Q604 :The Qur’an speaks of the existence of seven
skies or seven heavens, but where are they? Does the Qur’an refer to
the billions of galaxies that exist in the universe? What do you say to
what astronomers have mentioned about an asteroid which will hit the
earth on August 14, 2116, and will destroy it in seconds? It is also
said that American scientists are planning to destroy the moon in order
to save the earth. Please netment.
A604 : The Arabic term “sama”, which is used for sky
or heaven has a much wider linguistic sense. In defining it, Arabic
linguists say, “whatever is raised above you is your sama”. The word
certainly does not refer to the blue color that we see because that
color is not an object. The Qur’anic reference to “seven heavens
created, one on top of another” should be understood in general sense.
Moreover, the term seven is often used in Arabic to denote, “plenty”.
It is often used not to suggest a specific number, but to imply a large
number. The same applies to the figure seventy. The Prophet, for
example, is told in the Qur’an not to seek forgiveness for the
hypocrites. God tells him, “if you were to ask seventy times for their
forgiveness, God will not forgive them.” The Prophet netments: “Had I
known that if I would go beyond seventy they could be forgiven, I would
have done so.” This shows clearly that the Prophet understood the
Qur’anic statement that uses the figure seventy as implying an
indefinite number. Now that we know that there are hundreds of
galaxies, each with billions of stars and planets, we take the Qur’anic
reference to seven skies as denoting the vast universe. That is because
the term “sky” or “sama”, is readily understood to refer to what we see
in the sky of the planets and stars. Therefore, we cannot see any
contradiction between the Qur’anic statements in this connection and
what astronomers tell us about the universe. As for the asteroid
destroying the earth on a particular date, we certainly have no
definite knowledge. Scientists have been wrong in the past and there is
no reason to suppose that they could not be wrong this time. What we
know for certain is that God has not allowed and will not allow people
to know beforehand the definite moment when life on earth will be over.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )