The Blowing of the Trumpet

The Trumpet (As-Sur) is a horn of cosmic proportions entrusted to the angel Israfil, who holds it to his lips, waiting for the divine command. The Prophet described this reality as a reason for constant alertness: 'How can I be comfortable when the holder of the trumpet has placed it to his lips, drawn in his breath, and is waiting, with brow furrowed and ears perked, for the command?' When the companions expressed distress at this, the Prophet guided them to say: 'Hasbunallah wa ni'mal-wakil' — Allah is sufficient for us and He is the best disposer of affairs.

The first blowing of the Trumpet (Nafkhat al-Faza') will cause universal terror, the disruption of all cosmic order, and the death of all living beings. The Quran describes what follows: 'And the Trumpet will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will fall dead except whom Allah wills.' Mountains will be moved, seas will burst forth, the sky will be split open like a great door. Everything that constituted the ordered universe of human experience will be undone — because the purpose for which this world was created (as a stage for the human test) will have been completed.

Between the first and second blowing there is a period whose length varies in different narrations — widely estimated at forty years, though the exact duration is in Allah's knowledge. During this time, no living thing remains. The entire created order rests in the silence of a universe in which all created life has been extinguished, awaiting the divine command to restore.

The second blowing (Nafkhat al-Ba'th) is the blowing of resurrection. The Quran describes it: 'Then the Trumpet will be blown again, and at once they will be standing, looking on.' Every human being who ever lived — from Adam to the last person born before the Hour — will be raised simultaneously. Al-Ashqar discusses the details of this resurrection: people will be gathered barefoot, naked, and uncircumcised, as the Quran notes. The sun will be brought close until it is only a mile away (in some narrations), and people will sweat profusely according to their deeds. This is the beginning of the Great Gathering that represents the most significant event in the history of all creation.

The significance of meditating on the Trumpet and its two blowings is that it reveals the absolute nature of divine sovereignty over the universe. The world that seems so solid and permanent — its mountains, oceans, civilizations, and stars — will be dissolved at a single divine command. Nothing is permanent except Allah. This is the ultimate Quranic argument against excessive attachment to the dunya and the most compelling invitation to invest in the only dimension that endures: one's relationship with Allah and the deeds that proceed from it.