مَـٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ
Owner of the Day of Judgement.
Previously in Ayah 2, it mentioned that Allah is the "Rabb" (Master) of all the Worlds that people must obey for their own good.
Now, Ayah 4 mentions that He is King or Owner of Judgement Day to distinguish between the obedient and disobedient.
مَـٰلِكِ = There are two ways that the word “Malik” are allowed to be recited.
Maaliki = Owner, eg. John is the owner of this mobile phone. You use “owner” when small things are mentioned. As owner, you can do anything with it. You can modify it, reset its settings, sell it, whatever. You have complete rights and control over the item that you own.
Maliki = King, eg. “As King, he has sovereign over the whole land”. We use “king” when big things are mentioned. The King set the rule of the land. The people obeyed the King.
Every King is an owner of things but not every Owner is a king. Vice versa, a King is not the owner of your personal phone while you the owner of the phone is not a king.
Allah is both Maalik (Owner) and Malik (King) of the Day of Judgement.
As Owner, He owns every single soul on that Day. He can do whatever He wants on that Day. He can make certain people have shorter judgement while others having thousand of years standing on Judgement day. He can make the Scale to be in favor of certain people or against certain people.
As King, He has the final authority on that Day. He will make the final decision on all matters. He can send a Prostitute into Paradise (as in the hadith) or He can send a Scholar into Hell (for reasons He only knew). No one has the rights to question Him on that Day.
One of the 99 names of Allah is مَالِكُ ٱلْمُلْكُ "Maalikul-Mulk", The Owner of the Kingdom. Nobody can claim as "The King of kings" as He is the True King and every other kings are only a temporary illusion.
Depending on how you recite the word based on the root letters, م ل ك
"Maalik" is Owner.
"Malik" is King
"Milkiyyah" is Ownership
"Mulkiyyah" is Kingship.
"Mulk" is Kingdom.
This is a good example of how the different Qiraat (ways of recitation) add and expand the meaning of a certain word. "Owner" and "King" has meanings that overlapped and at the same time has its own meaning that do not contradict to the purpose of the ayah.
He is the Owner and King of the "Day of Judgment".
يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ = (Yaumid-Deen)
What is the Day of Judgment?
It is a very long day. A day in the Akhirah is equivalent to thousands of years in this world. On Judgement day, He has authority over all things (issues) big and small that are to be accounted. Complete authority over everything. He is the Judge. As Judge, he will provide justice. Not your parents or your friends can help you without His authority.
A more common word in the Quran is يَوْمُ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ (yaumul-qiyamah) which means the same thing = Day of Judgment (Or Resurrection Day).
["The Day of Judgment" mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah 2:212]
زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ۘ وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوْا۟ فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَآءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍۢ
The life of this world has been made appealing to the disbelievers, and they mock the believers. Those who are mindful ˹of Allah˺ will rank above them on the Day of Judgment. And Allah provides for whoever He wills without limit.
"Yaumul-qiyamah" is after the "Trumpet" is blown for the second time starting off the Day of Resurrection.
All souls will be resurrected. Humans will have their physical body back. All will be placed at the field of Mahshar to be judged. Thus begins "Judgement Day".
“yaumi-ddeen”: The word “yaum” is a representation of whatever that will happen in it. It is like a big container with loads of stuffs going on inside it. You can imagine with trillions of people gathering on the same day where each person’s accounting is taking place for judgement.
“yaumi-ddeen”: "Ad-Deen" is "The Religion" as a Way of life, the do’s and don’ts. Our way of life to be judged.
"Ad-Deen" is also associated as Dayn (debt). Judgment Day can also be understood as “Pay back” day. Our daily religious duties and refraining from sins being paid back as debt to us on that day. It is as if God is in debt with us and that will put us to shame on how ungrateful we are towards our Lord. Imagine the amount of good deeds we did in this short temporary life being paid with the permanent eternal paradise. That is an overly exceeding pay back which again showcase His Mercy.
