summer as easily as turning the pages of a book, and opens and closes this world and the hereafter as though they were two houses.” Since it is thus, the conclusion of all these evidences is:

And to Him will you all be brought back.(36:83)

That is, “He will raise you to life from the grave and bring you to the resurrection; there you will be called to account in the presence of the Almighty.”

Thus, all these verses have prepared the mind to accept the resurrection, and so have they prepared the heart, for they have pointed out similar deeds in this world.

It sometimes happens also that the Qur’an mentions Almighty God’s deeds of the hereafter in such a way that man may understand similar things in this world. Then no possibility remains to deny them or deem them unlikely. An example are the suras which begin:

When the Sun is folded up;(81:1) ∗ When the sky is cleft asunder;(82:1) ∗ When the sky is rent asunder.(84:1)

In these suras it mentions the mighty revolutions and dominical acts of disposal in the resurrection and Great Gathering in such a way that, since man sees things similar to them in this world, for example, in the autumn and spring, he accepts those revolutions easily, which cause dread to the heart and cannot be comprehended by the mind. To provide even a summary of the meaning of these three suras would be very lengthy, so for now we shall point out a single phrase by way of example.

For example, the phrase

When the pages are laid open (81:10)

expresses the following: at the resurrection all the deeds of everyone will be published written on pages. Being very strange on its own, the mind cannot grasp this matter. But as the sura indicates, since in the resurrection of the spring things occur that are similar to other points, the things similar to this laying open of the pages are quite clear. For all fruit-bearing trees or flowering plants perform deeds, acts, and duties, and in whatever way they display the divine names and glorify God, they perform worship. All these deeds are written in their seeds together with their life histories, then emerge in another spring in another place. Just as they mention most eloquently the deeds of their mothers and their stock through the tongues of the shapes and forms they display, so they publish the pages of their deeds through their branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Thus, the One Who carries out this Wise, Preserving, Planned, Nurturing, Benevolent work, is He Who says: