From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)

About the translator:
Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born of Jewish parents in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding foreign correspondent for the Franfurter Zeitung, and after his conversion to Islam travelled and worked throughout the Muslim world, from North Africa to as far east as Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. After years of devoted study he became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age. His translation of the Holy Qur'an is one of the most lucid and well-referenced works in this category, dedicated to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (For people who think).

Chapter 41, verses 9 – 11
Say: “Would you indeed deny Him who has created the earth in two eons? [ 1 ] And do you claim that there is any power that could rival Him, the Sustainer of all the worlds?”
For He [it is who, after creating the earth,] placed firm mountains on it, [towering] above its surface, and bestowed [so many] blessings on it, and equitably apportioned its means of subsistence to all who seek it: [ and all this He created] in four eons. [2]
And He [it is who] applied His design to the skies, which were yet but smoke; [3] and He [it is who] said to them and to the earth, “Come [into being], both of you, willingly or unwillingly! – to which both responded, “We do come in obedience.”[ 4 ]
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Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] As in so many verses of the Qur’an which relate to cosmic events, the repeated mention of the “six eons” during which the universe was created – “two” of which, according to the above verse, were taken by the evolution of the inorganic universe, including the earth – has a purely allegorical import: in this case, I believe, an indication that the universe did not exist “eternally” but had a definite beginning in time, and that it required a definite time-lapse to evolve to its present condition.
[ 2 ] Almost all the classical commentators agree in that that these “four eons” include the “two” mentioned in the preceding verse: hence my interpolation of the words “and all this He created.” Together with the two eons of verse 12, the entire allegorical number comes to six.
[ 3 ] I.e., a gas – evidently hydrogen gas, which physicists regard as the primal element from which all material particles of the universe have evolved and still evolve.
[ 4 ] Explaining this passage, Zamakhshari observes: “The meaning of God’s command to the skies and the earth to ‘come’, and their submission [to his command] is this: He willed their coming into being, and so they came to be as He willed them to be…: and this is the kind of ‘metaphor’ which is called ‘allegory’…Thus, the purport [of this passage] is but an illustration of the effect of His almighty power on all that is willed [by Him].