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qul ʾa-ʾinnakum la-takfurūna bi-lladhī khalaqa l-ʾarḍa fī yawmayni wa-tajʿalūna lahū ʾandādan dhālika rabbu l-ʿālamīna
Say, ‘Do you really disbelieve in Him who created the earth in two days, and ascribe partners to Him? That is the Lord of all the worlds!’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Fussilat - Verse 9
9. Say: “Do you verily disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two days? And you set up rivals [in worship] with Him? That is the Lord of the worlds.
By the creation of the earth in two days, two stages are being intended. Prior to the creation of the earth and the heaven and the emergence of night, day, month, and year, there existed no day so that we say God Almighty created the earth in two days. Divine Omnipotence accompanies His Omniscience and although God Almighty may create the heavens and the earth and whatever exists between them at one time and the recurrent clauses:
indicate the same, but He created the heavens and the earth in several stages which bears testimony to the fact that exercising power requires consideration and expediency and creation was expediently carried out in several stages. The blessed Verse in question is a reproach to mankind in the form of a rhetorical question addressed to the Messenger of God (S) saying: O Muhammad (S) say unto these disbelievers:
“Do you disbelieve and deny God Almighty Who created the earth in two days and set up rivals in worship for him? God Almighty Who created the earth in two days is the Lord of all the worlds. He is Omnipotent over the creation of the earth. He is the Creator of all creatures, since the heaven, the earth, and all the world of existence are inseparable from each other.
Unity of the world bears testimony to Divine Unity since it is evident that all creatures are inseparable from each other like the rings of a chain. Unity in creation indicates the Oneness of Creator since two causes may not affect one effect, hence the blessed Verse thus closes:
The Verse indicates that material beings come into being in time and the One Who created the earth also created all the worlds of existence. The phrase:
apparently demonstrates that had there been day and night, it would have taken two days, since there were neither days nor nights at the time so that creation could be restricted.