Seven heavens#Islam

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In ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the seven heavens refer to seven firmaments or physical layers located above the open sky. The concept can be found in ancient Mesopotamian religion, Judaism, and Islam. Some traditions complement the seven heavens with an idea of the seven earths or seven underworlds. These heavens or underworlds have been conceived of as realms with deities or celestial bodies (such as the classical planets and fixed stars).

Variants of the seven heavens tradition existed. Ancient Near Eastern cosmology more often described the number of heavens and earths as three, instead of seven. Seven as the number of heavens was the most popular value for Jewish cosmology, but depending on the text, the number ranged from 3 to 365.

Origins

The notion or belief in a cosmos structured or tiered into seven heavens likely originates or derives from the seven visible heavenly bodies (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon, and the Sun).{{Cite book |last=Decharneux |first=Julien |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQi7EAAAQBAJ |title=Creation and contemplation: the cosmology of the Qur'ān and its late antique background |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-079401-4 |series= |location= |pages=191 |oclc=on1342248278}}

Ancient Near Eastern cosmology

The concept of seven heavens as developed in ancient Mesopotamia where it took on a symbolic or magical meaning as opposed to a literal one.{{cite book|last=Barnard |first=Jody A. |date=2012 |title=The Mysticism of Hebrews: Exploring the Role of Jewish Apocalyptic Mysticism in the Epistle to the Hebrews |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F9R4UYjeYGoC&pg=PA62 |page=62 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-151881-2 |access-date=3 June 2015 }} The concept of a seven-tiered was likely In the Sumerian language, the words for heavens (or sky) and Earth are An and Ki.{{cite web|url=http://www.history-world.org/sumerianwords2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051210031934/http://www.history-world.org/sumerianwords2.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=10 December 2005 |title=Sumerian Words And Their English Translation |website=History World|access-date=2 June 2015}} The ancient Mesopotamians regarded the sky as a series of domes, usually three, but sometimes seven, covering the flat Earth.{{cite book|last=Nemet-Nejat|first=Karen Rhea|date=1998|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0313294976|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme}}{{rp|180}}

Each dome was made of a different kind of precious stone.{{rp|203}} The lowest dome of the heavens was made of jasper and was the home of the stars.{{cite book|last1=Lambert|first1=W. G.|title=Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Mythology: Selected Essays|date=2016|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|location=Tuebingen, Germany|editor1-last=George|editor1-first=A. R.|editor2-last=Oshima|editor2-first=T. M.|isbn=978-3-16-153674-8|series=Orientalische Religionen in der Antike|volume=15|page=118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTLWQddp8zwC&pg=PA118}} The middle dome of heaven was made of saggilmut stone and was the abode of the Igigi. The highest and outermost dome of the heavens was made of luludānītu stone and was personified as An, the god of the sky.{{cite web|last=Stephens|first=Kathryn|title=An/Anu (god): Mesopotamian sky-god, one of the supreme deities; known as An in Sumerian and Anu in Akkadian|url=http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/an/|website=Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Museum|date=2013}}

The celestial bodies were equated with specific deities.{{rp|203}} The planet Venus was believed to be Inanna, the goddess of love, sex, and war.{{cite book|last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |first2=Anthony |last2=Green |title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |publisher=The British Museum Press|year=1992 |isbn=0-7141-1705-6}}{{rp|108–109}}{{rp|203}} The Sun was her brother Utu, the god of justice,{{rp|203}} and the Moon was their father Nanna.{{rp|203}}

