The Qur’an

“Seven Heavens”

Sura 2

The Cow

29. He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth, and He directed Himself to the heaven, so He made them complete seven heavens, and He knows all things.

Sura 17

The Children of Israel

44. The seven heavens declare His glory and the earth (too), and those who are in them; and there is not a single thing but glorifies Him with His praise, but you do not understand their glorification; surely He is Forbearing, Forgiving.

Sura 41

Ha Mim

12. So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing.

Sura 65

The Divorce

12. Allah is He Who created seven heavens, and of the earth the like of them; the decree continues to descend among them, that you may know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah indeed encompasses all things in (His) knowledge.

Sura 67

The Kingdom

3. Who created the seven heavens one above another; you see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent God; then look again, can you see any disorder?
4. Then turn back the eye again and again; your look shall come back to you confused while it is fatigued.
5. And certainly We have adorned this lower heaven with  lamps and We have made these missiles for the Shaitans, and We have prepared for them the chastisement of burning.
6. And for those who disbelieve in their Lord is the punishment of hell, and evil is the resort.

Sura 71

Nuh

14. And indeed He has created you through various grades:
15. Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens, one above another,
16. And made the moon therein a light, and made the sun a lamp?

Sura 7

The Elevated Places

54. Surely your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, and He is firm in power; He throws the veil of night over the day, which it pursues incessantly; and (He created) the sun and the moon and the stars, made subservient by His command; surely His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Sura 41

Ha Mim

9. Say: What! do you indeed disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two periods, and do you set up equals with Him? That is the Lord of the Worlds.
10. And He made in it mountains above its surface, and He blessed therein and made therein its foods, in four periods: alike for the seekers.
11. Then He directed Himself to the heaven and it is a vapor, so He said to it and to the earth: Come both, willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willingly.
12. So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing.

The Bible

“Seven Heavens”

Second Corinthians

Chapter 12

1. It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
3. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
4. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
5. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

Genesis

Chapter 1

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

12. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

17. And God set them (the sun, lights, stars, moon - editor) in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis

Chapter 2

1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

COMMENTARY

The Qur’an speaks about seven heavens in total. According to Muslim scholars, the first heaven, which contains the sun, moon and stars, is only one known today out of the seven. The reference to verse 15 which asks “Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens, ~ one above another”, sounds strange, because no one (even with a modern telescope) can actually see more than one heaven.

 The Bible speaks about only three heavens:

·         the first heaven: our planetary atmosphere.

·         the second heaven: the universe with its stars and galaxies.

·         the third heaven: invisible, where God dwells.

The Qur’an makes two contradictory statements about the time period of the creation of heaven and earth:

1. -in 6 periods (or, days).

2. -in 2 plus 4, plus 2 periods, equaling 8 periods (or, days).

The Bible claims that God created the earth in six literal days, and He rested on the seventh day.