The Quran

Preface

فَقَضاهُنَّ سَبعَ سَماواتٍ في يَومَينِ وَأَوحىٰ في كُلِّ سَماءٍ أَمرَها ۚ وَزَيَّنَّا السَّماءَ الدُّنيا بِمَصابيحَ وَحِفظًا ۚ ذٰلِكَ تَقديرُ العَزيزِ العَليمِ

Yusuf Ali

So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days,¹ and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it)² with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.

For “Days”, which may include thousands of years, see 7:54, and n. 1031. They refer to stages in the evolution of physical nature. In the Biblical cosmogony, (Gen. 1, and 2:1-7), which reflects old Babylonian cosmogony, the scheme is apparently to be taken literally as to days and is as follows: the first day God created light; the second, the firmament; the third, the earth and vegetation; the fourth, the stars and planets; the fifth, fish and fowl from the sea; and the sixth, cattle, creeping things, beasts on land, and man; on the seventh day He ended His work and rested. Our scheme is wholly different. (1) God did not rest, and never rests. “His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them”; (2) God’s work has not ended; His activity still goes on 32:5; 7:54; (3) man in our scheme does not come in with land animals; his advent is much later; (4) our stages are not sharply divided from each other, as in the above scheme, where the stars and planets having been created on the fourth day, it is not intelligible how the first three days were counted, nor how vegetation grew on the third day. Our stages for earth and heavens are not in sequence of time for the heavens and the earth. Our six stages are broadly speaking, (1) the throwing off of our planet from cosmic matter; (2) its cooling and condensing; (3) and (4) the growth of vegetable and animal life; (5) and (6) the parallel growth of the starry realm and our solar system.
Cf. 15:17, and n. 1951; also 37:6-9. The transition from the third person (“He completed,” etc.) to the first person (“We adorned.”etc.) may be noted. The act of creation is an impersonal act: the act of adornment and guarding is a personal favour to God’s creatures.