Ordinary mortals could not go to the heavens because it was the abode of the gods alone.{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=J. Edward|title=The Early History of Heaven|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|isbn=0-19-513009-X|page=29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKvMeMorNBEC&pg=PA26}} Instead, after a person died, his or her soul went to Kur (later known as Irkalla), a dark shadowy underworld, located deep below the surface of the Earth.{{cite web|last=Choksi|first=M.|date=2014|title=Ancient Mesopotamian Beliefs in the Afterlife|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/701/|website=World History Encyclopedia}} Sumerian incantations of the late second millennium BCE make references to seven heavens and seven earths. One such incantation is: "an-imin-bi ki-imin-bi" (the heavens are seven, the earths are seven.){{cite book |last=Hetherington |first=Norriss S. |title=Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317677666 |series=Routledge Revivals |pages=267, 401 |orig-year=1993}}{{cite book|last=Horowitz |first=Wayne |title=Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8fl8BXpR0MC&pg=PA208| page=208 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |date=1998 |isbn=0-931464-99-4 |access-date=3 June 2015 }}

The understanding that the heavens can influence things on Earth lent heavenly, magical properties to the number seven itself, as in stories of seven demons, seven churches, seven spirits, or seven thrones. The number seven appears frequently in Babylonian magical rituals.{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Adela Yarbro |title=Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apoocalypticism |publisher=Brill|date=2000 |isbn=90-04-11927-2 }} The seven Jewish and the seven Islamic heavens may have had their origin in Babylonian astronomy.

In general, the heavens is not a place for humans in Mesopotamian religion. As Gilgamesh says to his friend Enkidu, in the Epic of Gilgamesh: "Who can go up to the heavens, my friend? Only the gods dwell with Shamash forever". Along with the idea of seven heavens, the idea of three heavens was also common in ancient Mesopotamia.{{cite book |last1=Lange |first1=Armin |last2=Tov |first2=Emanuel |last3=Weigold |first3=Matthias |date=2011 |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context: Integrating the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages, and Cultures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xM7EnOx7CnYC&pg=PA808 |page=808 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-18903-4 |access-date=3 June 2015 }}

Religious cosmologies

= Judaism =

== Second Temple Judaism ==

The Second Book of Enoch, also written in the first century CE, describes the mystical ascent of the patriarch Enoch through a hierarchy of Ten Heavens. Enoch passes through the Garden of Eden in the Third Heaven on his way to meet the Lord face-to-face in the Tenth (chapter 22). Along the way, he encounters vividly described populations of angels who torment wrongdoers; he sees homes, olive oil, and flowers.{{cite book |author=Langton |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RT2QBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA248 |title=Good and Evil Spirits: A Study of the Jewish and Christian Doctrine, Its Origin and Development |date=11 July 2014 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-62564-991-1 |pages=248–}}

== Talmud ==

In the Talmud, it is suggested that the upper part of the universe is made up of seven heavens (Hebrew: shamayim):{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1521&letter=A#4364 |title=Angelology|publisher=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=16 June 2015}}

Vilon (וילון), see ({{bibleverse||Isa|40:22|KJV}})
Raki'a (רקיע), see ({{bibleverse||Gen|1:17|KJV}})
Shehaqim (שחקים), see ({{bibleverse||Ps|78:23|KJV}}, Midr. Teh. to Ps. xix. 7)
Zebul (זבול), see ({{bibleverse||Isa|63:15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:13|KJV}})
Ma'on (מעון), see ({{bibleverse||Deut|26:15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Ps|42:9|KJV}})
Machon (מכון), see ({{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:39|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Deut|28:12|KJV}})
Araboth (ערבות), The seventh Heaven where ophanim, the seraphim, and the hayyoth and the Throne of God are located.{{Cite Talmud|b|Hagigah||12b|yes}}

= Christianity =

File:Michelangelo Caetani, The Ordering of Paradise, 1855 Cornell CUL PJM 1071 06.jpg, Plate VI: "The Ordering of Paradise" by Michelangelo Caetani (1804–1882)]]

The New Testament does not refer to the seven heavens. A person being taken up in a vision to a "third heaven" is mentioned in Paul the Apostle's Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 12:2–4). The description is usually taken as an oblique reference by the author to himself.{{cite book |author=E. W. Bullinger |title=A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek |quote=2, 14, To this 'Third heaven' and 'Paradise' Paul was caught away, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4, (not 'up', see under 'catch') in 'visions and revelations of the Lord', 2 Cor. xii. 1. One catching away—with a double revelation of the New heaven and the...}}

