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قQuranicpediaEncyclopedia of the Glorious Qur’an

The Heavens and Earth السَّمَاوَات وَالْأَرْض

In review — pending scholar verification

A frequent Quranic pairing of all creation — heavens (the celestial realms, including the seven heavens) and earth — invoked in over a hundred verses to indicate the totality of Allah's dominion.

Overview

As-Samāwāt wa-l-Arḍ (Arabic: السَّمَاوَات وَالْأَرْض; "the Heavens and the Earth") is the Quran's standard idiom for all of creation. The pairing appears in over a hundred verses, almost always to indicate the totality of Allah's dominion: "To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth."

The "heavens" are layered into seven heavens (Surah Al-Mulk 67:3); the earth is the lower realm, similarly described as having a sevenfold structure (Surah Aṭ-Ṭalāq 65:12: "It is Allah who has created seven heavens, and of the earth the like of them"). Together, the pair encompasses every part of created reality except the human soul itself, which is sometimes paired alongside (Surah Al-Aḥzāb 33:72, the trust offered to the heavens, earth, and mountains).

Quranic references

  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:107 — "To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth."
  • Surah Al-Mulk 67:3 — "He created seven heavens in layers."
  • Surah Aṭ-Ṭalāq 65:12 — seven heavens and seven earth-like layers.
  • Surah Al-Anʿam 6:1 — "All praise to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light."
  • Surah Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 — six-day creation of the heavens and earth.
  • Surah Al-Ḥadīd 57:1 — "Whatever is in the heavens and earth exalts Allah."
  • Surah An-Naba 78:37 — "Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them."

See also

References

  1. The Quran: Surahs Al-Baqarah 2:107; Al-Anʿam 6:1; Al-Aʿrāf 7:54; Al-Mulk 67:3; Aṭ-Ṭalāq 65:12; Al-Ḥadīd 57:1; An-Naba 78:37.
  2. Ibn Kathir, Tafsīr, on Surah Al-Mulk and An-Naba.