was indeed so. The position of those who affirm this entails that the Throne was created first, and that is precisely what happened—all praise belongs to Allah. If it does not entail this sequence, then this argument fails. Thus, it fails on either supposition.

As for his statement, “But it is known that the creation of the heavens preceded the creation of the Throne,” the answer is that no one, whether among earlier or later generations, has ever known this, nor has anyone recognized for knowledge ever said it.

As for his citing Allah’s words as evidence that the heavens were created first:

“Indeed, your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne.” [al-Aʿrāf 54]

—and the word “then” denotes succession with an interval—all that is mentioned here is that He rose over the Throne after creating the heavens and the earth. How, then, can His words, “Then rose over the Throne” [al-Aʿrāf 54], be equated with “Then created the Throne”? This distinction is plain to everyone. Nothing in Allah’s Book even suggests that the Throne was created later, let alone establishes it. Thus, the Quran provides no evidence that the heavens were created before the Throne.

The second response: The Quran indicates that the Throne was created before the heavens and the earth, both in this verse that he cited and elsewhere. For