All kinds of bad deeds such as oppressing, cheating, corruption, bullying, fowl mouth, hurting the feelings of others, becoming a tyrant or gangster, back biting, etc. will be paid back. Sometimes bad deeds towards other people are paid as retribution in this world before judgment day.
Even animals will be judged. An animal that has been wronged by another animal without rights will get a chance to do the same thing back to the bad animal. All injustice will be paid back.
(However the animals will turned to dust after fair retribution has been applied since they will not go to Jannah or Naar.)
Why does the ayah not mention Allah as the king of both the present world and the day of judgement? People will not visualize Allah as the King of the present world because many people are still doing bad things and nothing happen to them. People still have personal choices to do whatever they like.
In this world, we are given the illusion of owning something. Some people have the illusion of being a king. On Judgement Day, all illusion is taken away and each one will face the actual Owner and King. All the delusional kings on this temporary wold will be held accountable to the True King. Human kings are in need of people to support him as king while the True King do not need anyone. The human kings on the day of judgement do not even own a cloth to cover himself with. This ayah will humble a believing human king.
During judgement day, nobody can do whatever they like. He owns every single person on that day. They can’t run away from being judged. No criminal can hide from the King. Trillions of people do not dare to utter a single word out of fear of the King, not even the Angels. Everyone obeyed what they are being told. Standing in fear while waiting to be judged.
In our present world, many people fear encountering ghosts. Fear of being alone at the cemetery at midnight. However, the same person while reciting this ayah during solah does not have the same level of fear when the King of the day of judgement is mentioned. Fear leads to "Eeman" (sincere faith) towards Allah which is a prevention from acts of crimes and sins known as TAQWA.
Do we fear "ghosts" more than we fear Allah? "Ghosts" are not spirit of dead humans but are Jinns which will be gathered and judged together with humans on the plains of Mashar. They too are in utmost fear of their misdeeds. Logically, why should we fear them (the Jinns) as they too are creations of Allah that will be questioned on the day of judgement by the only King.
If a God is only about Mercy (as in the previous ayah, ArRahmaanirraheem), then the world will be in chaos.
Example:
A mother or father that gave in to a small kid's wants and demands. The kid will get so used to it and will get angry if he does not get what he wants. He became a spoil brat.
A new teacher starts teaching at a kindergarten for the very first time. The teacher is so compassionate and joyful towards the kids. The class has lots of laughter as the teacher will tell stories and jokes. When the second week comes, serious learning is expected from the kids. The class is very noisy and the teacher now has trouble disciplining the kids as they have no fear of him. They already recognize him as a merciful nice person who never gets angry and never punish naughty students.
Ayah 3 described God as merciful and immediately the next ayah mentions his “Justice” (i.e discipline, punishment, retribution for bad behavior and rewards, paradise for good behavior).
A person says “Allah is so merciful. He is not bothered by me doing this sin. This is only a small sin, there is nothing wrong with it. I’m safe as He is very Merciful”. Some Muslims thinks that it is their rights to automatically enter paradise. They feel entitled to Paradise and act arrogantly looking down at non believers. This person forgets Allah’s justice.
A human master told his human slave not to go over the fence surrounding his property. The human master was known to be merciful to his slaves. The slave obeyed the law at first. After sometime, he got curious and started sitting on the fence. He did not cross over the fence, hence he did nothing wrong. While on the fence, he saw something that attracted his desires. One day he pretended to trip over the fence with one foot stepping outside the fence. He quickly looked at the master to see if any punishment was coming. There was none. The master looked at him and did nothing. The slave was getting bolder. Day by day he kept tripping over the fence until one day both his feet were outside of the fence. He walked along the fence, outside of the allowed perimeter. Nothing happened. No punishment by the Master. Every time he had satisfied himself for being outside the perimeter, he will get in back to the master’s land.
After many years gone by, he was called by the master into the house. The master said for every single minute that the slave was outside the perimeter, he will be put in a jail and continuously whipped. The slave talked back, “Why am I being punished now? All these while I was not punished as you are a merciful master.” The master said, “My mercy was only for my slaves. The times that you were outside of my land, you were not my slave. To be fair, I only punish you for the number of hours that you were not my slave.”
