Part 9

pass by, while they a rc averse th erefrom. And 1ll0 s1 of them

bel ieve not in A ll ah ex cep t that they attribute partne rs 1I11 to

lI im ) (Soora" )OOSI!F 12: I05, I06)

As fo r Hi s Words: ' Arc you morc diffi cul t to c rl.!atc or is

the heaven that li e constructed? li e rai sed its height. and has

perfec ted it. lI s nigh t l ie cove rs and l ie brin gs oul its fo renoon.

And ali er th ,1I l ie spread the Earth . And brought forth

th ere from its wa ter alld it s pa sture. And the mOll ll ta ins l ie has

fi xed firml y, as prO\ is ion and benefit for you a nd your ca ttl e

) (SoOl·oII AI1-Nozi '(I/ 79:27-33) - some people have taken

these Verses as proof th at the heavens were c reat ed be fore the

Eart h, thus co ntrad icti ng the clear evidence pro vided by the

abovementioned two ve rses. They ha ve nol understood thi s

Verse , because it must be understood from this Verse that the

flatte ning out of the Earlh and th e bringing fort h o f wate r and

pastures from it was in fa ct after the crea ti on of" lhe heave n. Th is

was thc measurin g of sustenance, as He says, And measured

there in it s sllstenance (Sooralt FlIssi/ol 41: 10) - T ha t is, He

prepared the places of cu lt iva tion and the locations of springs

Then when I-Ie had completed the creati on of the form of

the higher and the lower world, He spread out the Ea rth and

brought fo rth from it that whi ch had bee n depos ited th erein,

-L. What H(I\' /Jeen Soill Ueglln/ing the Cn.'lItion of 51

o ' ""1.I.rJ::"'- - -".

e( so that the springs gushed forth and the rivers fl owed and the

~ crops and fru its grew, Thi s is why the fl atten in g or spread ing

LWilS ex plained as mea nin g the brin ging forth of wa te r and

'tL pasture frolll it and th e fi xing o f the mountain s, He says, ( And

.:!'-.. after tha t I-!e spread the Earth. And brought fo rth therefrom its

4-V) wale r and Its pastu re ) (Soorall All-Nazi 'at 79:30,3 1) and I-Ie

~ , ~ says_(A nd the mountains He has fixed fi nn ly) (SoO/'all AI1-

.-5t Na=i 'ol 79:32) - That is, I-Ie scttl cd th em, made them finn and

~ c: established the m in their places,

"3 ~ And He says, ( With Il ands We construc ted lh e heaven.

- .c Verily, We are abl e 10 ex pa nd the vastness o f space th ereof. And

We have mad e the Eart h a firas h; how excell ent the Spreader

(t hereof) arc We! And of everything We have creat ed pairs_

that you may re member ) (SoOl'ali Adll-Dhariy al 5 J :4 7-49).

His say ing, ( Wi th Il a nds) means "With Stre ngth ."

( Vc ri ly. We arc abl e to c'=pa lld the vastness o r space Ihereo f)

- That is because all that is above is wider and so each heaven

is wider than the one below it - and s ince th e Kill'S; is highe r

than all o f them, it foll ows that it is wider th an all o f them,

And the Th rone is muc h greater than all of lhesc. Afte r Ih at, Hc

says, ( And We ha ve made the En rt h a firash ) (Soorah Adh~

DIlll/yol 51 :48) - That is, "We spread it out and made it a bed,

i.e, fix ed, calm, undi sturbed a nd unshake n, whic h is why He

says, Ilow ex cell ent the Spreader (the reo f) arc We! ) (SoO/'all

Ad-Dhariyal 51 :48) Th e wo rd " And" in All ah's saying, ( And

We have made the Earth a firas ll ) does not ind ica te the ord er

or the seque nce o f event s; it on ly ind ica tes gc ne ra l informati on

- and A ll ah knows be tter,

A I-B uk hari narrated on the aut hority of ' Im fa n Ibn Hu sai n

..;.. that he said : I went to the Prophet ~ and ticd my shc-ca mel

at the gate_ The people of San u Tameclll ca me to the Prophet

52 Wlral Hm Beell Said Regarding fhe Crl!alim/ 0/

who sai d, "0. Banu Tameell1 ! Accept thc good tidings."

