2.16 Al-Baqarah: The Wisdom of Creating the Earth Before the Heaven, Then Spreading Out the Earth

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

All praise is due to Allah, the Most High, the Most Great. May blessings be upon our Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ, and may Allah be pleased with all of the Companions.

Today we are sharing a topic: a brief analysis of the wisdom contained in the Creator’s creating the earth first, then the heaven, and then spreading out the earth.

The Creation of All Things Is in Truth, Wisdom, and Guidance

The Creator of all worlds created all things with His truth, wisdom, and guidance for creation; all of them are among His signs. In Sūrat al-Ḥijr, verse 85, our Lord tells us: I created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them only in truth:

{وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِلاَّ بِالْحَقِّ وَإِنَّ السَّاعَةَ لآتِيَةٌ فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيل}[الحجر:85]

15:85 We have not created the heavens and the earth and everything in between except for a purpose. And the Hour is certain to come, so forgive graciously.

Our Lord says: “We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them except in truth...” Here the word بِالْحَقِّ (bil-ḥaqq), “in truth,” is used to show that all things were created in truth.

In Sūrat Ṣād, verse 27, our Lord tells us: I did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in vain:

{وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاء وَالأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا بَاطِلاً ذَلِكَ ظَنُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنَ النَّار}[ص:27]

38:27 We have not created the heavens and earth and everything in between without purpose—as the disbelievers think. So woe to the disbelievers because of the Fire!

“We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in vain” means that He did not create them pointlessly. The word بَاطِلاً (bāṭilan, “in vain” / “falsely”) is the opposite of الْحَقّ (al-ḥaqq, “truth”). These two verses, from both angles, emphasize that the Lord’s creation of the heavens and the earth contains His truth, wisdom, and profound meaning.

In Sūrat al-Dukhān, verses 38 and 39, He also tells us:

{وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لاَعِبِين}[الدخان:38]

44:38 We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything in between for sport.

{مَا خَلَقْنَاهُمَا إِلاَّ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُون}[الدخان:39]

44:39 We only created them for a purpose, but most of these ˹pagans˺ do not know.

Through the Book our Lord has given us, we must come to know the signs, and through these signs we must come to know that within them is the truth with which our Lord created the heaven and the earth. He did not create in vain, nor did He create in play. At the same time, through verse 29 of Sūrat al-Baqarah, we can learn that our Lord created the earth first and then the heaven. We must seek to understand the wisdom in this so that we may receive guidance. Whatever is mentioned in the Qur’an, we must read carefully for the meanings it contains. We must know the truth contained in these signs of our Lord so that we may receive admonition and worship Him better, offering praise and gratitude.

He Created What Is on the Earth for You, Then Turned to the Heaven

In verse 29 of Sūrat al-Baqarah, our Lord says: He is the One who created for you all that is on the earth:

{هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الأَرْضِ جَمِيعاً ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاء فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيم}[البقرة:29]

2:29 He is the One Who created everything in the earth for you. Then He turned towards the heaven, forming it into seven heavens. And He has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things.

The phrase, “He is the One who created for you all that is on the earth,” is explained by scholars as meaning that our Lord created the earth before the heaven. When He began creating the earth, smoke rose from it. Then Allah said that He turned to the heaven and created it, and at that time it was still smoke. This is mentioned in verse 11 of Sūrat Fuṣṣilat:

{ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاء وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلأَرْضِ اِئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِين}[فصلت:11]

41:11 Then He turned towards the heaven when it was ˹still like˺ smoke, saying to it and to the earth, ‘Submit, willingly or unwillingly.’ They both responded, ‘We submit willingly.’

Then He says that He made them into seven ordered heavens. When scholars explain this verse, they say it means that one heaven is above another heaven, and likewise the seven earths means that one earth is beneath another. These verses clearly prove that our Lord created the earth first and then the heaven. We must understand the wisdom in our Lord’s creating the earth first and then the heaven. Through these acts of creation, we have been charged with the duty of knowing our Lord. We must worship Him and do good deeds. Therefore, in the verses, our Lord mentions every created thing as a source of guidance for us. We should seek His blessings, receive guidance, and offer praise and gratitude.

