Encyclopedia of Islam

creation

---

attributes to God the power not only to create, but 

also to create again. The resurrection of the dead is 

portrayed as a new creation (Q 17:49–51).

The concept of creation by emanation was an 

alternative belief expressed in later Islamic writ-

ings, but not in the Quran. It first developed in 

pre-Islamic times among mystics known as Gnos-

tics and Neoplatonist philosophers. Both groups 

exercised a profound impact on the religions of 

the Middle East, especially among Christians 

after the third century, and later among Muslims. 

According to this belief, the manifest universe is 

the product of a series of emanations issuing like 

waves of light from a single absolute source or 

godhead. In Islam, this belief was embraced by 

illuminationist philosophers inspired by i

bn

 s

ina

(d. 1037), mystics who followed the ideas of i

bn

al

-a

rabi

 (d. 1240), and certain schools of Shii eso-

teric thought, especially Iranian ones. Many who 

supported this belief quoted a famous holy hadith 

(hadith qudsi), in which God declares, “I was a 

hidden treasure that desired to be known, then 

I created the world so that I would be known.” 

The infinite, eternal, unmanifest God desired to 

become self-aware, so he created a cosmos that 

reflected to a greater or lesser degree his attri-

butes. In other words, the universe was created as 

God’s mirror. The human being was the highest 

being in God’s creation because he, like God, was 

capable of self-awareness and most fully reflected 

his attributes, especially in the inner heart. With 

knowledge of this hidden reality, Sufis believed 

they could free themselves from the prison of the 

created world, overcome the veils that separated 

them from God, and return to the condition of 

primal unity with him. They embellished this con-

cept with a doctrine of mystical love, saying that 

God created the universe out of love, that human 

existence was a painful separation from him, 

and that s

UFism

 provided the key for attaining a 

reunion of the lover with the divine beloved. Also, 

many followers of this school of mysticism con-

ceived of m

Uhammad

 as the most perfect human 

being, created by God’s light at the beginning of 

time, and through him the rest of creation became 

possible. According to a 16th-century Hindavi 

mystical poem written in northern i

ndia

, “This 

lamp of creation was named Muhammad! For him 

the Deity fashioned the universe. . . . His name 

is Muhammad, king of the three worlds. He was 

the inspiration for creation” (Manjhan 5). More-

over, in i

ndia

, the Islamic emanationist theory of 

creation assimilated aspects of Hindu cosmology, 

so that God was spoken of as a Hindu god: the 

unmanifest Brahma, Vishnu the preserver of the 

universe, and Shiva the destroyer of the universe. 

His ability to create by speech was identified with 

the sacred Hindu mantra of creation, Om.

Today Muslims hold to quranic and emana-

tionist beliefs about creation as matters of faith. 

But many are also familiar with scientific theories 

of cosmogony and the origin of humans. While 

there are those who reject modern scientific theo-

ries, many have accepted them without feeling 

that they undermine quranic truths. Indeed, Mus-

lim modernist thinkers in the tradition of s

ayyid

a

hmad

 k

han

 (d. 1898), J

amal

 

al

-d

in

 

al

-a

Fghani

(d. 1897), and m

Uhammad

 a

bdUh

 (d. 1905) have 

sought to demonstrate not only that Islamic 

beliefs are compatible with Western science, but 

that medieval Muslim scholars actually contrib-

uted to the formation of modern science. Associa-

tions and institutes of Islamic science have arisen 

that seek to demonstrate how Quranic cosmology 

is compatible with modern scientific theories 

about creation and other scientific topics.

See also 

aya

; 

idolatry

; 

names

 

oF

 g

od

; p

erFect

m

an

; 

soUl

 

and

 

spirit

.