Ma'arif al-Qur'an
Mufti Muhammad Shafiوَإِذَا السَّمَاءُ كُشِطَتْ (and when the sky will be stripped off...81:11) The word kushitat is derived from kasht, and it literally means 'to strip off the skin of an animal. Probably, this condition will prevail at the first blowing of the Horn, which will happen in this world. The stars, the Sun and the Moon that contributed to the beauty of the sky will all lose their light and lustre and will be thrown into the ocean. The outlook of the sky will be changed. This phenomenon is termed in this verse as: 'The sky will be stripped off. Some commentators interpret the word kasht in the sense of 'folding up'. The verse, according to them, purports to say that the sky that surrounds the upper atmosphere over our heads will be folded up.