Umar Quinn

[Why Did Allāh Create the Heavens and the Earth in Six Days?] He could have created them in an instant: ﴿إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ﴾. The scholars have given profound reasons for why He created them in stages: • To show the angels and subsequent creatures a marvel each creation day. Each day brought something the angels and every witness would find momentous, moving them to praise and thank Him.¹ • To honor Ādam and his descendants. Preparing their home with such care before they existed raised Ādam's standing in the angels' eyes.² • To display His wisdom alongside His power. Creating instantly shows power, and building step by step shows wisdom. "Be, and it is" shows the first, and the six days show the second.³ • To teach us deliberateness. If the One who never errs proceeds deliberately, the one prone to error has all the more reason to.⁴ • To encourage patience at every stage. Gradual creation is a lesson for those who reflect and an invitation to take our time in every matter.⁵ • To test who does the best work, not the most. ﴿لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا﴾ He said "best," not "most." What counts is mastery and completion, not quantity.⁶ • To encourage mastery. «إنَّ اللهَ يحبُّ إذا عملَ أحدُكم عملًا أن يُتقنَه» "Allah loves that when one of you does a piece of work, he does it with mastery."⁷ • To contrast divine deliberateness against satanic haste. «التأنِّي من الله، والعجلةُ من الشيطان» "Deliberateness is from Allah, and haste is from Satan." Haste is seeking a thing before its time, and it comes from desire.⁸ • To rule out chance. Creating one thing after another makes it harder to imagine creation happened by itself.⁹ • To show that everything has its appointed time. This is also why He does not rush to punish the sinful. ﴿وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَمَا مَسَّنَا مِنْ لُغُوبٍ ۝ فَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَقُولُونَ﴾.¹⁰ {And We created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days, and no weariness touched Us. So be patient over what they say.} (Qāf 50:38–39) summarized from: Returning to Eden, Thaqafa Press. —————— ¹ Ibn al-Anbārī, in al-Wāḥidī, al-Wasīṭ 2/375; Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-Masīr 2/127. ² Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-Masīr 2/128. ³ Ibid.; al-Khāzin, Lubāb al-Taʾwīl. ⁴ Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, in al-Thaʿlabī, al-Kashf wa-l-Bayān 12/364–365, and al-Baghawī, Maʿālim al-Tanzīl 3/235; Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-Masīr 2/128; al-Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr 3/345. ⁵ Al-Bayḍāwī, Anwār al-Tanzīl 3/16; Abū al-Suʿūd, Irshād al-ʿAql al-Salīm 4/118. ⁶ Ibn Bāz, Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa-Maqālāt 28/100–103. ⁷ Abū Yaʿlā 4386; al-Ṭabarānī, al-Kabīr 24/306; ṣaḥīḥ per al-Albānī; with al-Munāwī, al-Taysīr 1/269. ⁸ Abū Yaʿlā 7/247; ḥasan per al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb 1572; al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, p. 548. ⁹ Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-Masīr 2/128. ¹⁰ Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān 7/219; Qāf 50:38–39.