The statement that ‘the Heavens and the Earth were created in six days’ appears in the Quran in seven instances;
[Surah Al A'raf/7: Ayat 54]
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۖ يُدَبِّرُ ٱلْأَمْرَ ۖ مَا مِن شَفِيعٍ إِلَّا مِنۢ بَعْدِ إِذْنِهِۦ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ فَٱعْبُدُوهُ ۚ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ ٣
[Surah Yunus/10: Ayat 3]
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُۥ عَلَى ٱلْمَآءِ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًۭا ۗ وَلَئِن قُلْتَ إِنَّكُم مَّبْعُوثُونَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ٱلْمَوْتِ لَيَقُولَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحْرٌۭ مُّبِينٌۭ ٧
[Surah Hud/11: Ayat 7]
ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۚ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ فَسْـَٔلْ بِهِۦ خَبِيرًۭا ٥٩
[Surah Al Furqan/25: Ayat 59]
ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۖ مَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِهِۦ مِن وَلِىٍّۢ وَلَا شَفِيعٍ ۚ أَفَلَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ ٤
[Surah As Sajdah/32: Ayat 4]
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ وَمَا مَسَّنَا مِن لُّغُوبٍۢ ٣٨
[Surah Qaf/50: Ayat 38]
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا ۖ وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌۭ ٤
[Surah Al Hadid/57: Ayat 4]
This statement is further confirmed by:
[Surah Fussilat/41: Ayat 9-12]
This
re-narration, however, differs from the literal reading of Genesis in important
details. For example, the Quran strongly maintains at the same time that
these yawms1,
traditionally understood as ‘days’, may refer to quite variable ranges that may
include extremely long periods of time.
Keeping the
above in mind, we will translate the word yawms in the related verses as PERIODS.
TWO PERIODS
OF COSMIC EVOLUTION
The
Universe, along with the Earth, was created in two periods of cosmic evolution
Below the
Quran addresses certain details of the earlier stages of cosmic evolution
following the aftermath of Big Bang:
Say:
Are you rejecting the One who created the Earth in two periods … While He settled to the Heaven,
and it was smoke, so He said to it and to the Earth,
“Come both, willingly or unwillingly”. They said, “We do come, in
willing obedience.” / So He ordained them seven Heavens in two periods, and inspired in every Heaven
its function …
Translated
as ‘smoke’, here the emblematic term dukhan represents a state of chaos of
disorganised matter, lacking order, shape and pattern.
This
figurative meaning is supported by the subsequent expression ‘Come both’,
which, with a description of cosmic organisation in 41:12, indicates a command
to ‘get organised out of chaos.’ Please note that this command is both to the Heavens and to the
Earth. It certainly indicates that the Earth itself was part of this ‘shapeless cosmic chaos’.
Also the
word ‘come’, a verb involving movement – here referring to
both the Heavens and the Earth – points to the motion of everything in the
Universe including the Earth. Then ‘willing obedience’ of the Heaven and the
Earth implies that they spontaneously followed (‘willingly’) their divinely-
inherent ‘laws of nature’ rather than being interrupted (‘unwillingly’) by any
coercive force externally or additionally acting on them.
Thus, if
‘smoke’ is understood here as an allusion to the shapeless disorganised
scattered primordial matter, then ‘coming’ would connote condensing or
coalescing under the influence of gravitation leading to organisation and
shape.
The verse
accords well with our current astronomical knowledge as it correctly summarizes
two stages of cosmic evolution. In the first stage, the space-time of the
newborn Baby Universe was packed with shapeless
disorganised matter containing scattered particles, which were evolving from
subatomic particles to various atoms and molecules. In the second stage, these
particles gradually underwent slow coalescence into gross structures such as
clusters, galaxies, stars, planets and so on.
