Part 10

whal e (Noon) me ntioned by Allah in the Qur'a n: ( Noo n. By

the Pen and what they (the angel s) write ) (Soomh AI-Qalam

68: 1) Th e whale was in the wat er. The water was upon the

back ofa (s mall) rock. The rock was upon th e back o f an angel.

Th e ange l was upon a rock. The rock - th e one mentio ned

by Luqm an - was in th e w ind, neither in heaven nor on the

Earth. The fish moved and became agitated . As a result , the

Earth quaked, whereupon He firml y anchored th e mounta in s

on it, and it was stabl e. A llah created the mounta in s and the

beneficia l and useful things that are in them 011 Tuesday and

on Wednesday, He created th e trees, the water, the ci ti es and

th e cu lti vated and barren land. I-Ie rent apart the heaven, which

had been one single unit , and made it into seven heavens in

two days - Thursday and Friday - and He only ca ll ed Friday

AI-Jlllnll 'all because on th at day He combined in it th e creation

of the heavens and the Earth and inspired His Command in

every heaven. He crea ted in each heaven the ange ls, the seas,

the mountains of hail and all of the ot he r things wh ich none

knows but He. The n He bea ut ified the heaven with the sta rs

and made th em as adornmen ts and as a guard ian against the

devi ls. T hen, when He had fini shed creati ng what He loved, He

istawo (asce nded) over the Throne." In thi s narrati on As-S udd i

mentions a great number of strange th ings, and many of th em

are deri ved fro m !sra 'eeliyyat. Thi s is because when Ka ' b A I-

Ahbar embraced Islam during the Ca li phate of ' Umar 4 , he

used to speak ill front of 'Umaf Ibn AI-Khattab ..;., about things

from the knowledge of th e Peop le of the Scripture a nd ' Uma r

~ woul d li ste n to him out of friend lin ess toward him and

from surpri se at the thin gs he sa id that concurred with much

II'/Jw Hos Been Said Regarding Ih e Creation of 55

of the truth that is contain ed in th e Qu r 'a n and th e authent ic

say ings of the Pro ph et ~ . As a result , many peop le deemed it

pennissible to trans m it what Ka' b AI-A hbar sa id. BU l llluch of

wha t he co nveyed was in co rrect and fa r from the truth .

A I-B uk hari narrated in his Saheeh, on the aut ho ri ty of

Mu ' awiya h ~ , that he used to say regarding Ka 'b A I-Ahbar,

"Eve n though he was the most truthful o f those w ho transmitted

things from the Peopl e of the Sc ri pture, we fo und that som e

of what he sa id was lies." (I) T his mea ns th at he rega rded the

transm iss ions as untru e, no t th at he held Ka ' b to be a de liberate

co nveyo r of li es - and A ll ah knows bette r.

We re la te the m a nd then fo ll ow them with ahadeeth which

either prove them to be true o r disprove them, wh ile the rest

rema in ne ithe r pro ven no r di sproved . All ah is the O ne Whose

He lp is sought and upon Whom we depe nd .

A IBuk ha ri narrated on the auth ori ty of Abu Hurairah 4. tha t

he sa id: T he Messenger of A llah ~ said: "W hen A llah orda ined

the creati o n, I-Ie wrot e in Hi s Book whi c h is w ith Him abo ve

the Throne: Ve rily, My Mercy has overcome My Anger." (l)

T hen A I-Bu khari sa id: C hapter: W hat Has Been Sa id

Regarding Seven Ea rths and th e Words of A ll ah, Most Hi gh:

( It is A llah Who has created seve n heavc ns and o f the Earth

the lik e th ereo f (i. e. scven). His Co mmand descends between

them (hea ve ns and Earth ), that you ma y know tila t A ll ah has

power over a ll thin gs, and that Allah surroll nd s (comp rehends)

all th in gs in (His) Knowledge ) (500l"Oh Ar-Talaq 65: 12) - and

(I) Narrated by AI-13uklmri in [he Book oJHoldil1!J. Fasl fO IIII! Qur'OI1 ulld

(2) Narr.Hcd by Al-B ukhari in the Book oj Ih e Begillllillg oj Cr(!{llioll (3194).

by Muslim in the Book OJRl!pl!lIWI1Ce (3751) and by An-Nasa·j in AI-

Kllbra (4/417 , No. 775 0).

