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“God is He who created seven heavens and of the earth a similar number. Through them all descends His Command: that you may know that God has power over all things, and that God comprehends all things in His knowledge.” (65:12)

Every higher level surrounds, envelops and comprehends the levels lower than it. Every lower level falls under the dominion of the level above it. Every higher level – with respect to that which it encompasses and dominates – can be referred to as a “heaven” or “sky”. Correspondingly, every lower realm can be called an “earth”.

In the same way that light and water descend from the sky to the earth of this physical world, Divine Grace and Mercy is showered down from the spiritual skies and heavens to the realms below. So, the affairs of the earth are made and managed in heaven. “He regulates the affair from the heaven to the earth…”

From these verses, it is possible to divide the three stages spoken of in the previous lessons into further sub-stages, and in so doing, arrive at a number of heavens and earths that fall into a precise vertical hierarchy. In this hierarchy, every heaven surrounds and comprehends the earth below it, while the divine heaven transcends them all. The Qur’an says, “and from beyond them, God is encompassing.” (85:20)

The Prophet in his Nocturnal Ascension (mi’raj), passed through the seven heavens and the Qur’an also speaks of seven heavens and seven earths: “God 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 God has power over all things and that God indeed encompasses all things in knowledge.” (65:12)

In a tradition from Imam Rida, upon him be peace, he described sevenfold heavens and earths – one encompassing the other.

The highest level is exclusively heaven, and is not an earth of any level whatsoever. Likewise, the lowest level is exclusively earth, and is not a heaven relative to any other level. Now, of the remaining six levels, each is a “heaven” with respect to the levels below it and is an “earth” in respect of those above it. In this way, seven heavens and seven earths can distinctly be spoken of. These seven heavens are spiritual heavens, not material or worldly skies.

The natural world and all that it contains is “under” and encompassed by them. Now of course in this physical world itself, there exists a heaven (or sky) and an earth pertaining to it. This heaven is the very same sky that is seen by the naked eye, and the same one that is decorated by the stars. The Qur’an says of this sky, “Surely We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment of the stars.” (37:6)

The spiritual heavens are, on the other hand, otherworldly, and encompass this material world. It is for this reason that the means of arriving at these heavens and returning from them is not a worldly or materialistic means or method. No rocketship can take you to these heavens….”

(from “Existence and the Fall” by Hamid Parsania)