Tafsir Ayat Khalq al-Ard wa al-Samawat - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ‘Ālam al-Fawā’id lil-Nashr wal-Tawzī‘
Tafsir Ayat Khalq al-Ard wa al-Samawat (Exegesis of the Verses on the Creation of the Earth and the Heavens) is an exegetical treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE) examining the Quranic verses concerning the sequence of the creation of the heavens and the earth .
Subject and Scope
The treatise is dedicated to resolving the apparent contradiction between verses that touch upon whether the creation of the earth preceded that of the heavens or vice versa . In particular, it addresses the statement in Surah al-Nazi'at (79:30): وَالْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا ("And the earth after that He spread out"), which gives the impression that the heavens were created before the earth, alongside Surah al-Baqarah (2:29): هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ("He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth, then He turned to the heaven and fashioned them into seven heavens"), and Surah Fussilat (41:9–11), both of which indicate that the creation of the earth took place first .
The issue is linked to the historical inquiry recorded by al-Bukhari via Sa'id ibn Jubayr, wherein a man questioned Ibn Abbas regarding seemingly conflicting passages in Surahs Fussilat and al-Nazi'at; Ibn Abbas explained that God created the earth in two days, then turned toward the heaven and fashioned it in two other days, and subsequently spread out (daha) the earth by bringing forth its water and pastures and creating mountains and hills .
Manuscript and Publication
The work was preserved in an autograph manuscript comprising three folios, with approximately eighteen lines per page . In the original draft, al-Muallimi wrote the relevant verses from al-Baqarah, Fussilat, and al-Nazi'at in large script, leaving single lines or small gaps below them; as he began his exposition and ran out of space, he continued his commentary across the top, bottom, and side margins until the entire leaf was covered .
The manuscript was recovered and photographed on 24 Jumada al-Ula 1433 AH under number 4925 . It is published as the fourteenth treatise within the exegesis volume (Majmu' Rasa'il al-Tafsir, volume seven) of the collected works edition Athar al-Mu'allimi .
Answer updated