The Signs of the Lord and Recognition of His Essence

First, we must know that all things our Lord created are His signs. Through the creation of all things, we must come to know the Lord through His signs. Our Lord Himself describes Himself as possessing an Essence—الذات (al-dhāt, the Essence). Nothing among created things resembles Him. He also possesses many attributes, virtues, and Most Beautiful Names that belong to Him, and these too are part of His own self-description. He creates signs for all of them.

We must first know that our Lord possesses His Essence, because before all the worlds were created, and after all the worlds are destroyed by our Lord, only He remains. That is His الذات (al-dhāt), His Essence. So first, through the signs, we must know and understand that our Lord possesses His Essence. In verse 11 of Sūrat al-Shūrā, He tells us: nothing is like unto Him:

{فَاطِرُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَمِنَ الأَنْعَامِ أَزْوَاجًا يَذْرَؤُكُمْ فِيهِ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِير}[الشورى:11]

42:11 ˹He is˺ the Originator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you spouses from among yourselves, and ˹made˺ mates for cattle ˹as well˺—multiplying you ˹both˺. There is nothing like Him, for He ˹alone˺ is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.

Of course, He creates a kind of existence that has resemblance as a proof, so that what has resemblance may be negated. In the verse about nothing being like Him, the original wording uses لَيْسَ (laysa), which carries the meaning of negation. Whoever is granted this blessing can arrive at a certain recognition: that the Creator exists, and that any created thing that appears to meet our needs must be negated as resembling Him. These created things are not like Him.

Moreover, man is created in the material world, bound up with space, time, and various categories. In the material world there are also various chains of cause and effect. We also have desires. And from this we can further recognize that One Existence—the One of whom nothing is like Him, the One who possesses His Essence—is not subject to time, space, categories, cause and effect, or desire. Through the material world, this testimony can also be made.

Because all things are signs of the Lord, He willed that man should become one of His important signs bearing witness that He possesses His Essence. Therefore, He guides mankind and sends prophets and messengers, and through those specially chosen servants, He guides humanity so that they may know that this world has an end, and that after the end there will be resurrection. These two are also signs. Thus, in Sūrat al-Ḥijr, after speaking of creating all things in truth, our Lord says that the Day of Resurrection is certainly coming—surely coming—so that we may be certain of resurrection.

Because when a person believes in the Last Day and in resurrection, he truly comes to know that the Lord possesses His Essence. These two signs bear witness to that. When mankind believes in the Last Day and resurrection, and knows that these two signs prove that the Lord possesses His Essence, then such a person will not compare the existence of created things to the Creator, but will know that all things are His signs.

Human Need and the Testimony to Divine Lordship

Because human beings are created with desires, and bodily desires are especially evident, people often first come to know the Lord through His Lordship and nurturing care. Once we know that our Lord possesses His Essence and that nothing created may be compared to Him, then we truly bear witness to the uniqueness of His Lordship. This too is among the wisdoms in why our Lord created us with this body and with strong bodily desires.

In creating this body, our Lord also granted us a blessing through which we bear witness: the Creator chose man to be a sign, and He created for us a very fragile body. This body needs shade, needs covering, needs the satisfaction of hunger, and for the continuation of life also needs the satisfaction of sexual desire. This fragile body discovers that sometimes life is easy, or somewhat easy, and sometimes it is difficult. The Creator also made all kinds of natural disasters and human-caused calamities. Then man discovers that, in disaster and hardship, he continually calls upon the Lord who created us to grant us ease and blessing.

When mankind knows that the Creator possesses His Essence and does not associate partners with Him in His Lordship, then he will continuously call upon Him, asking Him to remove calamity and grant blessing. At that moment, man becomes a witness to another characteristic by which the Lord describes Himself. Concerning His Essence, He describes Himself in this way: eyes do not perceive Him, but He perceives all eyes.

