for the eternity of anything in the world. Rather, their arguments indicate only the eternity of action as a kind, and that the agent has always been acting, or that his action has always had a duration, or that matter has always had underlying matter. None of their proofs establishes the eternity of the celestial sphere, of any of its motions, or of time as the measure of the celestial sphere’s motion. The messengers declared that the celestial spheres were created, as was the time that measures their motion, while also declaring that they were created from previously existing matter and in a time preceding this time.
For He, glorified be He, has stated that He created the heavens and the earth in six days. Whether those days are said to have been equal in length to these days measured by sunrise and sunset, or longer—as some have said, each day lasting a thousand years—there is no doubt that the days in which the heavens and the earth were created were different from these days, and from the time that measures the motion of these celestial spheres. Those days were measured by the motion of bodies that existed before the creation of the heavens and the earth. He, glorified be He, has also stated:
“He turned to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, ‘Come, willingly or unwillingly.’ They said, ‘We come willingly.’”
It was thus created from smoke. Reports from the early generations state that it was created from water vapour—the water upon which the Throne rested, mentioned in His words:
“It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and His Throne was upon the water.”
He has thus stated that He created the heavens and the earth over a period of time and from matter. The Quran does not mention the creation of anything