Some Christian authors would go on to mention the seven heavens, such as the second century bishop Irenaeus (Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching 9; cf. Against Heresies 1.5.2). A variant ten-tier heaven obtained some popularity among the Scholastics during the Middle Ages, reaching its most well-known expression in The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The idea of seven heavens is carried over into the esoteric Christian cabala.{{cite book |last=Barrow |first=Logie |title=Independent Spirits: Spiritualism and English Plebeians, 1850–1910 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=978-1317268864 |page=54}}

= Islam =

File:Mohammed´s Paradise.jpg depicting Seven Heavens from The History of Mohammed, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.]]

{{redirect|Heaven in Islam|the final abode of the righteous in Islam|Jannah|the cosmology of the Quran|Quranic cosmology}}

The Quran and Hadith frequently mention the existence of seven samāwāt (سماوات), the plural of samāʾ (سماء), meaning 'heaven, sky, celestial sphere', and cognate with Hebrew shamāyim (שמים). Some of the verses in the Quran mentioning the samaawat{{cite book |last1=Pickthall |first1=M. M. |title=The Holy Qur'an (Transliteration in Roman Script) |last2=Eliasi |first2=M. A. H. |date=1999 |publisher=Laurier Books Limited |isbn=81-87385-07-3}} are Q41:12, Q65:12 and Q71:15. The seven heavens are not final destinations for the dead after the Day of Judgment, but regions distinct from the earth, guarded by angels and inhabited by souls whose abode depends on their good deeds (fasting, jihad, Hajj, charity), with the highest layer, the closest to God.{{cite book|last=Coulter-Harris|first=D. M.|year=2016 |title=Chasing Immortality in World Religions |place=USA |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |page=121}}{{Cite web |title=The Concept of Seven Skies in Islam |url=https://aboutislam.net/counseling/ask-the-scholar/muslim-creed/concept-seven-skies-islam/ |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=About Islam |language=en-US}} According to Quran and Hadiths, each of the skies has its own Qibla or a structure which became direction of prayer, similar to Kaaba of the mortal world, where the Qibla of highest heaven is called Bayt al-Ma'mur, while the Qibla building for the lowest sky is called Bayt al-Izza.{{cite web |author1=Ammi Nur Baits |title=Baitul Izzah, Rumah di Langit Dunia |url=https://konsultasisyariah.com/33283-baitul-izzah-rumah-di-langit-dunia.html |website=konsultasisyariah.com |publisher=Yufid |access-date=28 November 2023 |language=Id |date=Oct 2, 2018 |quote=Adapun baitul izzah, adalah tempat di langit dunia. Mengenai keberadaannya disebutkan dalam riwayat Ibnu Abbas radhiyallahu ‘anhuma, beliau mengatakan, فُصِلَ القُرْآنُ مِنَ الذِّكْرِ [أي: اللّوح المحفوظ]، فَوُضِعَ فِي بَيْتِ العِزَّةِ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا، فَجَعَلَ جِبْرِيلُ عليه السّلام يَنْزِلُ بِهِ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم Al-Quran dipisahkan dari ad-Dzikr (Lauhul Mahfudz) lalu diletakkan di Baitul Izzah di langit dunia. Kemudian Jibril menyampaikannya kepada Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. (HR. Hakim dalam al-Mustadrak 2/223, Ibnu Abi Syaibah dalam al-Mushannaf 10/533, dan dishahihkan oleh ad-Dzahabi). Az-Zarqani memberikan komentar untuk riwayat Ibnu Abbas, وهي أحاديث موقوفة على ابن عبّاس غير أن لها حكم المرفوع إلى النبيّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم لما هو مقرّر من أنّ قول الصّحابيّ فيما لا مجال للرّأي فيه، ولم يعرف بالأخذ عن الإسرائيليّات حكمه حكم المرفوع Hadis ini mauquf sampai Ibnu Abbas, hanya saja dihukumi marfu’ sebagaimana sabda Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Berdasarkan kaidah bahwa perkataan sahabat, untuk masalah di luar logika, dan dia bukan termasuk orang yang suka menerima berita israiliyat, maka status perkataannya sama seperti sabda Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Beliau melanjutkan, ولا ريب أنّ نزول القرآن إلى بيت العزّة من أنباء الغيب الّتي لا تعرف إلاّ من المعصوم، وابن عبّاس رضي الله عنه لم يعرف بالأخذ عن الإسرائيليّات، فثبت الاحتجاج بها Tidak diragukan bahwa turunnya al-Quran ke baitul izzah termasuk berita ghaib, yang tidak bisa diketahui kecuali melalui Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam yang ma’shum. Dan Ibnu Abbas juga bukan orang yang dikenal suka menerima berita israiliyat, sehingga perkataan beliau dalam hal ini boleh dijadikan dalil. (Manahil al-Urfan, 1/45).}}{{cite book |author1=Abu Anwar |author2= Munzir Hitami |title=Ulumul Qur'an: Sebuah Pengantar |date=August 30, 2023 |publisher=PT. RajaGrafindo Persada - Rajawali Pers |isbn=9786230801457 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvTTEAAAQBAJ |access-date=28 November 2023 |language=Id}}{{cite book |author1=Majid Daneshgar |author2=Walid Saleh |title=Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin |date=December 20, 2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004337121 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LtzzDQAAQBAJ |access-date=28 November 2023 |language=En}}

