Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “He created the heavens and the earth in truth. He folds the night over the day and folds the day over the night. And He subjected the sun and the moon, each running for a specified term. Indeed, He is the Exalted, the Forgiver.”
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Then Allah the Exalted said: This is the beginning of today’s lesson. He said: “[Al-An'am 6:73] is connected to ” This verse came after refuting the claim of those who say that Allah has a son, to make clear that the Creator of the heavens and the earth is rich in Himself and does not need a son, because everything is His property, and only one who does not possess complete ownership needs a son. His saying: is the plural of sky, and the word “sky” is used with two meanings: the first meaning is elevation, even if it is below the heavens, and the second meaning is the known heavens, the ceiling that Allah Mighty and Majestic built. So from the first meaning is His saying: [Al-Baqarah 2:22] meaning from the clouds, and the sky is not attached to the sky-ceiling, but it is in the elevation. And from this is His saying: [Al-Hajj 22:15] meaning to the elevation. As for the second, which is the building, it is frequent. Allah the Exalted said: [Fussilat 41:11-12] And from this is this verse , and He gathered them, because it is the plural of seven heavens, as in the Noble Qur'an and as in the Prophetic Sunnah. is the earth that Allah Mighty and Majestic placed for creation to live upon, as He said: [Ar-Rahman 55:10] The mention of its number did not come explicitly in the Qur'an, meaning it is not in the Qur'an that the earths are seven, but its mention with this number came not by way of explicit statement, as in His saying: [At-Talaq 65:12] similar to them in number, but not similar to them in attribute, due to the difference between the heavens and the earth in attribute. As for the Sunnah, it is explicit that the earths are seven. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sahih Muslim 1610a The apparent meaning from the texts is that these earths are aligned, meaning some are under some, like the heavens, because his saying (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him): Sahih Muslim 1610d If they were not aligned, he would not be tormented by what is under the uppermost earth. So they are aligned. But the scholars who speak about the creation of the earths mentioned: are these earths distinct, separated from one another? Or are they a single mass? We say in answer to this, or in response to it: Allah knows best, we do not know. But it is obligatory for us to believe that there are seven earths, as that came in the texts.