Ancient Skies and Fallen Pillars
Why the Qur’an Repeats Mythological Cosmology
Islam asserts that the Qur’an is the perfect, eternal word of an all-knowing God—scientifically accurate and free from error. But when it describes the universe, the Qur’an reads less like a revelation from the Creator of the cosmos and more like a collection of pre-Islamic myths recycled from Babylonian, Jewish, and Greek traditions.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Qur’an’s repeated references to:
The "seven heavens"
A sky held up "without pillars"
A flat, spread-out Earth
Let’s examine these themes with references to tafsir literature, ancient sources, and modern science.
1. "Seven Heavens" — A Pre-Islamic Idea
The Qur’an mentions the idea of seven heavens in several places:
"He it is who created for you all that is in the earth. Then He turned to the heaven and made them seven heavens." (Q 2:29)
"So He completed them as seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its command." (Q 41:12)
"Allah is He who created seven heavens and of the earth, the like thereof." (Q 65:12)
These verses don’t explain what the "seven heavens" are or how they relate to the observable universe. To understand them, we must turn to tafsir (Qur’anic commentary).
🔍 Tafsir al-Tabari (d. 923):
Al-Tabari accepts the literal nature of these seven heavens, citing reports from Ibn Abbas and other companions that describe each heaven as a solid layer stacked above the Earth.
📚 Tafsir Ibn Kathir (d. 1373):
Ibn Kathir also takes this cosmology literally, linking the "seven heavens" to narrations that each contains different types of angels and even prophets—much like the Jewish mystical texts (e.g., 2 Enoch, 3 Baruch) that describe multiple heavenly realms.
🕍 Jewish and Pagan Sources:
Babylonian cosmology: Seven heavens and a firmament dome.
Second Temple Judaism: Book of Enoch describes heaven as stratified levels, with angels and punishment chambers.
Greco-Roman: Ptolemaic geocentric model placed Earth at the center, with concentric spheres above.
The Qur’an echoes these mythic structures, not modern astronomy.
2. A Sky "Without Pillars" — Architecture or Atmosphere?
"Allah is He who raised the heavens without any pillars that you can see..." (Q 13:2)
"He created the heavens without pillars that you can see..." (Q 31:10)
This sounds poetic—until you realize the Qur’an is describing the sky as a solid structure suspended overhead. The phrase “that you can see” implies there are pillars—just invisible ones.
📖 Tafsir al-Qurtubi (d. 1273):
Al-Qurtubi debates whether the heavens are supported by invisible pillars or by Allah’s will alone, but he affirms the sky’s structural quality, consistent with ancient views of a solid dome.
✍️ Tafsir al-Suyuti (d. 1505):
In Al-Durr al-Manthur, al-Suyuti quotes hadith stating that the heavens are like stacked vaults or copper domes, reinforcing the belief that the sky is a physical object requiring support.
🔬 Modern View:
The “sky” is just the atmosphere and outer space—not a solid vault.
Gravity, not pillars, keeps celestial bodies in motion.
There is no fixed “above” or “dome” structure.
Yet the Qur’an’s language and its tafsir affirm a pre-scientific cosmology.
3. The Flat Earth Assumption
The Qur’an repeatedly describes the Earth as flat or spread out:
"He who made the earth a bed for you and the sky a canopy." (Q 2:22)
"And the earth, We have spread it out." (Q 15:19)
"He has laid out the earth for His creatures." (Q 55:10)
"Have We not made the earth as a bed, and the mountains as pegs?" (Q 78:6-7)
📖 Tafsir al-Jalalayn:
This famous tafsir interprets these verses literally: the Earth is laid flat and spread out. No mention of a spherical planet or orbital movement.
📚 Tafsir al-Tabari:
Al-Tabari and early commentators relay reports from companions who viewed the earth as a flat surface, with mountains acting as pegs to prevent it from shaking.
This fits the ancient belief that the earth was flat, possibly resting on a foundation or water, with mountains as stabilizers—a mythic worldview shared by early pagans, Jews, and Christians.
🔭 Modern Science:
Earth is a geoid (nearly spherical).
Mountains do not prevent earthquakes—they often form along fault lines.
The planet rotates and orbits the sun.
None of this is hinted at in the Qur’an.
4. What Apologists Say—and What the Text Actually Says
Muslim apologists often insist these descriptions are metaphorical, or that “pillars” and “seven heavens” refer to layers of the atmosphere or the electromagnetic spectrum.
But:
The tafsir tradition takes these verses literally.
Muhammad and his companions did not interpret them metaphorically.
Apologetic reinterpretations are modern patch jobs—not what Islam’s foundational sources taught.
Conclusion: A Divine Book Echoing Human Error
The Qur’an does not offer a revolutionary or divinely enlightened cosmology. It confirms the flawed worldviews of its time:
A layered, domed heaven
A flat, spread-out earth
A sky that is held up without visible supports
It borrows freely from Babylonian, Jewish, and pagan cosmologies—repackaging them without correction.
If Allah is the Creator, why would His book contain no trace of accurate celestial mechanics or cosmology? Why affirm human myths instead of revealing truth?
The conclusion is unavoidable: the Qur’an reflects the cosmological understanding of 7th-century Arabia—not the knowledge of an all-knowing God.
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