Defining the Nature of ”Seven Heavens” Based on the Theory of “Khalq” and “Amr” in the Qur’an

Abstract

Muslim scholars have five major suggestions for the referent of “seven heavens” in the Qur’an. First, this term is consistent with the knowledge of its first addressees and therefore in contradiction with today’s science. Second, what is meant by the number “seven” is not a specific quantity but it is employed figuratively to denote multiplicity. Third, the seven heavens are corporeal and it refers to some physical phenomena. Fourth, the seven heavens are corporeal: the first is the cosmos and the others are unknown. Fifth, the first heaven is corporeal but the other six are non-physical. This study has given a critical review of the first three viewpoints it has then, elucidated and improved the fourth view according to the theory of “khalq” and “amr” in the Qur’an. As, it has criticized the fifth view by redefining the corporeal and incorporeal phenomenon according to the Qur’an and has provided a new explanation for it by proving the existence of worlds with different degree of connectivity to time and therefore different levels of materiality. Supporting the theory of Allama Tabatabayi that the perceptible world is an exemplum (Mathal) for the non-perceptible one, this article justifies the third view that the corporeal referent of the heavens is an exemplum for the actual incorporeal and nonphysical one.

Keywords

• seven heavens
• incorporeal heaven
• the qur’an and science
• science and religion
• incorporeal and corporeal world