Thus the
seemingly simple message of the passage above is remarkably very accurate from
a modern scientific perspective where the Universe, along with the Earth, was
created in these two periods of cosmic evolution:
Primordial, 13.8-13 billion years ago. During this
radiation or particulate aeon, i.e., the stage of particle evolution following
Big Bang – when no ordered, organized systems had yet emerged in the shapeless
early Universe – changes were experienced by elementary particles, such as
quarks, leptons and bosons, and composite particles, such as neutrons and
protons (41:11).
Stelliferous, 13-4.57 billion years ago. During this
period of the self-organizing Universe, matter was structured into stars,
planets, nebulae, and larger constructs, such as galaxies and galaxy clusters
(41:9, 41:11-12). For Quranic allusions about these first two periods please
see: An answer to Richard Carrier’s “Cosmology and the Koran”.
Related
article: An answer to Richard Carrier’s “Cosmology and the Koran”
**********************************
Note
1
The
word yawm, traditionally translated as day, is used in
Arabic to denote any length of time – from extremely short like a nanosecond to
extremely long like an aeon. Thus, depending on the context, yawm can be translated as: ● ‘day’, when it refers
to a 24 hours earthly day; ● ‘moment’, e.g. when it refers to the launching or
the ending of the Universe, 6:73, 6:73; ● ‘period’ or ‘aeon’, when it refers to
the periods or stages of cosmic or terrestrial evolution, 7:54, 10:3, 11:7,
25:59, 32:4, 50:38, 57:4; and ● ‘time’, e.g. when it implies allegorical time
with other-worldly dimension (10:28, 64:9). For example, 32:1-9 describes the
origin and evolution of the Universe (32:4-6) as a prelude of human evolution
(32:7-9). Interestingly, while 32:4 identifies the total time period of the
evolutionary past as six yawms (days/periods), its next verse (32:5) – in order
to avoid the possible confusion about the six ‘days’ (six periods of variable
duration) that has been required for cosmic evolution – immediately makes it
clear that the ‘yawms’ (days/periods) mentioned here are not be confused with
our 24 hours earthly days. The same idea of the immense vastness of time has
been accentuated with recurrences (22:47, 65:12, 70:3-6, 76:1).
Note
2
Thumma/while. Usually translatable as
‘while’, the Arabic particle ‘thumma’ (Tha-Miim-Miim) in its various Quranic uses means while, and, also, moreover, again, then, so, and again, thereupon,
likewise, similarly and so on. In contrast with ‘fa’ or ‘baʿda’
(‘then’ or ‘after’), however, ‘thumma’ functions as a simple conjunction to
link two parallel statements, without suggesting any cause-and-effect
relationship or any time sequence between the two (cf. 2:29, 2:51, 3:111, 5:93,
6:11, 6:154, 7:11, 16:69, 19:70, 25:45, 41:11). It also links two events occurring together simultaneously/ concurrently (‘WHILE He settled to the Heaven, 41:11’; cf. 2:29,
2:187, 57:4; cf. ‘baʿda’ in 79:27-30). Furthermore, sometimes it is used to
signify repetitive stress (e.g. kalla … thumma kalla = Nay …
and again, Nay, 102:3-4). Thus we note how the narration in 41:11
(like 2:29) switches from using ‘thumma’ to using ‘fa’, which implies that they
have dissimilar meanings. As Joseph Islam observes, “The Arabic phrase ‘thumma’ often translated as ‘and’, but’ or ‘then’
does not always imply a sequence. From a Quran’s perspective, this phrase is
also understood to signify ‘parallelism’ or
two events occurring together / simultaneously / concurrently and not necessarily in sequence (or one after the
other). For example in Surah 41:11, we note the phrase “thumma ‘istawa” signifying God’s
instructions to the heavens when it was still smoke, to form. This was not an
action carried out in sequence, or after the creation of mountains on the earth
(41:10), but rather, it was an action in tandem or simultaneously with the
creation of the Earth. Thus ‘thumma’ is
better rendered in such contexts as ‘moreover’ or
signifying a simultaneous action rather
than one in sequence. This phrase is also used to signify repetitive stress as
can be seen in Surah 102.” Here is a detailed study on the meaning of
‘thumma’: Understanding thumma.
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