7. The coming of the Lord Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, on the Day of Resurrection and the descent of the angels

7.1. Evidence from the Holy Qur’an
i. Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says, "Nay; when the earth is crushed repeatedly and levelled, and your Lord comes with the angels, row after row." (al-Fajr 89:21-22)

Ibn Kathir said, “Here Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, tells us of what will happen on the Day of Resurrection of great horrors, then He says: Nay meaning, indeed when the earth is crushed repeatedly and levelled that is, when the earth and the mountains have been levelled and flattened, and all humankind rise from their graves to stand before their Lord, and your Lord comes that is, to pass judgement among His creation. That will be after they have asked the leader of all the sons of Adam, Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), to intercede with Him, after having asked all the Messengers of strong resolve, one after another, and all of them say, ‘I am not able for that,’ until they finally come to Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and he says, ‘I am able for it, I am able for it.’ So he will go and intercede with Allah, asking Him to come and pass judgement, and Allah will give him permission to intercede. That will be the first intercession, and that is the station of praise and honour mentioned in Surat al-Isra’, as noted above. So the Lord Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come to pass judgement as He wills, and the angels will come before Him, row after row.”

Al-Sa‘di said, “Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come to pass judgement among His slaves in the shadows of the clouds. All the noble angels, the inhabitants of the heavens, will come, row after row. The angels of each heaven will come in rows, surrounding other, lesser creatures, and these rows will humble themselves before the Sovereign, the Compeller.”

ii. Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "What are they waiting for, but for the angels to come to them, or for your Lord to come, or for some of the signs of your Lord to come? On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come, no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it did not believe before or earn some good through its faith. Say: Wait then; we too are waiting." (al-An‘am 6:158)

Ibn Jarir said, “Here Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says: are those who regard others, the idols and images, as equal with their Lord waiting for anything except for the angels to come and take their souls, or for your Lord, O Muhammad, to come when His creation are in the place of standing on the Day of Resurrection? or for some of the signs of your Lord to come – according to the commentators, this refers to the rising of the sun from its place of setting.”

Al-Shinqiti said, “What are they waiting for, but for the angels to come to them, or for your Lord to come…? – In this verse, Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, mentions His coming with His angels on the Day of Resurrection. He mentions that elsewhere, where He adds that the angels will come in rows, in the verse in which He says, "And your Lord comes with the angels, row after row." (al-Fajr 89:22)

And in another place, He mentions that and adds that He Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come in the shadows of the clouds, in the verse in which He Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says, "What are they waiting for, but for Allah to come to them in the shadows of the clouds, together with the angels? But then the matter would already have been decided. It is to Allah that all things will return." (al-Baqarah 2:210)

This is one of the attributes of Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, that He has ascribed to Himself, and we should accept it as it came, believe in it and believe that it is true, and that it does not resemble any attribute of created beings. Glory be to the One Who has encompassed all things with His knowledge, "He knows what was before them and what will be after them, but they do not encompass it with their knowledge." (Ta-Ha 20:110)

iii. Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "What are they waiting for, but for Allah to come to them in the shadows of the clouds, together with the angels? But then the matter would already have been decided. It is to Allah that all things will return." (al-Baqarah 2:210)

Ibn Kathir said, “Here Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says, threatening those who disbelieve in Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): What are they waiting for, but for Allah to come to them in the shadows of the clouds, together with the angels? That is, on the Day of Resurrection, to pass judgement between the first and the last, and to requite every doer for his deeds: if they are good then the outcome will be good, and if they are bad then the outcome will be back. Hence He says But then the matter would already have been decided. It is to Allah that all things will return, as He says elsewhere, "Nay; when the earth is crushed repeatedly and levelled, and your Lord comes with the angels, row after row, and hell, on that day, is brought near – on that day, man will remember what he neglected, but how will that remembering benefit him?" (al-Fajr 89:21-22) and, "What are they waiting for, but for the angels to come to them, or for your Lord to come, or for some of the signs of your Lord to come? On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come, no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it did not believe before or earn some good through its faith. Say: Wait then; we too are waiting." (al-An‘am 6:158)

iv. Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "The earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the record of deeds will be placed in their hands." (al-Zumar 39:69)

Ibn Jarir said, “Here Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, tells us that the earth will be illuminated with the light of its Lord. That will be when the Most Gracious comes to pass judgement between His creation.”

