Community: Islam
Return to stories about how our world began.
Background:
The Qur’an affirms that there is one God who has always existed and who caused everything else to come into existence. However, the Qur’an does not contain one story about how this took place- rather, there are many places in the Qur’an which speak about how God created different things.
The Qur’an is made up of chapters known as Suras, and each chapter is divided up into verses. This story is made up from a selection of verses that describe different aspects of creation.
Follow up questions:
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What is the cause of all creation in the Qur’an?
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Can you describe anything about this story that made you feel curious?
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Did you notice any similarities and differences to other creation stories you have heard?
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What have you learnt about the Muslim view of God? What do you want to remember from this story?
How the World was Created
Creation of the Universe
Have disbelievers not considered that the heavens and the earth were a single thing, and that God separated them, and made from water every living thing? (Surah 21: 30)
He placed unmovable mountains on the surface of the earth, and He blessed the earth and decreed its nourishment for the creatures of the earth. (Surah 41: 10)
It is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon, all swimming in an orbit. (21: 33)
Creation of Animals and Plants
God has created every living creature from water. And of them are those that move on their bellies, and of them are those that walk on two legs, and of them are those that walk on four. God creates what He wills. Indeed, God is powerful over all things. (13: 3)
All the fruits He made in pairs; He causes the night to cover the day. Indeed, in that are signs for a people who think. (Surah 24: 45)
Creation of Humans
Remember when your Lord said to the angels "I am going to create a human being from clay. So, when I have made him perfectly and breathed into him of My spirit, you must bow down to him." (Surah 38: 71-72)
People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them spread countless men and women far and wide; be mindful of God, in whose name you make requests of one another. Beware of severing the ties of kinship: God is always watching over you. (Surah 4: 1)
(Passages translated from a selection of Surah’s from the Qur’an)