How authentic is the Hadith mentioned in Tafsir al-Tabari on the authority of Ibn Abbas, which describes the creation of the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, and does this order mentioned in the Hadith contradict modern science?
The hadith: "If Allah intends to create a servant, He gathers dust from beneath his feet" is weak and denounced, and its origin is from the Israʼiliyyat (Jewish traditions). As for the issue of the order of creation of the heavens and the earth, it is a matter of scholarly disagreement; some scholars believe that the earth was created before the heaven, while others hold the opposite view. Some have interpreted the verses that seemingly contradict each other in several ways, including that creation (khalq) means predestination (taqdir), or that the verses do not address chronological order, or that what came later was the spreading forth of the earth (dahw) and not its creation (khalq). It is important to differentiate between changing scientific theories and established facts, and between religious texts and scholars' understanding of them.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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