The same concept from the above analogy is applied between humans and Allah. “Ar-Rahman” is taking place during the times that you are sinning but since it is temporary, it is no longer available in the hereafter.
“Ar-Raheem” is still available in the hereafter which is only given to His slaves. Allah’s justice is for the wrong doers, Allah's mercy is for the believers (slaves). To get His permanent mercy, you must constantly act as a true slave. Immediately repent after sinning so as to be forgiven in the hereafter.
In this Surah, Allah mentioned His Mercy first before mentioning His justice. Why?
When you did something wrong, Allah does not punish you straight away. His Mercy comes first before His justice. He gives you time to repent (feeling regret knowing that what you did was wrong).
In other Surah, Allah asked, what did He get by punishing you? What gain will He get by punishing you? He does not want to punish people as He wish. Only justified punishment will be executed. Justice must be done. Allah is not like the human master who will beat up his human slave out of nothing.
On some people, His Mercy overcomes His wrath:
[Sahih al-Bukhari 3470] Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Amongst the men of Bani Israel there was a man who had murdered ninety-nine persons. Then he set out asking (whether his repentance could be accepted or not). He came upon a monk and asked him if his repentance could be accepted. The monk replied in the negative and so the man killed him. He kept on asking till a man advised to go to such and such village. (So he left for it) but death overtook him on the way. While dying, he turned his chest towards that village (where he had hoped his repentance would be accepted), and so the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment quarrelled amongst themselves regarding him. Allah ordered the village (towards which he was going) to come closer to him, and ordered the village (whence he had come), to go far away, and then He ordered the angels to measure the distances between his body and the two villages. So he was found to be one span closer to the village (he was going to). So he was forgiven."
It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, an-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah):
Abu Hurayrah (r.a), said that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: A man sinned greatly against himself, and when death came to him he charged his sons, saying: When I have died, burn me, then crush me and scatter [my ashes] into the sea, for, by Allah, if my Lord takes possession of me, He will punish me in a manner in which He has punished no one [else]. So they did that to him. Then He said to the earth: Produce what you have taken-and there he was! And He said to him: What induced you to do what you did? He said: Being afraid of You, O my Lord (or he said: Being frightened of You) and because of that He forgave him.
[Sahih al-Bukhari 3321] Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."
A true God is one having Mercy and Justice. A God cannot have only Mercy without Justice or only Justice without Mercy. Allah has perfected both of these Attributes. The oppressed person will have his retribution on the perpetrator. Punishment to the oppressor and evil people. A sinful person who repents, will have Allah's Mercy upon him. A religion that does not have a God with these attributes of Mercy and Justice is not a practical religion.
From the first few ayaat, we noticed that Allah is very particular about the definition of God. A God must be perfect in every way. He has the best attributes and He is flawless. If your definition of a God contains any kind of flaw, imperfection or weakness, then that is not God. So a God must be just (one who execute justice). Injustice is an imperfection to God.
Justice in this world, which is decided by humans, is not true justice. Belief in a God is inseparable to belief in justice in after-life. A person who went for a shooting massacre killed 10 people at a mall and receives a death sentence. He killed 10 lives and he only paid with his single life. He may have been a lone drug addict but he killed people who might be supporting families. Therefore a more justified sentence for him is to be served in the hereafter.
Sometimes innocent people get jailed for crimes they did not commit while the real criminals live prosperous life. Each of them will get true justice (in the hereafter) by the Master of the day of judgement. The one who escaped justice in this world will get his punishment in the hereafter.
Even an animal who beat up another animal for no reason will get it’s justice in the hereafter. He implements justice on all His creation.
The person who was unjustly punished in this world will be given fair treatment in the hereafter (sometimes the fair treatment is given even in this world – eg. he strikes “gold” in the future after his unjust ordeal and the perpetrator ended up with disease or retribution).
Therefore, anything bad that happened to you will be compensated back either in this world or in the hereafter. That is what believing in a “just” God is. That is why it is inseparable with believing in the hereafter.
