Science and the Seven Earths: Difference between revisions

Narrated Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Al-Harith:

   

Ahmad transmitted it.}}

{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||5|44|3298}}|...Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under you?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Indeed it is the earth.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under that?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Verily, below it is another earth, between the two of which is a distance of five-hundred years.’ <b>Until he enumerated seven earths:</b> ‘Between every two earths is a distance of five-hundred years.’ Then he said: ‘By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad! If you were to send [a man] down with a rope to the lowest earth, then he would descend upon Allah.’ Then he recited: He is Al-Awwal, Al-Akhir, Az-Zahir Al-Batin, and He has knowledge over all things.”}}

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.  

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>  

The following verse contradicts such a claim since it says rain was made to fall from heaven. Certainly, rain does not come from outer space, let alone from gates at the edge of the universe which would be ~46.5 billion light years away.<ref>[https://www.mos.org/mos-at-home/pulsar/how-far-away-is-the-edge-of-the-universe#:~:text=We're%20looking%20back%20in,again%2C%20is%20what%20cosmologists%20do. ''How Far Away is the Edge of the Universe?''] Museum of Science Podcast. Janine Myszka. </ref> The word used for heaven here is ''samā'', the same as that for the seven heavens.

{{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|{{Quran|42|12}}|To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth: He expands the provision for whomever He wishes, and tightens it [for whomever He wishes]. Indeed He has knowledge of all things.’}}{{Quote|{{Quran|39|63}}|To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth, and those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah—it is they who are the losers.}}

{{Quote|{{Quran|78|19}}|And the heavens will be opened and become gates}}

{{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.}}

The Quran also has the Earth created before the heavens (universes) are created, while the heaven is 'smoke' (''see [[Quran and a Universe from Smoke]]''). Obviously the Earth cannot be created before the Universe is made:

{{Quote|{{Quran|41|9-12}}|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).

Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient. Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower.}}Nor was the universe ever smoke.

''P.M. Sutter is a science educator and a theoretical cosmologist at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University'' </ref>

{{Quote|{{Quran|2|22}}|who assigned to you the earth for a couch, and heaven for an edifice (binā) , and sent down out of heaven water, wherewith He brought forth fruits for your provision; so set not up compeers to God wittingly.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|52|5}}|And by the canopy (safq) raised ˹high˺!}}{{Quote|{{Quran|79|28}}|He raised its ceiling (samk) and proportioned it.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|40|64}}|It is Allah Who made for you the earth your resting place and the sky a building (binā), and moulded you so gave you the best shape, and gave you pure things for sustenance; such is Allah, your Lord; so Most Auspicious is Allah, the Lord Of The Creation.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|21|32}}|And We made the sky a protected roof (saqf), but they, from its signs, are turning away.}}

Raising the roof/canopy in Q52:5 and Q79:28 (above, and see also Q55:7 below) also makes no sense in the context of our modern understanding of the Universe, where there is no scientific theory that our visible Universe was 'raised'. But does match the idea of the physical sky being broken from Earth and raised.  

{{Quote|{{Quran|55|7}}|He raised the heaven high and set up the balance,}}

Which is why the debates around the sky(s) among classical mufassirūn have centred around whether the 'firmament' is flat or domed,<ref>E.g. see: [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/13.2 ''Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Verse 13:2''] and [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/36.37 ''verse 36:37-40'']. Ibn Kathir d. 1373</ref> not solid or gas. And none have come up with a picture of the universe like we now know based off their studying of the Qur'an.  

As mentioned above the skies will be ''folded up'' like writing scrolls:

{{Quote|{{Quran|21|104}}|<b>(The) Day We will fold the heaven like (the) folding (of) a scroll for records.</b> As We began (the) first creation We will repeat it, a promise upon Us. Indeed, We - We are (the) Doers.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|39|67}}|They do not regard Allah with the regard due to Him, yet the entire earth will be in His fist <b>on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens, scrolled, in His right hand.</b> Immaculate is He and exalted above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him].}}

''Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs Verse [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Abbas/21.104 21:104] and [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Abbas/39.67 39:67]''. A popular medieval commentary ascribed to Ibn Abbas. Unknown date.

