion of duality. When this experience of the cosmos comes to an end, creation will collapse back into its oneness. Confusion and discord will disappear; unity and harmony will prevail.

Man shall say on that day; Whither to flee to? By no means! There shall be no place of refuge! With your Lord alone shall on that day be the place of rest. (al-Qiyâmah:10-12)

On that day each individual will be confronted with the truth of what he had thought to be his own separate existence. He had thought that there existed a me and a you, a him and Allah. But now, on this day, everything is in gatheredness; separation no longer exists. The bewilderment is so engulfing that every self will only be concerned with its own reality.

The final resting place is with the Lord, the Sustainer, Who has brought this creation to its fullness and now to its greater fullness in another guise. Mustaqarr, resting place, is derived from qarra, to settle, and also, to decide, to make a statement. There is no longer the possibility of confused questioning as to "why?" or about the apparent duality of this existence.

Man shall on that day be informed of what he sent before and (what he) put off. (al-Qiyâmah:13)

To inform, naba'a, is the job of the nabiyy, the one who gives the news, the Prophet. It is he who tells us now of what is going to happen when each of us will know what he has put into his life and what he has postponed, when he will truly come to know himself. That is why we say he who knows himself now knows his Lord.

We are informed that the way towards knowledge of the self is through recognition of the lower self. That recognition itself will adjust one's turning more towards the higher self, and one will then begin to experience higher consciousness. One will have a clearer understanding of events that occur outside of oneself and of happenings that occur inside of one, as well as the relationship between the two. Man will be closer to the knowledge of tawhîd.

Nay! Man is evidence against himself, though he puts forth his excuses. (al-Qiyâmah:14-15)

At all times man is a witness of himself. He has the capacity to witness because he has within him the light of consciousness, even though he may constantly give excuses. If he could see why he tries to justify his choices and actions, that perception would actually sharpen the light of his consciousness. If he could only admit that he is avoiding the truth because of his selfish habits – if he could just say, "I have to have my coffee, I'm used to it and I'm enslaved by the habit" – there is a chance of him being cured. Otherwise, he will constantly defend himself and continue with the excuses of the nafs.

Therefore keep watch for the day when the heaven shall bring forth an evident smoke that shall overtake men; this is a painful punishment. (ad-Dukhân:10-11)

Dukhân in Arabic is vapor or smoke. Earlier on we described the heavens and earth as one subtle, vaporous mass; the end is similarly described. For those who deny the truth that this existence is only a temporary one, the Qur`an says to wait until the day comes when smoke will be evident. The entire creation will go up in smoke, and this existence will revert to its plasmic, primordial state. After the big collapse that solidity, that certainty, that physicality will return to its most vaporous state.

On the day when the heaven shall be as molten copper, and the mountains shall be as tufts of wool, and friend shall not ask of friend. (al-Ma`ârij:8-10)

On that day the heavens and the mountains will regress from their solidity into fluidity and beyond – they will become mirages. That, in fact, is the reality of their present state, but the faculty of khayâl (imagination) we think they are solid. That is why the more we scientifically penetrate that solidity, the more we find that there are no building blocks as such, only dynamism. Dynamism is the trick of time.

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