You give $2 to your kindergarten son, and you give the same amount ($2) to your teenage College student for their daily pocket money. That is injustice even though the exact same amount of $2 are given to both. If you give $10 to the teenager and $2 to the little kid, that is balanced justice even though the teenager gets more.
It is very difficult for a human to execute justice.
A boss wants his employees to work more, have less salaries and less holidays, while the employees want more salary, more holidays and less work.
The government wants to implement more taxes, less allowances and less services for the people, while the people want less taxes and more allowances and services from the government.
An all-boys soccer team against an all-girls soccer team and the referee is a woman. Who do you think the referee will be biased to? Who knows the right amount of a man’s obligations, needs and capability and the right amount of a woman’s obligation, needs and capability?
The balance between the role of the husband and father and the role of the wife and mother cannot be the same as it will be unjust. Only the Creator can execute balanced justice between men and women. Not all women and men rights are the same. If every single ruling for women is the same as men, that is injustice.
Our physical self feels hunger, the need for entertainment, the need for the opposite sex, the need for money, etc. while the soul in a person is trying to find the creator, to worship the Master, to please the Master, etc. You cannot give 100% to the physical needs OR 100% to the spiritual needs only. That’s injustice. There always will be a pull-and-push between the physical self and the soul.
Some people only concentrate on the needs of the physical self while some concentrate on the needs of the soul only. If you think religion is only for the needs of the soul, then you are wrong. If a religious person does not want to get married, does not want to eat delicious food, constantly wearing uncomfortable clothing, etc. then he is misguided. A religion who concentrate 100% to the spiritual needs is not Islam and vice versa.
How do you find “just” balance between the two? Only Allah knows exactly the correct balance. He is the one to set the criteria. We seek guidance via His revelations towards the equal “Balance”. The Master wants us to be the middle nation (you’ll read that in another Surah). Guidance is so much more than just your scheduled worship to God and avoiding doing “haram” things. If the Muslims nowadays studied and understood their “Book” seriously while implementing it in their daily lives, we would be a different “Ummah” (nation) than what we are now.
A human King who executes justice during his reign, will be among the 7 people under the shade on judgment day.
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 660, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1031) Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet s.a.w. said, “There are seven whom Allah will shade on a day when there is no shade but His. They are (1) a just ruler, (2) a youth who grew up in the worship of Allah, (3) one whose heart is attached to the mosques, (4) two who love each other, meet each other, and depart from each other for the sake of Allah, (5) a man who is tempted by a beautiful woman of high status but he rejects her, saying , ‘I fear Allah,’ and (6) one who spends in charity and hides it such that his right hand does not know what his left hand has given, and (7) one who remembered Allah in private and he wept.”
In this Surah, Allah did not mention punishment at all but he mentioned himself as King or Owner that provide justice on judgement day. Imagine the Scale of Justice. Justice, which sits in the middle, puts your good deeds on the right scale and puts your bad deeds on the left scale. The accounting may take really long as it would take many earth years. The exact measured amount of justice served. No wrongdoing. Good deeds that are hidden, being slandered out of jealousy, made to look bad in society, etc. will be recorded in the Book without you being wronged. This is accurate auditing. Because of his immense Mercy, Allah will go easy (skip auditing) on some deserving people and will audit accurately for the rest.
The process of accurate thorough auditing once it started is going to destroy you out of fear and shame. All of your deeds are recorded. After the long torturing process, if you are lucky enough that your good deeds exceed your sins, then in the end you are still safe. The balance is tilted to your good half out of His mercy of your good deeds.
This world is not a world of justice. Gangsters have no mercy terrorizing decent people. Tyrants taking benefits from the fear of the people. Heavily militarized nation bullying weaker nations. Colonization of lands belonging to the locals. Women are raped and murdered and the bodies are dumped in the forest. The perpetrator got away with his crime. It will not be as simple as believing that God is all Love and God does not record the sins of the perpetrator so that he is destined to enter Paradise. That is a God without Justice. The believe in a God necessitate in the believe of the Day of Judgement for the injustice in this world.