T hey said twice, " You have give n us thc good tid ings, now

g ive us something." Then some Yc mcnis came to him a nd he

said: " Accept the good tidi ngs, 0 , pcople o f Ye me n, for Banu

Tamecll1 refused them." T hey said, "We accept it, 0 Messenger

o f A llah! We have co me to ask you about this mail er (i.e. the

start of creati on)." He said, " Fi rst o f all , there was noth ing btJl

A ll ah, and (thcn Hc created His Throne). Hi s Throne wns ovc r

the wate r, and He wrot e eve rythi ng in the Boo k (in the he;:lvc n)

and crea tcd the heavens and the Eart h." !!IAnd Imam Ahmad

Ibn Hanbal narrated on the authority of Abu Hu ra irah ...;e tha t

he said: The Messenge r o f All ah ~ took mc by the hand a nd

said: "A llah crea ted the dust 0 11 Sa turd ay and He c reated the

Illountai ns on Sunday. and He creat ed the trecs on Monday, and

He c re.lted the unp leasant things all Tuesday and He created

the light on Wedn esday and I-Ic spread the c reatures throughout

it on Thu rsday and Hc creatcd Ad<'11ll '1I:Y afte r 'As/' on Friday.

He was the las t c reation during the i::tst hour o f Friday, belwcen

'As/, and thc ni ght." m

And All-Nasa ' i reported in the TClJ.~ee/' on the aut hority o f Abu

Hura irah ~ . who sa id : The Messen gc r of A lla h ~ look me by

the hand and sa id: "0 Abu I-Iu ra ira h! Veril y. A lla h crcated the

heave ns and the Earth and wha t li es betwec n them in six days,

the n He istClIIIO ove r the Throne all the seventh day and He

created thc dust on Sa turday. " OJ

' Ali Ibn A IMadcc ni , A I-Buk hari, AI-Ba ihaqi and ot hc r

hadeeth masters di sc llssed th is /ull/eefh ; A I-Bukhari sa id in

( t ) Narr.Jted by A I-Buk hari in the Hook offill! Beginlling OfCll!!ltioll (3 191).

(2) Tile tuk/tree) for this 'll/deeth has already been given. of 4-~

(3) A nNasa 'i namlled something similar to this in AI-KI/bra (61427, No.

11392). but the author d isputed that it was IIImfoo ' (i.e. nllribuled to the

Prophel :ts:) and aUri bul cd il 10 Ka ' b A I-Ahbar.

Wh", 1/(1.\ /Jeel/ Said Regan/illg fill' ('n!afioll 0/

his Tareekh : "Some have said that it was on the authority of

Ka ' b mid that is more correc t. " That is 10 say, Ihi s hadeerh was

hea rd from Ka'b A I-Ahbar by Abu I-iu rai rah, beca use they

were Com pani ons and used to sit togethe r 10 study hadeerh

On e of them woul d recite from hi s papers and the other woul d

reci te from what he belie ved to be fro m the Prophet ~ . So thi s

/wdee'" was obtained by Abu l-Iuraira h ";:" from Kn'b , w ho read

it in his papers a nd so some of the narrators ass umed that it was

narrated fr0111 the Prophet Ji. I-Ie confirmcd that it was marfho .

by hi s saying, "T he Messc nge r of Alla h :b: took me by the

its text , such as the fact th at th ere is no menti on o f th e crea tion

of the heavens in it, but Ihe crea tion of the Eart h and ;:111 that

is in it in seven days is mentioned. Th is con fli cts with wha t

the Qur'an says, because the Earth was created in four days,

then the heavens we re created in two days from c;moke. Thi s

is the steam from water whi ch ri ses whe n the g-reat water -

which All ah c rea ted by His churnin g of the Ea rth , through I-li s

All -Encompass in g Om ni potcnce - is agitated, as narrated by

Isma'eel Ibn 'A bdur-Rahman As-Suddi in a traditio n which he

reported on the authority of A bu Malik and on the aut horiti es of

Abu Sa lih, Ibn ' A bb a s ~, Murrah AI -I-Ia md<m i (w ho reported

on th e authority of Ibn Mas ' ood) and on the authority of peopl e

from a mong the Companions of the Messenger of A llah :;; that

he said regard ing the Wo rds of A ll ah, Most I-ligh, ( l ie il is Whu

created ror you all thaI is on Ea rth . Then. li e i .\·WlI'll towards

the heaven and made them ~evc n heaven s iJnd l ie is the AIl -

Knowing , (SoO/'ah AI-Baqarah 2:29) They said Ihal A llah 's

Th rone was over the wa ter and He had not crea ted any part of

I-li s crea tion before the wa te r. Then when I-Ic wanted to create

the crea tion, He ext racted smoke (i .e. steam) frolll the wat er

and it rose a bove the water <Inc! He ca ll ed it th e heave n. T hen

54 "'hat I-las Beel/ Said Regardillg the Creatioll of

He dried the water and made it into a single Ea rth and then He

rent it apart and made seven Earth s in two days - Sunday and

Monday - and I-Ie created the Eart h on a wha le, that bei ng the