From verse 103 of Sūrat al-Anʿām we learn:

{لاَّ تُدْرِكُهُ الأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِير}[الأنعام:103]

6:103 No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision. For He is the Most Subtle, All-Aware.

When a person directly calls upon Him, he comes to know that although we do not see Him, He sees us, hears our call to Him, and can fulfill what we ask. Precisely because man is created in a material body, he has needs. Placed upon the earth to seek blessings and receive the Lord’s guidance, we do not only bear witness that there is a Creator; we must also bear witness that He possesses His Essence, and that His Lordly attributes cannot be shared with any other. So we call upon Him alone, rely upon Him alone, and bear witness: nothing is like unto Him. We bear witness: eyes do not perceive Him, but He perceives all eyes. With this testimony, our Lord first created the earth—this concrete earth—for although man was created much later, man was to become an inhabitant of this earth.

The Heaven, the Angels, and the Sign of Divine Speech

Now we read that He created the heaven afterward. When the heaven is mentioned, there are also the angels of heaven. Yet ordinarily we understand the concept of heaven only through what we see with our physical eyes. In verse 12 of Sūrat Fuṣṣilat, our Lord says: He created the seven heavens in two days, and revealed by His command to each heaven its affair and its inhabitants:

{فَقَضَاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَأَوْحَى فِي كُلِّ سَمَاء أَمْرَهَا وَزَيَّنَّا السَّمَاء الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَحِفْظًا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيم}[فصلت:12]

41:12 So He formed the heaven into seven heavens in two Days, assigning to each its mandate. And We adorned the lowest heaven with ˹stars like˺ lamps ˹for beauty˺ and for protection. That is the design of the Almighty, All-Knowing.”

The verse says that He created the seven heavens in two days, and that He revealed to each heaven its command. Here, the expression indicates the inhabitants of each heaven, and it says that He revealed to them; only afterward does it say that He adorned the lowest heaven with stars and protected it. The lowest heaven is what we see: the stars, the moon, and the like. So when reading the concept of heaven, we must certainly also read of the inhabitants of heaven—the angels—if we are to truly understand what the heaven signifies.

The angels were created as spiritual beings, and they were directly created with the blessing of being able to receive the Lord’s speech addressed to them. There is a great angel called the Holy Spirit, who brought down the revealed Book to humanity. Thus they become a proof, firmly affirming that the Lord possesses one of His own characteristics: that He possesses speech. And precisely because the angels were created to directly follow the Lord’s command and submit to His will, they know that the Lord possesses a completely transcendent, incomparable, and absolutely free will and command. In this way, the angels can bear these testimonies.

The signs of all the worlds must first bear witness that the Lord possesses His Essence, and among His creation He places signs accordingly. For example, human beings bear witness to the attributes and qualities connected to His Essence. Then, next, they must bear witness to what He Himself possesses and how He governs the world of creation. So after that, the second thing we must know is that He possesses His own speech, and within His speech are His command and will. The angels, as a special creation, bear this witness and thus become the inhabitants of heaven, because the angels directly hear the Lord’s speech, directly carry out His command and will, and become the executors of it.

Because the Lord’s speech is holy, and because His command and will are perfect and transcendent, with no defect whatsoever connected to Him, therefore He possesses His own Spirit, and the Rūḥ (Rūḥ, spirit) is holy. As for the angels, because they possess perfect created characteristics and do not err, they become signs of the Lord’s own holiness, transcendence, and freedom from all defect, and they bear witness to this. Thus that great angel, روح القدس (Rūḥ al-Qudus, the Holy Spirit), is directly called by our Lord the holy angel, because he is to become a sign of the Lord’s holy Spirit.

Human Beings, Revelation, and the Ascent of the Soul

Of course, man is specially chosen. Once a human being bears witness that the Lord possesses His Essence, he too can receive guidance, accept the instruction contained in the Lord’s speech, follow the command within His speech, submit to His will, and carry out righteous deeds. For example, among His commands are how we are to worship Him, as well as the standards of lawful and unlawful, truth and falsehood, good and evil, and what is contained in His will. We must seek a good ending, follow His speech in action, and receive its instruction. In this way, the spiritual content within us can be elevated and reach the kind of holy quality possessed by the great angel Jibrīl in the seven heavens.