Every country in this world has Laws. The purpose is to prevent crime and provide justice. The law of a country will spelled out the punishment for doing the wrong thing, eg. if you bring illegal drugs into Singapore up to a certain amount, the punishment is death. A religion with no laws or punishment to its followers who committed sins is a scam. Religious laws have an influence to the believers just like the laws of a country.
A religion that scares people with description of Hell fire is a religion of Mercy in preventing people from causing harm to themselves with crimes in this world. Without the belief in a God and Day of retribution, many people will do harm secretly without the authorities knowing of their illegal activities. The government has been educating students on Crime Prevention but the criminals are not taught not to do those crime. Crimes are committed because of the disbelieve in the hereafter and Judgment day.
Each sin committed is a black dot in the heart of a Believer. A believer who has more sins than good deeds at the scale will be put into the fire to remove those black dots covering his heart. When the heart is cleansed and becomes pure, he will be ushered into Paradise. Even if the whole heart is black but there is one speck of atom sized "Eeman"(Faith) on it, he will be able to enter Jannah after the long thorough cleansing process.
(Sūrah Al-Infitār, No.82, Āyat 10-12): "Indeed, there are over you watchers, noble writers, who know whatever you do."
When a person in the hereafter gets his “book” ( Book of recorded event of his whole life) via his right hand, he will be extremely happy (he is entering paradise). But if he is asked to open and read the book, he will be ashamed because somewhere in there were incidents when he had done some sins. Allah let it “slide” and did not execute His justice over the sins that this person had done. If He did that, then every single unrepented sin will not go off unpunished. We fear Allah’s justice.
In the hereafter, if the Malaikah (angel) stops you, and he is going to ask you a single question, it means that Allah’s justice has begun.
Example: A person under stress, opens his book in front of the auditor (malaikah). His book is going to be audited. He was so nervous, body shaking violently. When the Malaikah is about to audit his book, the Malaikah receives a command to let him move along without even reading the book. It means that Allah’s mercy overwrites His justice. All his previous sins been covered (pardoned). This person is so happy that when he moves along towards Paradise, he is calling other people to come and look at his book. Previously, he was so nervous to open his book.
Surah Al-Haqqah (69:18-20): "You will then be presented ˹before Him for judgment˺, and none of your secrets will stay hidden. As for those given their records in their right hand, they will cry ˹happily˺, “Here ˹everyone˺! Read my record! I surely knew I would face my reckoning.”
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that `Abdullah bin `Abdullah bin Hanzalah said of a Hadith: "Verily, Allah will stop His servant on the Day of Judgement and He will make his sins appear on the outside of his Book of Records. Then He will say to him, `Did you do this' The servant will respond, `Yes my Lord.' Then Allah will say to him, `I will not expose you (or dishonor you) for it, for verily, I have forgiven you. ' The person will then say, `Here (you all) read my Book!"'
In a Hadith reported by Ibn Umar: Allah will bring the servant close (to Him) on the Day of Judgement and make him confess all of his sins. This will continue until the servant thinks that he is about to be destroyed. Then Allah will say, "Verily, I have concealed these sins for you in the worldly life and I have forgiven you for them today." Then he will be given his Book of good deeds in his right hand.
Example: You went to airport security checks, and the security officer wave you on without much checking. You expected to be checked thoroughly and you are surprised that you are let off so easily. If you have something illegal that you are hiding and you passed the security checks, that will put a big relief in your heart.
On judgement day, you have sins that you are hiding in your recorded “Book” and the auditor (malaikah) waves at you to move along. That will be the biggest relief for you. Allah knows your sins but His mercy lets you go.
We beg Allah an easy auditing in the hereafter. Make a habit of reciting these du'as everyday:
(1) [Sahih Hadith from Imam Ahmad]
اللَّهُمَّ حَاسِبْنِى حِسَاباً يَسِيرًا
“Oh Allah, audit me with an easy auditing”. Ameen.
(2) [Quran 3:193]
رَبَّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّئَاتِنَا، وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الأبْرَارِ
" .. Our Lord! Forgive our sins, hide/remove from us of our misdeeds, and join us with the virtuous when we die."
