Assalamualykum.
( He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His Leave. Verily, Allah is, for mankind, Full of Kindness, Most Merciful)(Sûrat Al-Hajj- verse 65).
And WE have made the heaven a roof, well-protected, yet they turn away from its Signs.(21:32)
And We have placed within the heaven great stars and have beautified it for the observers.(15:15)
Okay I am little bit confuse in this issue of ''Heaven." Does it mean the Space or Atmosphere? If we look at the last verse where Allah says that the heaven is beautified with stars, here Heaven can't mean Atmosphere. And if heaven is the cosmos above then why Allah says in the first verse that He holds the heaven from falling on Earth? Because I don't think the Cosmos can ever fall on Earth. It will get crushed by the hit of one single planet or asteroid. But yes if Heaven=Atmosphere, then it's possible. Then the verse makes sense. If Allah lets go of the atmosphere, it will fall on earth with it's heavy weight.
Again I'm confused whether the second verse is really speaking about our Atmosphere or the Cosmos. Because from the third verse we came to know that the Heaven is beautified with stars. So from this perspective Heaven can't be Atmosphere. Please help me with this brothers. My question might be a little bit unclear because i'm very much confused with this issue.
That's a really good question! I've been pondering this myself for quite a while.
Many people say that it could mean both, that the heaven can sometimes be translated as atmosphere and other times as the cosmos. In 15:16, Its clear the Quran means the cosmos.
I like to take a different, but valid route. "Heaven" just means "all that is above us". That means it encompasses BOTH the atmosphere
and the cosmos.
So let's explain your verses in light of this:
( He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His Leave. Verily, Allah is, for mankind, Full of Kindness, Most Merciful)(Sûrat Al-Hajj- verse 65)Could the cosmos fall on the Earth? Yes. If the big crunch occurs, everything would be coming towards us and hence falling on the earth. Then we'd all die.
I also wanted to explain this in light of modern findings. In quantum mechanics, it is believed that nothing exists unless it is being observed (everything exists in a superposition) unless it is being observed. That means the only reason why the universe exists, is because God is observing it. If God stops observing it or allows the universe to change its form (making the cosmos fall on the earth), then this verse appears to be accurate. It makes clear that God is the sustainer of the world. If it is by his leave or permission, everything could cease to exist!
And WE have made the heaven a roof, well-protected, yet they turn away from its Signs.(21:32)The Heaven seems to be compared to a roof in this verse. A roof is a protective covering, that protects us. In this verse it refers to the atmosphere (whatever is above the earth is protecting us), but it could also refer to the cosmos as the cosmos are also protecting us from itself. Jupiter for example. Jupiter is so massive that its gravitational influence deflects objects like comets, which, as they spiral toward the Sun, could potentially hit inner planets such as the Earth.Without Jupiter acting as a "cosmic vacuum cleaner" sucking up these dangerous objects, there would be so many catastrophic impacts that life probably wouldn't have evolved on the Earth and we wouldn't be here today. This is an example of how the cosmos protects us. It is a roof in a sense it is above us. And it is protecting us.
