Page 79 - GALIET HEAVEN´S SCROLL IV

11,7).78 Allah’s throne pre-exists in the Prophet’s first response, and it is created, in his second.
This seeming contradiction suggests creation out of nothing was not asserted without its hesitations, not even in the Prophet’s heart. Nonetheless, Allah’s sovereignty over history and existence resembles in a lesser extent Marduk’s dominion,79 heralded in his powerful fifty names, and also resembles, in equal extent, that of Yahweh’s dominion over all things: creation and salvation history.
The Qur’an just as the Old Testament posits creation ex- nihilo and cannot fully demonstrate it. Allah creates whatever He desires, simply by decreeing, “Be!” and it comes to be! Thus, creation by the Word prevails; however, Allah’s throne pre-exists in the Prophet’s first response, while it is created, in his second. This seeming contradiction suggests creation out of nothing cannot be concretely asserted, let alone demonstrated by the Qur’an.
Instead, Genesis, post-scriptural Jewish literature, and Saadia and Kalam thinkers insinuate creation “out of something:” “a throne” pre-exists in the Qur’an narrative just as “the waters”
78 Allah creates his throne on the waters (Q 11,7). The role of water in Creation is important in ancient mythologies, for ancient civilizations were physically surrounded by it. Indeed, Thales thought it to be the first principle. For more, see Q 21,30; 24,45; 32,8.
79 Enuma Elish. Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh and Others. Trans. by Stephanie Dalley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. 233- 266.
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