(3) [Quran 3:194]
رَبَّنَا وَءَاتِنَا مَا وَعَدتَّنَا عَلَىٰ رُسُلِكَ وَلَا تُخْزِنَا يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ ۗ
إِنَّكَ لَا تُخْلِفُ ٱلْمِيعَادَ
"Our Lord! Grant us what You have promised us through Your messengers and do not put us to shame on Judgment Day—for certainly You never fail in Your promise.”
The King of the day of Judgement Day has complete control of Time on that day.
Summarizing evidences in Quran and Hadith and the opinion of the Scholars regarding the length of Judgment Day
- For the Disbelievers, Judgment Day lasted for 50,000 years.
- The day itself might be longer than 50,000 years.
- For the Pious Believer, the day is lesser than the time he used to perform an obligatory prayer (just a few minutes).
- For other Believers, the day is as brief as between "Zuhr and Asr" prayers or as brief as between "Asr and Maghrib" (2 to 3 hours).
- The length for the Believers depends on their level of piousness.
[al-Maaarij 70:4]
"The Angels and the Rooh [Jibreel] ascend to Him in a Day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years (of earth's time)."
Ibnu Abbas (r.a) said the above ayah [al-Maaarij 70:4] is talking about the length of the Day of Judgment for the Disbelievers.
[Hadith Ahmad]
Abu Sa‘id (R.A) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said,
“It is a day that lasts fifty thousand years.” So I said, “How long it is!!” So He (s.a.w) said, “I swear by the One in whose control is my soul, indeed, it will be lightened for the Believer until it (the Day) is briefer than an obligatory prayer which he prayed in the World.”
Judgment Day will be 50,000 years for the Disbelievers.
For the really pious sincere Believers, it lasts only for the length of a solah.
[al-Firdaws lil-Daylamī 8893]
Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The Day of Resurrection for the believers will be like the length of time between noon and afternoon prayers.”
For the Believers, it lasts from Zuhr to Asr.
[Musnad Abī Ya’lá 6025]
Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The people will stand before the Lord of the worlds for the length of half of a day, which is like fifty thousand years. That day will be made easy for the believer like the sun lowering itself until it has set.”
Judgment Day itself will be more than 50,000 years.
For the Believers, it lasts from Asr to Maghrib.
[al-Hajj: 22:47]
"They challenge you ˹O Prophet˺ to hasten the torment. And Allah will never fail in His promise. But a day with your Lord is indeed like a thousand years by your counting."
This ayah is not talking about the length of the day of Judgment. Looking at the context of the ayah, it is about the Divine "Calendar" before "the last Hour" (the end of the world).
A "Divine" Day (in Allah's "Calendar") is equivalent to 1,000 of human years. The Mushrikun ridiculed the Prophet s.a.w that after so many years the punishment for them still has not come. However their numerous human years are only a short time in the "Divine Calendar". The punishment will come "soon" when looking at the Divine timeline.
How about ٱلسَّاعَةُ (As-Sa'ah) which means = The Hour.
What is the difference between "The Hour" and "The Day of Judgment"?
One "Divine" Hour is not the same as one hour on earth.
One "Divine" Day is not the same as a day on earth.
One "Divine" Day in the Divine Calendar before the first trumpet is blown is not the same as the Day of Judgment.
The Hour ٱلسَّاعَةُ is the period of the End of the World where everything crashes after the 1st "Trumpet" is blown. Both the living and the souls of the dead will ceased to exist at the end of The Hour (i.e. One Divine Hour).
Surah Al-An'Am 6:31]
قَدْ خَسِرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِلِقَآءِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَتْهُمُ ٱلسَّاعَةُ بَغْتَةًۭ قَالُوا۟ يَـٰحَسْرَتَنَا عَلَىٰ مَا فَرَّطْنَا فِيهَا وَهُمْ يَحْمِلُونَ أَوْزَارَهُمْ عَلَىٰ ظُهُورِهِمْ ۚ أَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَزِرُونَ
Losers indeed are those who deny the meeting with Allah until the Hour takes them by surprise, then they will cry, “Woe to us for having ignored this!” They will bear ˹the burden of˺ their sins on their backs. Evil indeed is their burden!