Al-Sa‘di said, “The earth will shine with the light of its Lord. From this it is known that the existing lights will have vanished and disappeared on the Day of Resurrection. And this will indeed be the case, for Allah has told us that the sun will be rolled up, the moon will be darkened, the stars will be extinguished and the people will be left in darkness. At that point the earth will be illuminated with the light of its Lord, when He manifests Himself and descends to pass judgement among them. On that Day, Allah will give people extra strength and will recreate them in such a way that they will be able to withstand His light and it will not burn them. They will also be enabled to see Him, otherwise His light is immense and if it were to be made manifest, the glory of His Countenance would burn all of His creation, as far as He can see.”

7.2. Evidence from the prophetic Sunnah
‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “Allah will bring together the first and the last for the appointment of a known Day in which they will be standing for forty years, staring fixedly at the sky, waiting for judgement to be passed. And Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will descend in the shadows of the clouds from the Throne to the Footstool…” (Al-Ajurri, al-Tabarani, al-Hakim; sahih)

The scholars are unanimously agreed that the Lord Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come on the Day of Resurrection and He will come for the reckoning and the judgement, and the angels will descend on that Day
i.
Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari said, “The scholars are unanimously agreed that Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come on the Day of Resurrection, and the angels will come row after row, to inspect the nations at their reckoning, and for their punishment and reward. Allah will forgive whomever among the sinners He wills and He will punish whomever of them He wills.”
ii. Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani said, “One of the Islamic principles on which the ummah is unanimously agreed, and one of the correct interpretations, any difference from which is innovation and misguidance, is that Allah will come on the Day of Resurrection, but we do not know how that will be, and the angels will come row after row, to inspect the nations at their reckoning and for their reward and punishment… Everything mentioned above is the understanding of Ahl al-Sunnah and the leading scholars of jurisprudence and hadith, as we have explained above. All of that is the understanding of Malik; some of this was stated by him and some of it is known from his madhhab.”

Scholarly views regarding that:
i.
Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari said, “This understanding is narrated from a number of scholars of hadith and Ahl al-Sunnah… They affirm that Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come on the Day of Resurrection, as He says (interpretation of the meaning), "And your Lord comes with the angels, row after row." (al-Fajr 89:1-22)
ii. al-Azhari said regarding the verse (interpretation of the meaning), "What are they waiting for, but for Allah to come to them in the shadows of the clouds." (al-Baqarah 2:210) “The word ghamam (translated here as clouds) is known in Arabic, but we do not know the nature of these clouds in the shade of which Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will come on the Day of Resurrection. So we believe in it, but we do not know how it is. The same applies to all the attributes of Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted.”
iii. Abu ‘Amr al-Dani said regarding the belief of Ahl al-Sunnah, “One of the things they believe in is that Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, will resurrect people, bring the dead back to life and raise up those who are in the graves. And He will come on the Day of Resurrection to pass judgement; He will come and so will the angels, row after row, according to what Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, tells us.”
iv. Abu’l-Thana’ al-Alusi said: “The words (interpretation of the meaning), "The earth will shine with the light of its Lord." (al-Zumar 39:69) are indicative of His appearing in order to pass judgement. It may be referred to as coming, as is stated clearly in the verse (interpretation of the meaning), "What are they waiting for, but for Allah to come to them in the shadows of the clouds." (al-Baqarah 2:210) The earlier generations did not try to interpret that in a way other than the apparent meaning; rather they affirmed this attribute of Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, like His descent, in the way that He affirmed it for Himself Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted.”