There is a word “Ba’ath” used in the Qura’n about the Day of Reckoning.

In the verses that come after the verse of Surah Hajj it says, “And the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it, and that God will raise those who are in their graves.”

This word has come so many times in the Qura’n that one of the names of the Day of Reckoning has become the “Day of Raising” and in verse 56 of Surah Rom it has become “Yoma Yuba’soon” and this is found in six verses of the Qura’n.(1) We find this term quite often when the disbelievers questioned the Messenger about the Day of Judgment like verse 16 of Surah Safat that says, “Shall we be resurrected when we are dead and have become dust and bones?”(2)

The meaning of “Al Ba’ath” is very vast. Some take it to mean “ to send” and some say it mean to “ deliver” and yet some others have taken it to mean “ to scatter or strew” but its applications tell us that it means to raise though each time it has a different connotation like the “ Ba’that” for the ministry and propagation by the Messenger, then the Ba’athat” in Jihad, the raising of people for the fulfillment of duties; raising the dead to account for themselves or raising the animals for movement.(3)

On the Day of Judgment it denotes the restart of movement when God will raise people from their graves or when they move towards heaven or hell. Each stage is a reflection of movement or “Ba'athat”.Then there is the word “Ba’athra” which is closer to Ba’ath in the Qura’n. This word is found in only two verses i.e. verse 4 of Surah Infitar that says, “ And when the graves are turned upside down” or in verse 9 of Surah A’diyat that says, “ He does not know when the contents of the graves are brought out and poured forth”

The word “ Ba’athrah” has been taken by the linguists to mean “to turn something upside down and to scatter” but Raghib in Mafuradat says that it is not far fetched to say that this word comes from the words “Ba’ath” and “Uthirat” and the first means to raise while the second means to scatter.

 Both the meanings are included in it. Bayzavi has said the same thing in a different style for he says the word has been derived out of “Asarah” “Ba’as” and “Raiy” (4)

1. A’raf-14; Hijr-16; Muminun-100; Shuara-86; Saffat-144; and Saad-79.

2. This meaning has come in Bani Israel49, and 98, Muminun 82, Waqiyah 47, Anam 29, and Muminun 37.

3. Mafuradat Raghib, Maqayis-ol-Loghata and At Tahqiq fi Kalimatil Qura’nal Kareem.

4. Tafsir Bayzavi for the Tafsir of verse 4 Surah Infitar.