If a person does not regulate his life according to the commands and will contained in His speech, then he cannot receive instruction, cannot elevate the soul, and that nafs (nafs, self / soul-nature / human النفس) cannot become a good nafs, nor attain the state of the tranquil soul. How can one attain the holy spiritual state of rūḥ (rūḥ, spirit) that the Lord has granted human beings the possibility of reaching? Of course, one cannot attain this state, and therefore cannot truly bear witness that the Lord reveals to His servants. For when the holy quality of a person’s own rūḥ becomes manifest, the Lord will directly inspire him. Then he not only knows, through the speech brought by the prophets and messengers, that the Lord possesses the characteristic of speech; he himself may also receive direct inspiration from the Lord.

Not only through revelation does he come to know that the Lord possesses the characteristic of speech. When a person’s soul is elevated, there are servants of the Lord whose souls have reached the state of tranquility and whose holy spirit can become a sign of the Lord’s holy attribute. When such people make supplication, the Lord accepts their supplication. Anyone who keeps away from sin has one basic characteristic: his supplication is accepted. So when supplication is accepted, who is it that answers his supplication? It is the One who possesses speech, the Governor of all worlds, who answers his supplication. The Lord grants him a good outcome. Such a person himself becomes a witness that the Lord truly possesses speech, and that it cannot be shared with any other.

The Lord of all worlds, the Owner of Sovereignty, guides mankind by His speech, enabling them through His speech to elevate their souls and attain holiness, becoming His signs. He is the Holy Lord, and His will and command cannot be resisted. He is the King, the King of kings, the Lord of the Day of Recompense. Of course, only when a person bears witness that all the worlds will perish and then be resurrected will he truly bear witness to the Lord of the Day of Recompense, the One who Himself possesses this unique sovereignty and governance. When human beings regulate their words and deeds by His speech, then in the Hereafter, on the Day of Recompense, when they receive the record of their deeds, if they have followed the speech of the One who governs all things, they may receive their record in their right hand—and that will itself be a testimony.

Why the Earth Was Created First and the Heaven Afterward

In Sūrat Ṣād, our Lord says that He did not create the heavens and the earth in vain, not بَاطِلاً (bāṭilan), not with falsehood or emptiness in it. So when a human being reads this sign and receives guidance, we must cultivate our spirituality, cultivate our nafs, elevate the soul, and attain holy qualities through receiving the instruction of truth from the Lord’s speech. Only then can we reach the point of bearing witness that the Lord Himself possesses His holy Spirit. Everything created—human beings and angels alike—are only His signs, and no partners are associated with Him.

Of course, this also proceeds in stages. First, one must bear witness that He possesses His Essence. To believe firmly in resurrection is itself to bear witness that the Lord possesses His Essence. So this is step by step. This too is one of the wisdoms in why the Lord first created the earth and then the heaven.

Then He Spread Out the Earth

Now we must also read another of the Lord’s signs: He created the earth first, then the heaven, and then He spread out the earth. For scholars, when explaining verse 29 of Sūrat al-Baqarah, say that the Lord first created the heaven after the earth and then spread out the earth. They explain this with verses 30 to 32 of Sūrat al-Nāziʿāt:

{وَالأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا}[النازعات:30]

79:30 As for the earth, He spread it out as well,

{أَخْرَجَ مِنْهَا مَاءهَا وَمَرْعَاهَا}[النازعات:31]

79:31 bringing forth its water and pastures

{وَالْجِبَالَ أَرْسَاهَا}[النازعات:32]

79:32 and setting the mountains firmly ˹upon it˺—

When scholars explain these verses, they say that by a power He brought out what had been hidden within the earth. After the forms of all that is on the earth were completed, Allah began to create the heaven, and after that He spread out the earth. In verse 22 of Sūrat al-Baqarah, we also learn: He made the earth a resting place for you:

{الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الأَرْضَ فِرَاشاً وَالسَّمَاء بِنَاء وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقاً لَّكُمْ فَلاَ تَجْعَلُواْ لِلّهِ أَندَاداً وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُون}[البقرة:22]

2:22 ˹He is the One˺ Who has made the earth a place of settlement for you and the sky a canopy; and sends down rain from the sky, causing fruits to grow as a provision for you. So do not knowingly set up equals to Allah ˹in worship˺.