</ref>  

{{Quote|{{Quran|42|5}}|<b>The heavens are about to be rent apart from above them,</b> while the angels celebrate the praise of their Lord and plead for forgiveness for those [faithful] who are on the earth. Indeed, Allah is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful!}}

''Main page: [[Geocentrism and the Quran]]''

In reality, the night and day we experience is a feature of the earth's rotation on its axis and is only applicable to Earth itself. There is no sense in which the earth's night and day apply across the wider cosmos as it would need to to be able to substitute the word/modern concept 'universe' with heaven/heavens (samā).

We are told that jannah/paradise/'the garden' is as wide as the heaven and earth. The words ʿarḍuhā kaʿarḍi ("its width is like the width") refer to the breadth, width, or side of something.<ref>[https://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000291.pdf ''See: عَرْضٌ 'ard''] - Lane's Lexicon page 2006</ref>{{Quote|{{Quran|57|21}}|Be ye foremost (in seeking) Forgiveness from your Lord, <b>and a Garden (of Bliss), the width whereof is as the width of heaven and earth,</b> prepared for those who believe in Allah and His messengers: that is the Grace of Allah, which He bestows on whom he pleases: and Allah is the Lord of Grace abounding}}

This idea is reinforced in the following verse, where similarly now paradise is as wide as seven heavens and the Earth, which the space of the six other universes (as would be needed by the apologists interpretation of samā as universe), would contradict the width given in verse 57:12. This would not contradict, however, if the skies/heavens were their historical definition of simply firmaments, one above the other, over the flat earth (and no further in the limited cosmos). {{Quote|{{Quran|3|133}}|And vie with one another, hastening to forgiveness from your Lord, and to <b>a garden whose breadth is as the heavens and earth,</b> prepared for the godfearing}}

The ancient concept of the sky splitting from the Earth can be traced back to Mesopotamian<ref>''[https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/epic/hd_epic.htm Mesopotamian Creation Myths.]'' Ira Spar. 2009. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Met Musuem. </ref> and Egyptian<ref>''[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338646511_Skyscapes_Landscapes_and_the_drama_of_Proto-Indo-European_myth Skyscapes, Landscapes, and the drama of Proto-Indo-European myth.]'' John Grigsby PhD Synthesis. 2020.  

{{Quote|{{Quran|21|30}}|Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them? And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?}}Some Muslim apologists ''(such as Zakir Naik, as can be see in 3:27 of this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvG-606KqwU&t=120s YouTube video] - along with a response to him)'' have even claimed that this verse shows scientific foreknowledge of the Big Bang. His claim seems to be that the verse stating the skies and Earth "joined together/ratqan" is referring to the fact that during the big bang all the mass that went on to form the rest of the universe originated from the same point of singularity. There are many issues with this interpretation. These are discussed more in-depth in the page ''[[Quran and a Universe from Smoke]]'' and the main ''[[Scientific Errors in the Quran]]'' section''.'' But some of the obvious issues are:

* If this is supposed to be the big bang itself as Naik claims (with the same mass/atoms from one singularity going on to form others) then this is does not match what actually happened, with the Earth not even existing for another 9.3 billion years after the Universe began.<ref>''[https://www.space.com/24054-how-old-is-the-universe.html How old is the universe?]'' Keith Cooper. 2023. Space.com.  

Verses in the Quran always describe the heaven and the Earth as separate entities, such as the above verse (Q21:30) describing them as split, with the verse stating that "We clove them" (dual pronoun 'huma'), not "We clove it", thereby indicating that the Earth and skies are distinct after the cloving. Along with things like the moon being described as in them ({{Quran|71|15-16}}), the clouds ''between'' the skies and the Earth ({{Quran|2|164}}), along with the stars being in the nearest sky ({{Quran|41|12}}) etc.

The Quran never indicates that the Earth itself is simply within this lowest/nearest heaven along with the other planets, stars and heavenly objects. When in reality Earth is the 3rd planet in our Inner Solar System, of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is part of the Virgo Supercluster within the wider Laniakea Supercluster, itself one of many,<ref>[https://aaa.org/2022/08/01/our-cosmic-address-where-is-earth-situated-in-the-univers ''Our Cosmic Address: Where is Earth Situated in the Universe?''] - Simone Lilavois - Amateur Astronomers Association, 1 August 2022</ref> making the description odd in light off modern science, but again matching the 'firmament torn from the Earth' view of antiquity.

God is said to have dominion/sovereignty of the heavens and Earth and all that is ''between them (baynahum بينهم).''  

==See Also==

{{Hub4|Harun Yahya|Harun Yahya}}{{Hub4|Cosmology|Cosmology}}  

==External Links==

==References==