Six days of creation

[schatoor]

Allah says in the Quran that He created the world in six days. Can someone explain to me what these six days stand for in the Ismaili docterine?
I have heard that the six days stand for the six stages of spiritual evolution mankind went thought. There have come six great prophets (Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, Muhammad, peace on them all) furthering the development of mankind. But in sura 41 of the Quran the details of the creation proces is told;

Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds.
He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance).
Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience."
So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.

Quran 41-9:12

So how does this play in with our docterine?

[kmaherali]

Al Muayyad Shirazi explains our interpretation in one of his lectures which can be accessed at:

http://www.ismaili.net/Source/1009/mu8.html

[kmaherali]

I haven't heard from you about your thoughts on the lecture! In any case the following is an excerpt from Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah's memoirs regarding the notion of creation according to Islam. It confirms what Al- Muayyad mentioned in his lecture about the power of God to create when or how He wishes.

"There is a fundamental difference between the Jewish idea of creation and that of Islam. The creation according to Islam is not a unique act in a given time but a perpetual and constant event; and God supports and sustains all existence at every moment by His will and His thought. Outside His will, outside His thought, all is nothing, even the things which seem to us absolutely self-evident such as space and time. Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine will. I think that I have sufficiently explained the difference between the Islamic doctrine of the unity of God and, on one side, the theistic ideas, founded upon the Old Testament, and on the other, the patheistic and dualistic ideas of the Indian religion and that of Zoroaster. But having known the real, the Absolute, having understood the Universe as an infinite succession of events, intended by God, we need an ethic, a code of conduct in order to be able to elevate ourselves toward the ideal demanded by God."