He said: "And the earth, after that, He spread it out," meaning He expanded it after the creation of the heaven.

Muhammad said: Whoever reads "wal-arda" (the earth) in the accusative case (nasb) in "And the earth, after that, He spread it out," the meaning is: And He spread the earth after that. Similarly, His statement after this: "And the mountains, He anchored them," the explanation of the accusative case of the mountains is like the explanation of the accusative case of the earth.

Yahya said: The beginning of the creation of the earth, as far as has reached us, is that it was a clay substance at the location of Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). Then He created the heavens, then He spread out the earth and said to it: "You go here, and you go there," and it was spread out from Makkah, then He placed therein its mountains, its rivers, and its trees. He said: "He brought forth from it its water and its pasture."