In other sources, the concept is presented in metaphorical terms. Each of the seven heavens is depicted as being composed of a different material, and Islamic prophets are resident in each. The names are taken from Suyuti's Al-Hay’a as-samya fi l-hay’a as-sunmya:{{cite book |last=Heinen |first=Anton M. |title=Islamic Cosmology |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |year=1982 |isbn=3-515-03177-4 |location=Wiesbaden, Germany |page=86}}

Raqi'a (رقيعاء): The first heaven is described as being made of water and is the home of Adam and Eve, as well as the angels of each star. According to some narratives, Muhammad encountered the angel Habib here.{{cite book |last1=Colby |first1=Frederick S. |title=Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn 'Abbas Ascension Discourse |date=2008 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7518-8}}
Araqlun (أرفلون): The second heaven is described as being made of white pearls and is the home of Yahya (John the Baptist) and Isa (Jesus).
Qaydum (قيدوم): The third heaven is described as being made of iron (alternatively pearls or other dazzling stones); Joseph and the Angel of Death (named Azrael) are resident there.{{cite web |author=Webster |first=Richard |title=Living in Your Soul's Light: Understanding Your Eternal Self |url=https://vdoc.pub/documents/living-in-your-souls-light-understanding-your-eternal-self-6uai9tv1tel0}}
Maʿuna (ماعونا): The fourth heaven is described as being made of brass (alternatively white gold); Idris (conventionally identified with Enoch) and the "Angel of Tears" reside there.
Di'a (ريقا): The fifth heaven is described as being made of silver; Aaron holds court over this heaven. Sometimes, the guardian of hellfire is assigned to this place.
Daqua (دقناء): The sixth heaven is described as being composed of gold (alternatively garnets and rubies); Moses can be found here.{{cite book |author=D'Epiro |first1=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/whataresevenwond00depi_0 |title=What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? And 100 Other Great Cultural Lists: Fully Explained |last2=Pinkowish |first2=Mary Desmond |publisher=Doubleday |year=1998 |isbn=0-385-49062-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whataresevenwond00depi_0/page/219 219]–220 |url-access=registration |name-list-style=amp}}
ʿAriba (عريبا): The seventh heaven, which borrows some concepts from its Jewish counterpart, is depicted as being composed of divine light incomprehensible to the mortal man (alternatively emerald). Abraham is a resident there and Sidrat al-Muntaha, a large enigmatic Lote tree, marks the end of the seventh heaven and the utmost extremity for all of God's creatures and heavenly knowledge.{{cite book |author-link=Abdullah Yusuf Ali|last=Abdullah|first=Yusuf Ali|year=1946|title=The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and Commentary|publisher=Qatar National Printing Press |page=1139, n. 3814}}

