His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "They whisper to one another, 'You have not remained except for ten (days).'" "We know best what they say when their best among them says, 'You have not remained except for a day.'" "And they ask you about the mountains, so say, 'My Lord will obliterate them with a single obliteration.'" "And He will leave it as a level plain." "You will not see therein any crookedness or elevation." (p-133) "The criminals whisper among themselves": they converse quietly. The meaning is that due to the horror of the emergence and the intensity of their bewilderment, they have forgotten the duration they remained. People have differed regarding this. One group said: in the abode of this world and the duration of life. Another group said: in the earth during the period of Barzakh. Yet another said: what is between the two blasts of the trumpet. And "their best among them" means: the one who is most steadfast and knowledgeable of the truth among them, so they in this statement believe that this is the duration of their stay. The pronoun in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And they ask you," it is said that a man from Thaqif asked the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, about the mountains, what will happen to them on the Day of Resurrection? It is said that a group of believers asked him about that. The meaning of obliteration has been previously mentioned. It has been narrated that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, will send upon the mountains a wind that will crush them until they become like wool that has been fluffed. Then it will continue upon them until it returns them like scattered dust, and that is the obliteration. His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And He will leave it" may mean its locations, and it may mean the dust that He has obliterated; because it will occur on the earth evenly until the entire earth is level. And "the plain" is the level ground that is even and has no elevation in it, and from it is the saying of Dirar ibn al-Khattab: "Surely, Quraysh will be in the plains, a spot of the plain in the hands of the maidservants." And "the level plain" is similar in meaning. And "crookedness" is what affects the evenness of the earth from inclining to the right and left according to the elevation of a mountain or a hill and the like. And "elevation" is what affects the earth from rising and falling. It is said: "He stretched his rope until he left no elevation in it." So it is as if "elevation" in the verse refers to the crookedness in the sky towards the air, and "crookedness" in the verse is specific to the lowering. There is a consideration in this.