Muslim holy book the Quran

This is how Islam views the world being created:

The Qur'an says that "the heavens and the earth were joined together as one unit, before "We clove them asunder" (21:30). Following this big explosion, Allah "turned to the sky, and it had been (as) smoke. He said to it and to the earth: 'Come together, willingly or unwillingly.' They said: 'We come (together) in willing obedience'" (41:11). The elements came together and formed into shape, following the natural laws that Allah established in the universe.

The Qur'an further states that Allah created the sun, the moon, and the planets, each with their own individual courses or orbits. "It is He Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course" (21:33).

Expansion of Universe

"The heavens, We have built them with power. And verily, We are expanding it" (51:47). The Qu'ran seems to refer to an expanding universe instead of one which the Christians used to believe was fixed: this is more like the modern theory of science first put forward by Albert Einstein that says that from a Big Bang space/the universe is moving outwards. It is not clear if this is actually what God meant in this revelation but perhaps it is.

Six Days?

The Qur'an states that "Allah created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six days" (7:54). This looks similar to what the Torah says in the Book of Genesis and the world being created in seven days but there are some important differences.

In the Qu'ran the verses that mention "six days" use the Arabic word "youm" (day). This word appears several other times in the Qur'an, each one having a different measurement of time. In one case, the measure of "a day" is the same as 50,000 years (70:4), and in another verse it states that "a day in the sight of your Lord is like 1,000 years of your reckoning" (22:47). Therefore, Islam sees the description of a "six day" creation as six different periods. The length of these periods is not exactly defined and the events that take place in each period are not fixed so that the important thing is that they take place in the 6 day period instead of on day one or day two etc.

After completing the Creation, the Qur'an describes that Allah "settled Himself upon the Throne" (57:4) to look at his work. in the Torah, it says that on the seventh day God rested after creating the world in six days but this is very different to the Qu'ran: "We created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six days, nor did any sense of weariness touch Us" (50:38). so the Qu'ran talks of a six day period and Allah not being tired; the Torah refers to a seven day period and the point that Jehovah needed the last day to recover.

"It is Allah Who has made for you the earth as a resting place and the sky as a canopy and has given you shape and made your shapes beautiful and has provided for you sustenance" (40:64)

Before Allah created the world there appears to have ben nothing: "Then turned He to the heavens when it was smoke" (41:11). Allah is never "done" with His work, because the process of creation is ongoing all the time. Each child who is born and every plant that grows from a seed is still part of the ongoing creation process of Allah's: "He causes to grow for you thereby plants and the olives and the palm trees and the grapes and all of the fruits". (16:11)

The Qur'anic account of creation is in line with modern scientific thought about the development of the universe and life on earth. Islam acknowledges that life developed over a long period of time, but see Allah's power behind it all.