Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AR-RUUM [24]

24. And among His signs is that He shows you the lightning, for fear and for hope, and He sends down water from the sky, and therewith revives the earth after its death. Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who understand. 25. And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command. Then afterwards when He will call you by a single call, behold, you will come out from the earth.) Allah says,

(And among His signs) which speak of His greatness,

(He shows you the lightning, for fear and for hope,) Sometimes you fear the heavy rain and destructive thunderbolts that follow it, and sometimes you feel hope, when you see a flash of lightning, that much-needed rain will come. Allah says:

(and He sends down water from the sky, and therewith revives the earth after its death.) After it was barren, with nothing growing there, then the water comes to it and

(it is stirred, and it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth).) (22:5). In this is a clear sign and proof of the resurrection and the coming of the Hour. Allah says:

(Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who understand.) Then Allah says:

(And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command.) This is like the Ayat:

(He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His leave) (22: 65).

(Verily, Allah grasps the heavens and the earth lest they should move away from their places) (35:41). Whenever `Umar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, swore an emphatic oath, he would say, ”No, by the One by Whose command the heaven and the earth stand,'' i.e., they stand firm by His command to them and His subjugation of them. Then, when the Day of Resurrection comes, the Day when the earth will be exchanged with another earth and the dead will come forth from their graves, brought back to life by His command and His call to them,

(Then afterwards when He will call you by a single call, behold, you will come out from the earth.) This is like the Ayat:

(On the Day when He will call you, and you will answer with His praise and obedience, and you will think that you have stayed but a little while!) (17:52)

(But it will be only a single Zajrah. When behold, they find themselves on the surface of the earth alive after their death. ) (79:13-14), and

(It will be but a single Sayhah, so behold they will all be brought up before Us!) (36:53).