Miraculousness), both the existence and plurality of the heavens have been proved conclusively in the section on the verse,

Then He applied His design to the heavens and fashioned them into seven heavens.(2:29)

And in the Twenty-Ninth Word we have proved the existence of angels with the finality of two plus two equals four. So considering those to be sufficient we cut short the discussion here.

In Short: It is required by wisdom and by reason that the heavens are formed of ether, that they are the source of subtle energies like electricity, light, heat, and gravity, and that, in accordance with the Hadith, “The heavens are waves held back,” [^7] they are favourable for the motion of stars and planets. It is further required that from Majarrat al-Samā’ (the Milky Way) to the closest planet they should consist of seven levels in different states and formations, and that each level, each world, from the world of the earth to the Intermediate Realm and World of Similitudes, to the World of the Hereafter, should have a heaven, like a roof.

[^7]:Tirmidhī, Tafsīr Sūra al-Ḥadīd, 1; Musnad, ii, 370.

And the following comes to mind: O atheist! You say: “Man is only able to ascend to a height of one or two kilometres with a thousand difficulties by means of the aeroplane. [^8] How then could someone come and go bodily within a few minutes covering a distance that would normally take thousands of years?”

[^8]:This treatise was written in 1928 or ’29. (Tr.)

To which we reply: According to your science, in its annual rotation a heavy body like the earth cuts a distance of approximately one hundred and eighty-eight hours in one minute. In one year it covers a distance of approximately twenty-five thousand years. Should One All-Powerful and Glorious, then, Who causes its regular motion and revolves it like a stone in a sling be unable to convey a human being to His throne? Should a wisdom that causes the body of the earth, which is extremely heavy, to travel around the sun through a dominical law known the sun’s gravity like a Mevlevi dervish be unable to raise a human body to the throne of the All-Merciful like lightning through the gravity of that All-Merciful One’s mercy and the attraction of the Pre-Eternal Sun’s love?

Again it comes to mind that you would say: “All right, so he could ascend there, but why did he and why should he? Wouldn’t it have been enough if he had gone just in heart and spirit like the saints?”

To which we would reply: Since the All-Glorious Maker wished to dis-