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Fatwa CenterThe six days in which Allaah created the heavens and the earth are not like our days
Question
i just want to know that ALLAH almighty says in Quran that he created the world in 6 days. usually we know that one day is counted when earth moves round on its own circle once. With due respect i ask for the explanation how would we count 6 days before the creation of earth. Allah pardon us.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Allaah, The Exalted, informed us that He created the heavens and the earth in six days, and He mentioned this many times in the Quran.
The fact that these days are not days like our days is stated by a group of the scholars of Tafseer (interpretation of the Quran). Al-Qurtubi 
said in his interpretation of the word ‘days’ in the verse {in six days}: “It means from the days of the Hereafter, meaning that every day equals a thousand years; this is to illustrate the greatness of the creation of the heavens and the earth. . . and Allaah mentioned this period but had He willed for it to be created in one single moment, He would have done so as He is able to tell the earth ‘be’, and it becomes. However, Allaah wanted to teach His servants to be deliberate and careful when doing things. . . another wisdom behind creating it in six days is that everything has an appointed term.” [End of quote]
Shaykh Al-Qaradhaawi said in Hady Al-Islam: “Perhaps these days are six phases and periods and it is only Allaah who knows their duration; each day is defined by the work achieved in it; or it means six astronomical cycles which we do not know, which are other than our days that are related to the solar cycle; or it means six phases that had passed on these creatures. All of this is possible, and the Arabic language may refer this, and the religion does not prevent it.” [End of quote]
Sayyid Qutb says in his interpretation of Surah Al-Furqan [Quran 25]: “The days of Allaah during which He created the heavens and the earth are definitely not our days on earth. Our days are a shadow of the solar system, and a measure of an astronomical cycle which existed after the creation of the heavens and the earth, which is measured by the duration of the rotation of the earth around itself in front of the sun. . . Perhaps these six days are of the days of Allaah which no one knows their extent but Him, but they witnessed the completion of spaced out phases in the heavens and the earth until they ended up in their current state.” [End of quote]
For more benefit about the wisdom behind Allaah creating the heavens and the earth in six days, please refer to Fatwa 91403.
Allaah Knows best.
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