56 II'hol litH /Jel'lI Said Regarding lite CIl:mjon of

then he sa id: It is reported on the authority of Abu Sa lamah

Ibn' AbdurRa hman tha tt hcre was a dispute between him and

so me peoplc a nd so he vi sitcd 'A' ishah (may Allah be pleased

w ith her) an d acqua inted her w ith the detai ls of the di spute and

she said , "0 Abu Sa larn ah! Avo id the land , for the Messenger

of A llah ~ said, 'Whoever takes even a span of land unjust ly,

his neck shall be enc ircled with it down seven Earths. '" II I

Th en AI-Bu khari na rrated on the authority o f Sa lim, o n the

authority of his father ~ that he sai d: Th e Prophe t :k said,

" Whoever took so me land without right wi ll sink down the

seven Ea rths on the Day of Resurrection. " (21

I-Iere AI-Bukhari mentioned the Illldeelh o f Muhammad Ibn

Seeree n, o n the authori ty of' Abd ur-Rahman Ibn Abi Bakrah,

on the auth ority of his father ..&, th at he sa id, " The Messe nger

of Allah ;b: sa id, '(Th e di vis ion of) ti me has turned to its orig inal

form which was curren t when Alla h created th e heavens and

the Earth. The year is twelve months, '" (3) What he mea 111 by it

- and Allah knows bctlcf - was to de tennine th e mean ing of the

Wo rds of Al lah, Most l-li g h: ( It is Allah Who ha s crea ted seven

hl:a,·cns and o rthe Earth thc lik l: thereof (i.e. seven) ) (SoOl-ail

At-Talaq 65: 12) - That is, the likc thereor in numbe rs. That

is to say, j ust as the number o r mo nt hs, whi ch is now twelve,

corresponds with the number of months with Allah in Hi s first

Book, so th ese correspond in time, just as they co rrespond in

Imam Ahmad narrated all the authority or Ibn Mas'ood that

he sa id , " I sa id: 0 , Messengcr o f A lla h! Which inju sti ce is

(1) Narralcd by Al-Bukhari in the /Jook oJlhe Begillilillg oJCn:alitm (3 (95).

(2) Narraled by A l-Buklmri in the Book oJThe Beginllillg oJCrcatioll (3 196

(3) Narrated by A l-Bukhari in the Book oj Ihe Beginning o/CrclIIion (3 197).

WIIlII lIas Bee" Said Reg(mlillg lite Cre(l/ifm of 57

greatest?" He said , "That n Muslim shoul d decrease a single

cubi t from the land of hi s brother, for there is not a pebble fro m

the land th at a pe rso n takes which does 110t enci rcl e his neck on

th e Day o f Resurrec ti on down to the boltom of the Earth and

none knows th e bottom of it except All ah." Ah mad was nlone

in narrating thi s, but it s chain of narrators is accept ab le.

These ahadeefh are simil ar to IIIl1tawQtir ( I) narrations in their

affimla ti on of th e ex istence of sevcn Ea rth s. What is meant

by th at is that each of them is above the other. The scholars

have disagreed regarding whet her or not th ey are piled up, with

nothing separatin g thcm or whether there are spaces between

eac h of them. There arc two opini ons in Ih e matt er and th ere is

a similar di sagreement regarding the cel estial bod ies. It would

appear that between each o f th cm there is a distan ce, based on

wha t is a pparent from the Words of All ah , Most Hi gh: ( It is

Allah Who has created seven heavens and of the Eart h the li ke

th ereof (i.c. seve n). lIi s Command descends between them )

As for what one of th e rati ona li sts said rega rdin g the /wc/eefh:

" ". hi s neck shall be enci rcl ed with it down seven Earths." (2) _

thnt it means seve n regions, thi s opin ion co ntrad icts th e clea r

meaning o f the Verse and the aut hentic hadeefh wh ich we have

narml ed via AI-/-Iasal/ , on the authority of Abu I-Iurairah ~ . (3)

Then he interpreted th e Iwdeefh and the Verse in a way that

( I) Afurllll'Orir: A Iw deerll which is reported by so many reliable narr.ltors at

each level in iL<; chain of narrators that it negates the possibi lity that they

cou ld have conspired together to concoct a fabrication.

(2) The rakhreej for this 'wdeerh has already been given.

(3) [t is weak, which is why we have omitted it . See SlIlIoIIAr-'!irmidhi (3398)

and Ahmad's Afllsllad( 21370) and in it is: .. ... ifat[ of youlowcrcd one of

you by a rope down to the seventh and lowest Enrth, it would reach AI ·

58 IV/w! Has Been Said Regardill}; tile Crl'ation oj'

contradicts lheirciear meani ng, without any support and without

any proof - and A ll ah knows better. It is the sa me w ith much of

what is said by many of the Peop le of the Scri pture and which