Science and the Seven Earths: Difference between revisions

The word that in English is translated for heaven(s) in these verses is samā/سَماء, which can also be translated as sky (which is essentially it's modern meaning in Arabic).<ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english-arabic/sky ''Sky.''] Translation English to Arabic. Cambridge dictionary.</ref> This is separate to 'jannah/جَنَّة', which refers to the paradise supposedly in the afterlife for righteous Muslims - which readers may mistake as being the same given the double meaning (of heaven) in English. However, unlike paradise (jannah), the heaven(s)/skies (samā) are part of the cosmos, with the moon being described as in them ({{Quran|71|15-16}}), clouds ({{Quran|2|164}}), along with the stars ({{Quran|41|12}}) etc.  

Another common apologetic claim is that these seven skies/heavens are actually seven universes which we are yet to discover, and that we know only our one universe so far, often referred to as the lowest/closest heaven.  

This is due to the Quran stating the nearest/lowest heaven is adorned with stars which cover the known visible universe (such as {{Quran|41|12}}), rather than any philological analysis and ignoring all historical context of the word, which has always meant a 'firmament', or solid layer in the sky to Islamic scholars.<ref>[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/13.2 ''Tafsir on Verse 13:2.''] Ibn Kathir. d. 1373. </ref> Using the term 'heavens/skies' was common to refer to this in pre-Islamic Christian literature too.<ref>''[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background] (Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East Book 47)''. Decharneux, Julien. 2023. (pp. 255 - 257). De Gruyter. </ref>

 

However there are many problems with this as we will see below, '''with all verses using a form of the word samā/سَماء''' (whether translated as sky/skies or heaven/heavens).

{{Quote|{{Quran|54|11}}|So We opened the gates of heaven, with water pouring forth. }}The gates of the heavens are mentioned elsewhere such as the below, saying even if God opened a gate so the disbelievers could climb up it, they would still not believe.

{{Quote|{{Quran|15|14-15}}|And if We open for them a gate in the heavens, to ascend it through the day – Even then they would say, “Our sights have been hypnotised – in fact, a magic spell has been cast upon us.”}}God is also described as having the keys to these:

{{Quote|Anthony, Sean W., Dr.. Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam. University of California Press. Kindle Edition. Location 1134 - 1145.|The cosmological notion of humankind being blocked from accessing Paradise by gates and, thus, the existence of a heavenly gatekeeper is quite an ancient one and by no means exclusive to Jewish, Christian, or Muslim sacred cosmology. Indeed, where “the keys to heaven” as opposed to “the keys of Paradise” motif appears first in the Islamic tradition is in the Qurʾan itself. According the Qurʾan, however, it is God alone who possesses “the keys to the Heavens and Earth [maqālīd al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ]” (Q. Zumar 39:63, Shūrā 42:12). In the Qurʾān, the keys to the Heavens and Earth are cosmological and do not assume an explicitly eschatological function—rather the emphasis falls on God’s unrivaled sovereignty over the cosmos as its sole Creator. Yet the Qurʾan does speak of the doors of heaven in a strikingly eschatological vein. Most illustrative of this is the sole verse in which both Paradise (al-jannah) and heaven (al-samāʾ; lit., “the sky”) are mentioned together: “Truly, as for those who disbelieve and spurn our signs, the doors of heaven will not be opened for them nor will they enter Paradise until the camel passes through the eye of a needle” (Q, Aʿrāf 7:40). If a distinction is to be drawn between heaven (al-samāʾ) and Paradise (al-jannah) in qurʾānic cosmology, Paradise appears to be the felicitous abode that lies beyond the sky canopy of the heavens above the Earth.}}