Our God — Page 77
Logical Arguments for the Existence of God 77 creation of solar days—i. e. an age, epoch, or time. Thus, not only the Arabic lexicon but also the context of the verse proves that ‘ yaum ’ here does not mean the commonly known day, but an age, epoch, or time. Accordingly, the Quranic verse would mean: We created the universe in six different periods, stage by stage. This is in complete concordance with the scientific point of view, as the scientists believe that this universe evolved to its present condi- tion gradually through several stages and periods. Likewise, for instance, one hadith states that this world is seven thousand years old and that Adam was created five thousand years before the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him. Some people wrongly inferred that the human race started only a few thousand years ago, giving the advocates of evolution an opportunity to criticise. The fact is that Islam never claimed that this universe has existed for only a few thousand years and that there was nothing before; to attribute this notion to Islam is absolute ignorance and naivety. According to Islamic doctrine, no Divine attribute is permanently non-functional in any age and each attribute manifests itself in one way or another during all ages. As creation is one of the Divine attributes, it would be abso- lutely un-Islamic to believe that creation started only five to seven thousand years ago and there was nothing before that. It is certain from this that the above-mentioned hadith cannot imply that the world is only a few thousand years old, but rather, is as the Muslim divines have written, and the reformer of this age and Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, the Promised Messiah, may peace be upon him, has elaborated. 1 1. See al- H akam, 30 May 1908; Chashma-e-Ma‘rifat, p. 160.