Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:7
And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and His Throne had been upon water - that He might test you as to which of you is best in deed. But if you say, "Indeed, you are resurrected after death," those who disbelieve will surely say, "This is not but obvious magic."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلا وَلَئِنْ قُلْتَ إِنَّكُمْ مَبْعُوثُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِ الْمَوْتِ لَيَقُولَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ (7) (And He is the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days, while His Throne was upon the water — that He might test you, which of you is best in deed. And if you say: Truly, you will be raised up after death, the disbelievers will surely say: This is nothing but manifest sorcery.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says here: Allah, to Whom you will all return, O people. وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ — that is to say: is He Who created this out of nothing not able to bring you to life again after He has caused you to die?
It has also been said that Allah the Exalted created the heavens, the earth, and everything in them in the six days; and that in this passage the mention of the creation of the heavens and the earth suffices in place of the mention of the creation of everything that is in them.
17971. Al-Qāsim related to us: Al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ismāʿīl ibn Umayya informed me, on the authority of Ayyūb ibn Khālid, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rāfiʿ, freedman of Umm Salama, on the authority of Abū Hurayra: The Prophet ﷺ took my hand and said: Allah created the soil on Saturday, created the mountains therein on Sunday, created the trees therein on Monday, created the disagreeable on Tuesday, created the light on Wednesday, scattered therein every creeping creature on Thursday, and created Ādam after the afternoon prayer on Friday — as the last of the creation, in the final hours of Friday, in the time between the afternoon prayer and the night.
17972. Al-Qāsim related to us: Al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning the words: فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ — he said: the creation of the earth began in two days, and its means of provision were determined therein in two days.
17973. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Kaʿb, who said: Allah began the creation of the heavens and the earth on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and completed it on Friday; then He created Ādam in the last hour of Friday. He said: for each day He appointed a span of a thousand years.
17974. I was informed concerning al-Musayyab ibn Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning the words: وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ — he said: of the days of the Hereafter, each day has a duration of a thousand years. He began the creation on Sunday and completed the creation on Friday — and that is why it is called "Friday" (al-jumʿa); and on Saturday He rested and created nothing.
وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — that is to say: His Throne was upon the water before He created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. As:
17975. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words of Allah: وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — before He had created anything.
17976. Al-Muthanná related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
17977. Al-Muthanná related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
17978. Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the words: وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — your blessed and exalted Lord informs you how the beginning of His creation was before He created the heavens and the earth.
17979. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the words: وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — he said: this is the beginning of His creation before He created the heaven and the earth.
17980. Al-Muthanná related to me: Al-Ḥajjāj related to us: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Wakīʿ ibn Ḥudus, on the authority of his uncle Abū Razīn al-ʿAqīlī, who said: I asked: O Messenger of Allah, where was our Lord before He created the heavens and the earth? He said: In an ʿamāʾ (a kind of cloud or mist) — above it empty air and below it empty air. Then He created His Throne upon the water.
17981. Ibn Wakīʿ and Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Qaṭṭān al-Rāziqī related to us: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Wakīʿ ibn Ḥudus, on the authority of his uncle Abū Razīn, who said: I asked: O Messenger of Allah, where was our Lord before He created His creation? He said: In an ʿamāʾ — above it empty air and below it empty air; then He created His Throne upon the water.
17982. Khallād ibn Aslam related to us: Al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl informed us: al-Masʿūdī informed us: Jāmiʿ ibn Shaddād informed us, on the authority of Ṣafwān ibn Muḥriz, on the authority of Ibn Ḥuṣayn — who was among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ — who said: Some people came to the Prophet ﷺ, they entered upon him, and he began to give them the glad tidings, but they kept saying: Give to us! — until this grieved the Prophet ﷺ, and they departed. Then others came who said: We have come to greet the Prophet ﷺ, to gain knowledge in religion, and to ask him about the beginning of this matter. He said: Then accept the glad tidings, since those first ones did not accept them! They said: We accept them! The Prophet ﷺ said: Allah was, and there was nothing besides Him; His Throne was upon the water; and He wrote in the Remembrance (al-Dhikr) before all things; then He created seven heavens. Then someone came to me and said: your side-camel has gone off, whereupon I went out and it was a mirage that caused her to be hidden from me; and I wished that I had let her go.
17983. Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr related to us: Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān related to us: ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words: وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — he said: the Throne of Allah was upon the water; then He designated for Himself a garden (janna), then He designated a second one beneath it, then He vaulted them both with a single pearl. He said: وَمِنْ دُونِهِمَا جَنَّتَانِ (Sūrat al-Raḥmān: 62) — and this is that which no soul knows, or: that which no soul knows مَا أُخْفِيَ لَهُمْ مِنْ قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ (Sūrat al-Sajda: 17). He said: and that is the one of which the creatures do not know what is therein — or: what is in them both; every day there comes from her — or: from them both — a gift.
17984. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about the words of Allah: وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — upon what thing did the water rest? He said: Upon the back of the wind.
17985. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about the words: وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ — upon what thing did the water rest? He said: Upon the back of the wind.
17986. Al-Qāsim related to us: Al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — the same.
17987. Al-Ḥusayn related to us: Mubasshar al-Ḥalabī related to us, on the authority of Arṭāt ibn al-Mundhir, who said: I heard Ḍamra say: Truly, the Throne of Allah was upon the water; and He created the heavens and the earth in truth; and He created the pen and wrote with it what He would create and what of His creation would come to be; then that Book praised and glorified Allah for a thousand years before He created anything of the creation.
17988. Al-Muthanná related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: Truly, the Throne was before Allah created the heavens and the earth. Then He took a handful from the surface of the water; then He opened the handful and smoke rose up from it; then He determined them as seven heavens in two days. Then He took a clod of clay from the water and placed it at the site of the House (Ka ʿba); then He spread out the earth from it. Then He created the means of provision in two days, the heavens in two days, and the earth in two days; then He finished with the last of the creation on the seventh day.
لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلا — Allah the Exalted says here: He is the One who created the heavens and the earth, O people, and created you in six days — لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ — that is to say: to test you — أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلا — that is to say: which of you obeys Him best. As:
17989. It was related to us from Dāwūd ibn al-Muḥabbar, who said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Zayd related to us, on the authority of Kulayb ibn Wāʾil, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ: he recited this verse: لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلا and said: Which of you has the most sensible intellect, is most restrained toward that which Allah has declared forbidden, and is swiftest in obeying Allah?
17990. Al-Qāsim related to us: Al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning the words: لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلا — he said: that is to say the two weighty ones (humans and jinn).
وَلَئِنْ قُلْتَ إِنَّكُمْ مَبْعُوثُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِ الْمَوْتِ لَيَقُولَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ — Allah the Exalted says to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: And if you say to these polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people: Truly, you will be raised up alive after your death — and recite to them therewith that which I have sent down and revealed — لَيَقُولَنَّ إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ — that is to say: this which you recite to us is nothing but sorcery to the one who hears it, manifestly evident to the hearer that it is sorcery.
This is according to the reading of the one who reads: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ .
As for the one who reads: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سَاحِرٌ مُبِينٌ — he understands the report about them to mean that they described the Prophet ﷺ as a manifest sorcerer in what he brought them.
Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already explained the correct view concerning the reading of this earlier, in the corresponding cases, in a manner that makes repeating it here unnecessary.
