Where does the resurrection take place?

Not on this earth and not in earthly graves. The resurrection follows the end of this world, and by then there are no graves left for anyone to rise from. It takes place in the abode God assigns to the soul after death.

The Holy Qur’an speaks of people rising from their graves. Many therefore imagine that at the end of time the graves in cemeteries will burst open and the dead will climb out of the ground. But the word grave has a wider meaning in the Holy Qur’an. It also refers to the abode God assigns to the soul after death.

A simple question shows which meaning is intended. Does the resurrection happen before the end of the world or after it? The Holy Qur’an is clear. It comes afterwards, once everything on earth has passed away.

The verses above describe that end. The earth will be changed into another earth, and the heavens too. The mountains will be broken and scattered, leaving behind a barren plain. If the earth itself no longer exists, there are no earthly graves left for anyone to come out of.

So the resurrection does not concern this earth as a place. It happens on another plane of existence, in the abode of the soul to which God has brought it after death. From there all people will appear before God, the One, the Most Supreme.

This is an important insight for people today. What happens to the body in the ground does not decide life after death. What matters is the soul and what it has become in this life.