"The Hour" will come suddenly. However after it started, how many "earth years" will it take to complete? Wallahu'alam.
Basing our thoughts from the Quran and Hadith, this would be our educated guesses:
Surah Qaaf (50:38): "Indeed, We created the heavens and the earth and everything in between in SIX Days, and We were not ˹even˺ touched with fatigue."
Allah created the Heavens (Universes) and the Earth in 6 Days. Things are constantly being created before the arrival of the Hour.
At the end of the 6th Day, is "the Hour" of destruction.
ٱلسَّاعَةُ = The Hour when everything begin to collapse and get destroyed. Lasted "an Hour".
All creations will ceased to exist after the Hour.
The Last Day
On the 7th Day, everyone who had died before will be resurrected. This is the day of Resurrection and Judgment. Each person will have a different length of judgement time on that day depending on the level of piousness.
Surah Ali Imran (3:114): "They believe in Allah and the Last Day, encourage good and forbid evil, and race with one another in doing good. They are ˹truly˺ among the righteous."
Beyond the "Last Day"
After every single one has been judged on Judgment Day, there will be no more Days. It is now beyond TIME. Never ending life either in Paradise or Hell.
Wallahu'alam.
There are 7 Universes.
[Surah Al-Mulk 67:5] ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَـٰوَٰتٍۢ طِبَاقًۭا ۖ
˹He is the One˺ Who created seven heavens, one above the other.
The earth is in the 7th Universe which is full of Stars :
[Surah Al-Mulk 67:5] وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا بِمَصَـٰبِيحَ
"And indeed, We adorned the lowest heaven with ˹stars like˺ lamps ... "
Our Universe is so BIG. The nearest Star to our Sun is Proxima Centauri which is 4.24 light years ago.
Meaning, what we see now has already happened 4.24 years away when the light from that star (traveling at the speed of light) reaches earth.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest Galaxy from our "Milky Way" Galaxy where earth is in. It is 2.5 million light years away from Earth. Meaning what we see now has already happened 2.5 million years ago when the light from that Galaxy (traveling at the speed of light) reaches earth.
Our Universe is so big and yet it is smaller than the Universe above us (refer to Hadith).
The thoughts of our Modern Scholars :
Surah Al-A’raf (7:185):
"Have they ever reflected on the wonders of the heavens and the earth, and everything Allah has created, and that perhaps their end is near? So what message after this ˹Quran˺ would they believe in?"
".. wonders of the heavens and the earth .. perhaps their end is near?"
What if THE HOUR has already started at the far end of our Universe but the light has not reach us yet? When we look at the night sky it seemed that everything is normal. If the distant galaxies have begun collapsing, once we see it from earth, what is the time duration between what we see and the actual destruction of our own earth?
Surah Al-An'Am [6:31] : " .... until the Hour takes them by surprise .. " .
It seemed that once the distant sky is breaking, the destruction on earth will come by surprise. The rate of destruction across the universe might be as fast as light can travel.
All the above are just educated guesses by modern scholars. Wallahu'alam. We are just exercising our brain or else we will become Dumb & Stupid.
The Malay translation in many Mushaf for "The Hour" and "Judgement Day" both using the same phrase Hari Kiamat, which is confusing since both "The Hour" and "Judgement Day" are not the same. A better Malay translation should be:
ٱلسَّاعَةُ = "berlakunya Kiamat" or just "Kiamat" ,
and
يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ = "Hari Kebangkitan" or "Hari Pembalasan"
If a non-Muslim asked you of who Allah is = The first few ayaat of Surah Al-Fatihah are the answers to his question i.e. the description of who Allah is.
After reciting this ayah "Maaliki yaumi-ddeen", Allah replied, “My slave has related all matters to Me.” or “My slave has glorified me”
In later surahs He will provide us with further definitions of a God, detailed description and concept, eg. He creates anything that in existence, He does not need a son, etc.