What will happen to the mountains during Doomsday?

- Allah states in the Quran that mountains will float like wool.
- In another verse in chapter 56, He says that mountains will crumble like atoms.
- How should we interpret those verses about mountains? What exactly will happen to mountains?

Dear Brother / Sister,

When the verses regarding the issue are considered, the state of the mountains on the Day of Judgment is clearly seen. Each verse draws attention to a different state of the mountains on the Day of Judgment because the Day of Judgment is not a momentary event. From this point of view, it would not be appropriate to judge by considering one verse only.

Let us have a look at the verses first:

Al-Kahf 18/47: One Day We shall remove the mountains, and thou wilt see the earth as a level stretch, and We shall gather them, all together, nor shall We leave out any one of them.

Taha 20/105: They ask thee concerning the Mountains: say, “My Lord will uproot them and scatter them as dust.”

At-Tur 52/10: And the mountains will fly hither and thither.

Al-Waqia 56/5: And the mountains shall be crumbled to atoms.

Al-Haaqqa 69/14: And the earth is moved, and its mountains, and they are crushed to powder at one stroke.

Al-Maarij 70/9: And the mountains will be like wool.

Al-Muzzammil 73/14: One Day the earth and the mountains will be in violent commotion. And the mountains will be as a heap of sand poured out and flowing down.

Al-Mursalat 77/10: When the mountains are scattered (to the winds) as dust.

An-Naba 78/20: And the mountains shall vanish, as if they were a mirage.

At-Takwir 81/3: When the mountains vanish (like a mirage),

Al-Qaria 101/5: And the mountains will be like carded wool.

It is stated that in the verses above that on the Day of Judgment, the mountains will break away from their places due to severe shaking, and that they will disperse and become a cloud of dust; thus, they will look like a pile of carded wool and a mirage because there will no longer be real mountains.

Just as a pile of sand or earth on a tray is dispersed and leveled by a violent shaking of the tray so too will mountains be blown away by a violent shaking of the earth.

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