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The question

Do the stories of resurrection in the Quran mean that all the years of this world pass for the people of Barzakh as if it were one day?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

The exegetes (mufassirun) discussed the verses in which the disbelievers speak about the duration of their stay in the Barzakh (interim period between death and resurrection). Some of them say: "We stayed a day or part of a day," while others say: "We stayed an hour," and yet others say: "We stayed ten [days]." The reason for this is that the intensity of the torment made them forget the duration of the Barzakh, or that they considered their stay in the world and in the graves to be short and saw it as insignificant compared to what they were facing.

As for the story of the People of the Cave, they did not die but rather slept for a long period. Allah clarified that it was three hundred solar years and three hundred and nine lunar years.

And as for the story of the man whom Allah caused to die for a hundred years and then resurrected, he thought that he had stayed a day or part of a day, because Allah caused him to die in the forenoon and brought him back to life after one hundred years at the end of the day, and he saw that his food and drink had not changed.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy