Question

Did the creation take 6 days or 8 days?

9 “Say (O Muhammad): Do you verily disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two Days? And you set up rivals (in worship) with Him? That is the Lord of the ‘Aalameen (mankind, jinn and all that exists).

10 He placed therein (i.e. the earth) firm mountains from above it, and He blessed it, and measured therein its sustenance (for its dwellers) in four Days equal (i.e. all these four ‘days’ were equal in the length of time) for all those who ask (about its creation).

11 Then He rose over (Istawa) towards the heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth: ‘Come both of you willingly or unwillingly.’ They both said: ‘We come willingly.’

12 Then He completed and finished from their creation (as) seven heavens in two Days and He made in each heaven its affair. And We adorned the nearest (lowest) heaven with lamps (stars) to be an adornment as well as to guard (from the devils by using them as missiles against the devils). Such is the Decree of Him, the All-Mighty, the All-Knower”

(Fussilat 41:9-12)

Here the questioner is suggesting with his or her own understanding, that an eight day creation took place, whereas in many other verses we are told that the heavens and the earth were created in six days (e.g. surah 11:7, Surah 7:54, Surah 50:38) Just to break it down for the readers, verse 9 says two days as highlighted in bold, and verse 10 says four days and finally verse 12 says two days. So adding those numbers together one would easily understand it to be eight days in total. Well that’s not case when it comes to these verses.

Note verse 9 states Allah Swt created the earth in two days, verse 10 continues by saying, therein Allah swt places firm mountains and its sustenance for its dwellers in four days equal. That is adding the two days for the creation of earth and two days for placing mountains and sustenance which makes four days not six. Notice in verse 10 highlighted in red says equal (four Days equal),this is a clarification that the two days in  verse 9 and two days in verse 10 would make it four days equal.

The Arabic word use for equal is sawāan سَوَآءً which fits in perfectly with the two days adding together equalling to four days. Then we have in verse 12 two days thus, we have six days in all. Another point I would like to make is, the days used in the verses would mean a long period of time not literal 24 hours like some may think.  The Arabic word used is yawmayni   يَوۡمَيۡنِ which means a long period of time, take for example this this verse.

 “They ask you to hasten the punishment. Allah shall most certainly not fail His promise; but a Day with your Lord is as a thousand years of your reckoning.” (Surah 22:47)

Notice how a day in the sight of Allah swt is like a thousand years to humans.

There is no contradiction or confliction with the creation stages. Here is another example on a human level how to understand the days creation.

CAN ANYBODY INSTALL LIGHTING IN A HOUSE BEFORE ACTUALLY BUILDING IT? YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUILD THE ENTIRE HOUSE TO HAVE ELECTRICAL WIRES ROUND IT.

You don't have to built the entire house to have the electrical wires round it to fit a light bulb. This doesn't mean you took longer to fit the bulb, it only shows within the timeframe of building the house lighting bulbs were added later. Whether it took 6 months to build the entire structure of the house e.g. the first two month from foundation and  building  the shell of the house  the electrical wires were fitted within that timeframe  hence, the job would of  finished "that is" the foundation, shell of the house  and the electrical wiring, which would have all simultaneously been completed within the same  period of time, 2 months. 

So if one said it took 6 months to build this house 2 months for the foundation and building the shell pf the house. 4 months to complete the entire house which includes the walls, ceiling, windows, doors vents, boilers etc, and 2 months to get the electrical lighting's done this is not a contradiction.

NOTE THE HOUSE IS NOT BUILD RATHER ITS TAKING STAGES FOR THE PROCESS AND EACH PROCESS IS INDIVIDUALLY TIMED WITHIN THE SET PERIOD OF TIME!

What do Muslims scholars have to say about these verses in Surah Fussilat.

The mufassireen commented on this fact which deals with the mistaken notion. Al-Qurtubi said: 

“in four days” – this is like someone saying, “I set out from Basra to Baghdad in ten days and to Kufa in fifteen days, i.e., a total time of fifteen days.” (al-Jaami’ li Ahkaam al-Qur’aan, vol. 15, p. 343). 

Al-Baghawi said: “in four days” means the creation of what is in the earth. The measuring of the sustenance was on Tuesday and Wednesday, which along with Sunday and Monday add up to four days. This is like saying “I married a woman yesterday and today I married two” – one of whom is the woman whom he married the day before. (Tafseer al-Baghawi, 7/165) 

Al-Zajjaaj said: “in four days” means two days added to the previous two days. (Al-Kashshaaf, vol. 3, p. 444 )

Conclusion the creation of the heavens and earth took six days (period), not eight days (period)

[At-tadakul or in English Interlacing] this is a way Arabs used to convey additions when adding numbers to each other