As-salam alaykum
I have an illustration of a similar matter that you discuss in your posts above. Please let me know if you note any material divergence of views.
Dear, Joseph Islam
As-salam alaykum,
Thanks for providing your illustration. As you know, there is a slight divergence of views and that is absolutely okay.
Quran 41:11 Then He directed Himself to the
heaven (sam'aa) while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly."
Quran 41:11 does not use a plural for heavens (samawat), rather it uses Sam'aa which is singular. To me, this appears to mean that a
part of the heavens and the Earth came into being together rather than the entirety of the heavens and the Earth came together. Also this interpretation is scientifically supported. The earth was created through accretion (or the coming together) or space gas, dust and dubree (Quran uses the word "smoke") under the force of gravity.
This interpretation also avoids the contradiction where the Quran states that he created the heavens and the earth by spreading them rather than putting them together.
“Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, then We separated them, and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” (Quran 21:30)So it appears that the universe (heavens and earth) was one joined entity, and Allah separated it (big bang) and then made a piece of the heaven and the Earth come together.
So given this I believe the best interpretation is that a piece of the heaven and the Earth came together AFTER Allah determined the length of time he decreed for the earth to form. Allah's decree was that the Earth would form after 4 days. I have broken down the verses in my second post on this thread (for reference).
Please let me know what you think. I'm definately interested in this. It appears that Quran 41:9-12 is worded in a weird way in my perception. In fact many articles (anti Islamic, of course) state that these verses mean that the universe was created in 8 days and not six--which is obviously wrong on close inspection. The parts of this verse were not mentioned in sequential order!!! It is not like Allah created the Earth in two days and
THEN put mountains in 4 days and
THEN created the several universes/heavens... This can be verified linguistically through the usages of 'and' (wa), 'then' (thumma), and 'fa' (so/and).