Our Lord says: “He made the earth a resting place for you.” What kind of sign is this blessing, that our Lord spread out the earth for us? What kind of testimony does He want us to give through it? Let us connect this with what our Lord says in Sūrat al-Dukhān: that He did not create the heavens and the earth in play. This shows that man was created upon this earth, and our Lord gave us everything and spread out the earth for us, because man has an important task to do: to worship the Lord. For the Lord of all worlds, the Owner of Sovereignty, also has another important attribute: He is the One worthy of worship—الله (Allāh), the true God. How does this become a sign through which human beings bear witness? It is through worshipping Him. We become the sign that He possesses the attribute of being the One worthy of worship. And He is the only God worthy of worship, so we must worship Him through His religion.

Worship Upon the Earth He Made Easy for Us

In the verse just before “He made the earth a resting place for you,” our Lord tells us:

{يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُواْ رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُون}[البقرة:21]

2:21 O humanity! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you, so that you may become mindful ˹of Him˺.

Here it is stated that He wants us to worship Him. And in that same verse that says “He made the earth a resting place for you,” He also tells us: “So do not set up rivals to Allah while you know.” So we are not only to worship Him, but also not to associate any partners with Him. He is the only One worthy of worship—Allāh, the true God.

How are we to worship Him? He Himself chose for us the religion He is pleased with, containing such acts as testimony, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. He spread out the earth for us and gave us tasks and work to do: to worship Him. Our Lord made the earth into a state suitable for our survival. If He had not made it spread out and suitable for our lives, then people would remain constantly preoccupied with pursuing material means for survival. But He made these matters easy for us, so that after satisfying these needs, we would still worship Him, dedicating specific time to His worship, becoming a sign and bearing witness that He possesses the attribute of being worshipped.

So if a person gains material wealth easily and then immediately turns to amusement and entertainment, seeking only the fleeting enjoyment of this world while neglecting the worship of the Lord—and some have not even accepted this instruction at all—then such people are ungrateful for blessings.

Only when a person truly worships the Lord and does not associate partners with Him can he truly know Him. Whatever created being in all creation may become a sign of the Lord through possessing good attributes, virtues, and qualities, it is not to be worshipped; it is only His sign. For in the religion our Lord has given us, there is الدين (al-dīn, religion / way / recompense), and within الدين is also recompense. We worship Him, and He grants us His reward. He not only allows us to enter Paradise and fulfill our human nature there; He can also allow us to see Him. So although the Lord Himself, in His Essence, is unlike anything in creation, yet He possesses attributes, virtues, and Beautiful Names, and He may allow those who worship Him to see Him. By worshipping Him in this world, we bear this testimony.

Final Reflection

So our Lord created in truth: He created the earth, then the heaven, and then spread out the earth. He intended all of this to become His signs, and for human beings to bear witness through them. We bear witness that He possesses His Essence, so He created the earth first, because nothing is like unto Him. Then He created the heaven so that people might bear witness that He possesses His own holy speech, and He sent His speech down from heaven to humanity. Then He spread out the earth so that people might easily seek what they need for survival, making it easier for them to spend time worshipping Him. All of these are so that people may also bear witness that the Lord possesses His Essence and His many attributes and virtues, and so that we may firmly believe in meeting our Lord and, in the Hereafter, seeing Him.

That is all for today’s sharing. If there was any misstatement or any explanation that was unclear, we ask Allah, the Most High and Most Great, to forgive us. Dear readers, please excuse any shortcomings. Thank you all for sharing.

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

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