Will "the world" be established again after the Doomsday? Where will it be established? That is, will it be a place that can be visited after being restored?

Will "the world" be established again after the Doomsday? Where will it be established? That is, will it be a place that can be visited after being restored?

Dear Brother / Sister,

A verse related to the issue is as follows:

One day the Earth will be changed to a different Earth, and so will be the Heavens, and (men) will be marshalled forth, before Allah the One, the Irresistible. (Ibrahim, 14/48)

The collective and radical change that will take place on the Day of Judgment and that will include the known universe is pointed out. (cf Taha 20/105-107)

The concept ‘tabdil’ that we translate as ‘change’ is used either in the sense of changing the essence of something (an-Nisa 4/56) or the quality of something.(al-Furqan 25/70) in the Quran. Here, both meanings are possible; therefore, both interpreters and scholars interpreted the verse in two different senses.

According to the first meaning, on Doomsday, the skies, the earth, the whole universe will be destroyed completely and then created again (changing the essence); there are some other verses that support this meaning. (al-Qasas 28/88)

According to the second meaning, the matter of the universe will remain but its qualities will change; for instance, the mountains of the earth will be scattered; the seas will be rifted; they will be made level; no roughness will be seen; however, its matter will remain the same. (see changing the qualities; Razi, Mafatih, the interpretation of the relevant verse)

There are other interpretations regarding the change of the earth to other earths and the skies to other skies: The earth will be changed to fire (Hell) and the skies will be changed to Paradise. The earth will be white like silver and a place on which no blood has been shed and no sins have been committed. There are some other interpretations regarding the issue, too. (see Tabari, the interpretation of the relevant verse)

On the Day of Judgment, when those changes take place, people and meanwhile, “those who wronged themselves”, will be gathered in the presence of Allah, who is the Judge of all the judges, so as to be accounted for what they did in the world.   

The interpretation of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi regarding the issue is as follows:

Indeed, just as man is the microcosm, and he cannot be saved from destruction, the world too is the macroanthropos; it neither can be saved from the clutches of death. It too will die and will then be resurrected, or it will lie in repose and then open its eyes in the morning of the resurrection.

This means that a time is certain to come when the Manifest World will break up, with the permission of the All-Glorious Creator. Then it will be renewed in a better form. The meaning of the verse: “That day the Earth will changed into a different Earth” will be realized

After being destroyed, the One Who made the world will repair and reconstruct it in an even better form, and will convert it into one of the mansions of the Hereafter. (see Nursi, Sözler, 29. Söz)

There is a similarity and a relation between the worldly and otherworldly meanings of the words mentioned in the Quran but both the earth and the skies will be created in compliance with the eternal realms.

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