Rolling up the Heavens on the Day of Judgment

`Abdullâh ibn `Umar ģis narrated that the Messenger of Allah is said, "Allah, the Exalted and the Glorious, is going to fold the Heavens on the Day of Judgment and then place them on His right hand and say, "I am the Lord; where are the haughty and where are the proud (today)?" Then He is going to fold the earth (placing it) on the left hand and say, "I am the Lord, where are the haughty and where are the proud today ?

Explanation of the Hadith

This hadith is directly related to the meaning of the verse that reads, {{They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the earth is going to be grasped by His Hand and the Heavens are going to be be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified be He, and High is He above all that they associate as partners with Himl}}

(Az-Zumar: 67)

It also coincides with the meaning of the verse that reads, Reported by Muslim, “Book of Sifat (description) of the Day of Resurrection, Heaven and Hell,” hadith no. 4995.
{{And (remember) the Day when We are going to roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We are going to repeat it, (it is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We are going to do it.}}

(Al-Anbiya: 104))

We certainly believe in the Unlimited and Infinite Divine Power, which nothing can stand on its way. We also believe that the issues of creation, destruction and repeating the creation (the Resurrection), are of the ultimate Unseen (Ghayb) about which man can never form a true perception, without being guided by Allah. Nevertheless, we believe that we can raise the level of one of the theories, currently used to explain the creation of the universe, from being a theory to the status of a fact, because there are signs referring to it in the Qur'an or in a sound (Sahih) hadith, reported by the Prophet . Thus, we can prove the scientific theory to be true by means of the Qur’an and Sunnah, and not the other way round. As for the case of the Hereafter, we believe that it has its laws and rules, which are totally different from those of this worldly life. The laws of this life move slowly, so as to enable man to realize and perceive them, and also to make use of them in populating the earth. As for the Hereafter, it comes all of sudden as the Qur'an mentions, but it is out of Allah’s Mercy, that we have in the rocks of the earth and in the sky, material signs that help us understand the possibility of the events that are going to take place in the Hereafter. Of these events is the folding of the Heavens as mentioned in the hadith of the Prophet Bé and in the above-mentioned verses of the Qur’an.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Astrologers began to observe that the universe is expanding, i.e. the galaxies are moving apart, sometimes with a speed reaching very close to that of light, which is estimated at 300,000 kilometers/sec. This observation led to many arguments until it was finally accepted in the middle of the twentieth century. The scientists deduced from the fact that the universe is constantly expanding that if we go back in time with this process, we will definitely come to a point when matter, energy, time and place would meet at exactly the same one point, infinitely small in size, and extremely huge in mass and energy. Then, they decided that this point must have gone through an explosion in a phenomenon they called the Big Bang. Muslims believe in its occurrence as it is mentioned in the Qur’an,
{{Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them? And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe}}

(Al-Anbiya:30)

A very long argument has also taken place about the expansion of the universe; whether it is an indefinitely continuous process, or whether it has an end at which the power of gravity would overcome the power of matter and energy, then the heavens would be rolled up, and all of the matter, energy, time and place would be gathered at one point (collapse again to singularity) similar to that with which the universe started. At this point, we find that the Qur'an intervenes to say the final word supporting the theory of "The Big Crunch' of the universe. Allah,A very long argument has also taken place about the expansion of the universe; whether it is an indefinitely continuous process, or whether it has an end at which the power of gravity would overcome the power of matter and energy, then the heavens would be rolled up, and all of the matter, energy, time and place would be gathered at one point (collapse again to singularity) similar to that with which the universe started. At this point, we find that the Qur'an intervenes to say the final word supporting the theory of "The Big Crunch' of the universe. Allah,Glorified be He says in the Qur’an,{{And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We shall repeat it, (it is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall do it.}}

(Al-Anbiya: 104)

We here notice that the hadith of the Prophet is also refers to the rolling up of the Heavens on the Day of Judgment. It is a fact that modern experimental science cannot exceed the stage of putting forward mere theories, and thus the theory of "The Big Crunch', came out as a possible assumption. Nevertheless, it is a theory that could be promoted to the stage of being a fact as it is referred to in the Qur'an and the Sunnah.