There are two interpretations of using the number "seven". One viewpoint is that the number "seven" here simply means "many" and is not to be taken literally (the number is often used to imply that in the Arabic language).|{{cite web |url=https://www.al-islam.org/philosophy-islamic-laws-nasir-makarim-shirazi-jafar-subhani/question-34-what-meant-seven-heavens |title=What Is Meant By 'Seven Heavens'? |website=Al-Islam.org|date=10 December 2012 }}

One modern interpretation of "heavens" is that all the stars and galaxies (including the Milky Way) are all part of the "first heaven", and "beyond that six still bigger worlds are there," which have yet to be discovered by scientists.

= Gnosticism =

The Gnostic text On the Origin of the World states that seven heavens were created in Chaos by Yaldabaoth below the higher realms, and each of them are ruled over by an Archon. During the end times, these heavens will collapse on each and the heaven of Yaldabaoth will split in two, causing its stars to fall upon the Earth, therefore causing it to sink into the Abyss.{{cite book|author1=Marvin Meyer|author2=Willis Barnstone|title=The Gnostic Bible|publisher=Shambhala|chapter=On the Origin of the World|url=http://gnosis.org/naghamm/origin-Barnstone.html|date=2009|access-date=2021-10-25}}

In the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul, the apostle Paul ascends through the lower Seven Heavens. At the seventh heaven, he meets an old man who opens the gate to the realm beyond the material universe, and Paul then ascends to the eighth, ninth, and tenth heavens.{{cite book|last1=Meyer|first1=Marvin|author-link1=Marvin Meyer|title=The Nag Hammadi scriptures|publisher=HarperOne|publication-place=New York|year=2007|isbn=978-0-06-162600-5|oclc=124538398}}

= Mandaeism =

In Mandaeism, a series of maṭartas, or "toll houses", are located between the World of Light (alma ḏ-nhūra) from Tibil (Earth). The term maṭarta has variously been translated as "watch-station",{{cite thesis|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1444088/|last=Aldihisi|first=Sabah|year=2008|title=The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba|type=PhD|publisher=University College London}} "toll-station",{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|publisher=Oxford University Press|publication-place=New York|year=2002|isbn=0-19-515385-5|oclc=65198443}} "way-station", or "purgatory". Maṭartas are guarded by various uthras (celestial beings from the World of Light) and demons. In the Ginza Rabba, seven maṭartas are listed and described in Chapter 3 in Book 5 of the Right Ginza.

However, the number of maṭartas is not always seven. Book 6 of the Right Ginza (also known as the "Book of Dinanukht") lists six. Chapter 4 in Book 1 of the Left Ginza lists eight.{{cite book |last1=Gelbert |first1=Carlos |url=https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/ |title=Ginza Rba |publisher=Living Water Books |year=2011 |isbn=9780958034630 |location=Sydney, Australia |language=en}} Alternatively, the Seven Heavens can also be seen as corresponding to the Seven Planets, who form part of the entourage of Ruha in the World of Darkness.

= Hinduism =

According to all Puranas, the Brahmanda is divided into fourteen worlds known as lokas. Seven are upper worlds: Bhuloka (the Earth and sky), Bhuvarloka, Svargaloka, Maharloka, Janarloka, Tapaloka and Satyaloka; and seven are lower worlds: Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala.{{cite book |last=Dalal |first=Roshan |title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |date=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=224}}