What was Created First - the Heavens or the Earth?
Brief description of the dubiety
Some Quranic verses mention the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the contents of these verses differ. According to some of these verses such as Surah al-Baqarah, verse 29, and Surah Fussilat, verse 10, the heavens were created after the earth; but according to other verses in the Holy Quran, namely Surah al-Naziat, verses 27-30, the heavens were created first and then the earth was created. Such a concept is impossible as something cannot be first and last at the same time. Therefore, these verses appear to be contradictory.
Detailed description of the dubiety
Contradictory Verses
Verses in which the creation of the earth is mentioned before the creation of the heavens
In verse 29 of Surah al-Baqarah, Allah says: “It is He who created for you all that is in the earth, then He turned to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens, and He has knowledge of all things.” In this verse, it says that Allah first created the earth, and then turned his attention to the heavens. Similarly, there are also other verses, such as in Surah Fussilat, verses 10-11 which say: “He set in it firm mountains, rising above it, blessed it, and ordained in it, in four days, [various] means of sustenance, equally for all seekers. Then He turned to the heaven, and it was smoke, and He said to it and to the earth, ‘Come, willingly or unwillingly!’ They said, ‘We come obediently.’”
Verses in which the creation of the heavens is mentioned before the creation of the earth
It is cited in verses 27-30 of Surah al-Naziat as follows: “Is your creation more prodigious or that of the heaven that He has built? He raised its vault and fashioned it, and darkened its night, and brought forth its forenoon. Thereafter He spread out the earth.” In these verses, we notice that the creation of the earth has been mentioned after the creation of the heavens.
Summary
According to the verses of Surah al-Baqarah and Surah Fussilat, after Allah created everything on the earth for mankind, He then created the heavens; but according to the verses in Surah al-Naziat, after creating the heavens and establishing the night and day, Allah created the earth. Both of these situations cannot be possible because either the heavens or the earth was created first and the other one after it. Therefore, the fact that the heavens and the earth were both created first seems to be contradictory.
A summarized response
Since the verses in Surah al-Naziat mention the order of creation clearly and it says that the heavens were created prior to the earth, one must consider the creation of the heavens prior to the creation of the earth. However the other group of verses do not mention the actual order of creation clearly, or what came first, but rather, Allah just lists the various divine virtues.
A detailed response
Listing in order and listing out of order
The word «ثُمّ» denotes delay, meaning that the word following it is delayed in regard to the word prior to it, but there are many definitions in the dictionaries which say that «ثُمّ» gives the same meaning as ‘and’ and it does not denote delay. In other words, it lists something out of order, one by one, and not necessarily in a specific order or that one occurs after the other. In the dictionary Misbah al-Munir, it refers to this definition of «ثُمّ» and also gives an example as follows: «و اللّهِ ثُمَّ و اللّهِ لَأفعلَنَّ» which translates to: “By Allah, I swear by Allah that I will do this.” [1] In the Arabic grammar books, the definition of «ثُمّ» has been taken to relay emphasis; and the following example has been given: «أَعْجَبَنِي ما صَنَعْتَ اليومَ ثُمَّ ما صَنَعْتَ أَمْسِ أَعْجَبُ» which translates to: “I am surprised at what you did today but I am even more surprised at what you did yesterday.” [2] Therefore, in summary, we deduce that the word «ثُمّ» does not necessarily only mean after.
In taarud (contradiction), whichever appears to be more clearer is chosen
One of the rules of usool (principles of jurisprudence) is that when the scholars notice that all of the texts have taarud(contradiction), they refer to the one which has the clearer statement. For example, one day a boss says to his worker: “Paint this wall from the ceiling to the floor.” Another time he says: “Start painting this wall from the floor and stop at the ceiling.” At first glance, it looks like these two statements are contradictory because one is saying to paint from the top to the bottom, while the other is saying to paint from bottom to top; however, the content of the second statement is much clearer since the first statement merely mentions what requires painting. The initial statement did not clearly explain in what direction to paint. As a result, the worker acts upon the second statement which defines without a doubt in which direction to paint - and he sees the first statement as just an instruction as to which wall he needs to paint. At first, the worker may have found these statements to be contradictory, but since there was more clarity in one of the statements over the other one, he choose to act upon that one over the unclear one.
Conclusion
The heavens were created before the earth
With due attention to these two introductions, one can understand that the above mentioned verses are compatible with one another. We can only say that they are contradictory if all of these verses were listing the order of creation clearly, then they would not have been compatible with each other in any way. However the text of verse 30 in Surah al-Naziat mentions the phrase «بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ» which means that this verse was listing the things created in order; whereas the word «ثمّ» that is used in Surah al-Baqarah and Surah Fussilat means that the verses are not necessarily listing the creations in order, but rather, it sometimes gives the meaning of the word ‘and.’ In conclusion, the contents of the verses of Surah al-Naziat which mention the order of creation are given preference, and the verses of Surah al-Baqarah which contain the word «ثمّ» do not list an exact order of the creation. Therefore, in Surah al-Baqarah, when Allah says that He first created everything on earth and then the skies, He was merely listing what He has created, and the word«ثمّ» has been used in the place of ‘and.’ In Surah al-Naziat Allah mentions that He created the heavens and established the night and the day, and then He created the earth - He was listing an exact order of creation. [3]
Common example
Let us take an example about hunting rules to make our discussion above clearer. The law in one place states: “Only people who have proper licences can hunt;” whereas elsewhere it says: “Hunting is prohibited in the spring, but it is allowed in all other seasons.” It is possible that a question would come to mind that are people without licences allowed to hunt after the spring? With a bit of thought, it becomes clear that this is not the case because the first statement already specified that one cannot hunt without a valid hunting license - whether it is in the spring or not, although there is no such clarification in the second sentence. It is the same regarding the creation of the heavens and the earth. Since «ثمّ» can both denote listing in order and out of order; but the phrase «بعد ذلک» only denotes listing in a specified order, therefore the verse, “Thereafter He spread out the earth,” means that the heavens were created prior to the earth.