Descriptions of the Day of Judgment

The Day of Judgment is very terrifying and filled with terror. We’ll mention some signs of the terror of that day; signs for us to comprehend the difficulty of that day.

1: A Day ‘Adheem, Thaqeel wa ‘Aseera

Allah subhaana wa ta’aala has described the day of judgment as a great day and a heavy day and a difficult day. These are descriptions that Allah has given to the Day of Judgment. Allah says: “Think they not that they will be resurrected (for reckoning), On a Great Day (li yowmin ‘adheem), The Day when (all) mankind will stand before the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)?” (83:4-6) It is a great day.

Allah has described it as thaqeel – heavy. Allah says, “Verily! These (disbelievers) love the present life of this world, and put behind them a heavy Day (thaqeela) (that will be hard).” (76:27)

Allah described it as difficult – ‘aseera. Allah says: “Truly, that Day will be a Hard Day.” (74:9) It will be far from easy for the disbelievers.

2: The Fear that Day

Allah says: “O mankind! Fear your Lord and be dutiful to Him! Verily, the earthquake of the Hour (of Judgement) is a terrible thing. The Day you shall see it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling, and every pregnant one will drop her load, and you shall see mankind as in a drunken state, yet they will not be drunken, but severe will be the Torment of Allah.” (22:1-2)

Imagine a mother breastfeeding her child – she would throw him. [SubhaanAllah, you never really appreciate what state of mind she would be in unless you are a mother. A mother doesn’t worry or stress or obsess about anything more than her child.]

There’s so much fear on the Day of Judgment that the oppressors would be staring up, not moving their eyes down, and not even blinking. Allah subhaana wa ta’aala says: “Consider not that Allah is unaware of that which the Zalimun (polytheists, wrong-doers, etc.) do, but He gives them respite up to a Day when the eyes will stare in horror. (They will be) hastening forward with necks outstretched, their heads raised up (towards the sky), their gaze returning not towards them and their hearts empty (from thinking because of extreme fear).” (14:42-43)

We ask Allah to give us peace and security on that day. Ameen.

3: Every Man for Himself

All the strong bonds that we have with our family and friends will disappear on the Day of Judgment because of the situation. Allah says: “Then, when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another.” (23:101)

Allah says: “Then, when there comes As-Saakhah (the Day of Resurrection’s second blowing of Trumpet), That Day shall a man flee from his brother, And from his mother and his father, And from his wife and his children. Every man, that Day, will have enough to make him careless of others.” (80:33-37)

4: The Willingness to Sacrifice Anything

A kaafir will sacrifice anything for the sake of freeing himself. That kaafir who wasn’t willing to give Allah in this world will be willing to give the world and everything in it. Allah says: “And if every person who had wronged (by disbelieving in Allah and by worshipping others besides Allah), possessed all that is on earth, and sought to ransom himself therewith (it will not be accepted), and they would feel in their hearts regret when they see the torment, and they will be judged with justice, and no wrong will be done unto them.” (10:54)

Not only are they willing to give the entire earth, but they will be willing to give twice that much. Allah says: “[...] But those who answered not His Call (disbelieved in the Oneness of Allah and followed not His Messenger Muhammad SAW), if they had all that is in the earth together with its like, they would offer it in order to save themselves (from the torment, it will be in vain)…” (13:18)

“Verily, those who disbelieved, and died while they were disbelievers, the (whole) earth full of gold will not be accepted from anyone of them even if they offered it as a ransom….” (3:91) If you had that much gold, you could be willing to give it for ransom. Imagine that we had that much gold in this world – would we give it for sadaqa?

What will happen when we see the reality on the Day of Judgment? That is the problem: we do not see the reality. We are living in a dream. As one of the salaf said, “People are sleeping, and they wake up when they die.” We are in a state of sleep, even though our eyes are wide awake, because we are unaware.

Allah is not asking us for all of the gold in the world. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, “A disbeliever will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and will be asked, ‘Suppose you had as much gold as to fill the earth, would you offer it to ransom yourself?’ He will reply, ‘Yes.’ Then it will be said to him, ‘You were asked for something easier than that (to join none in worship with Allah (i.e. to accept Islam, but you refused).’” [Bukhaari, 8/76/546]

That is the problem – we procrastinate. If you read the Qur’an, you will see that most of the crying and screaming of the people of hellfire is due to procrastination.

The non believer will not only be willing to sacrifice material things. Allah says, “[...] the Mujrim, (criminal, sinner, disbeliever, etc.) would desire to ransom himself from the punishment of that Day by his children. And his wife and his brother, And his kindred who sheltered him, And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him.” (70:11-14) We read these ayaat and are not affected by them. Imagine your children. Imagine there is a burning building with blazing flames, and you throw your children and watch them burn in front of your eyes. I don’t think anyone can even imagine doing that, nevermind anything else. The horror of the Day of Judgment will be such that we will be willing to do even that – and more. We would be willing to give up our parents and everything that we have. By just seeing hellfire for one moment – it will change our state of mind.

That is why the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “O followers of Muhammad! By Allah, if you knew what I know, you would weep much and laugh little.” [Bukhaari, 8/78/627]

AlHasan AlBasri once passed by a man who was opening his mouth and laughing; enjoying himself. AlHasan AlBasri said, “O my brother/nephew [the man was younger than him], Did Allah subhaana wa ta’aala promise you that He will free you from Hellfire?” He said, “No.”  AlHasan said, “Did Allah promise you that He will give you Jannah?” He said, “No.” Then AlHasan said, “Then why are you laughing and enjoying yourself?”

We need to take this issue seriously. If we will be willing to sacrifice our families that day, we need to give that day some effort while we are in this dunya. No matter what we give, it won’t be a lot. It’s going to be a little. That’s why RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says in an authentic hadith, “If one of you is being dragged on his face from the day that he is born until the day that he dies, and he is doing that for the sake of Allah, he would view that as insignificant and nothing on the day of judgment.” Not just sujood or dhikr – but being dragged on your face.

The world al-haqq – what was it used with? Death is true; hellfire is true; paradise is true; Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is true.

5: The Length of that Day

Allah says, “…a Day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years.” (70:4) It is a single day, but its equivalent is 50,000 years. That’s why we ask Allah in the du’aa`: “Make the best day of our days, the day that we meet you.”

That day is the most important of all days. Allah says, “When they see it.” We don’t see it now, so we underestimate it and don’t appreciate it.

Allah tells us in the Qur’an of what happened in the past, and He also tells us of things that are set in the future. When we see the Day of Judgment, what will happen? Allah conveys to us some of the conversation in jannah and in hell.

Allah says, “The Day they see it, (it will be) as if they had not tarried (in this world) except an afternoon or a morning.” (79:46) When we see the day of judgment, we will realize how short the dunya is. Just the morning that day will be like a millennium. We are talking about 50,000 years – 50 millennia! When we see the Day of Judgment, we will think of this dunya as an afternoon or a coffee break. We are giving this dunya more than it deserves. Whether we like it or not – that’s the reality. We claim that we are giving akhirah what it deserves and giving dunya what it deserves. It is true that we ask Allah to give us good in this life and in the hereafter, but make a ratio and give each what it deserves!

Look at the advice that Luqman al-Hakim gives his son: “Serve the world according to the time you are going to spend in it and work for akhirah according to the time you’re going to spend in it.” We are not saying not to work in this world, just give it what it deserves and give the akhirah what it deserves.

“And on the Day that the Hour will be established, the Mujrimun (criminals, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, etc.) will swear that they stayed not but an hour…” (30:55)