Short answer: the Quran says Allah created seven heavens, one above another (67:3), and adorned the nearest one with stars (67:5). On the night of the Miraj, the Prophet ﷺ rose through them with Jibril and met a prophet in each: Adam in the first, Yahya and Isa in the second, Yusuf in the third, Idris in the fourth, Harun in the fifth, Musa in the sixth and Ibrahim in the seventh, beside al-Bayt al-Ma'mur. Above the seventh heaven are the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, Paradise, the Kursi and the Throne.
What the Quran says
ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍۢ طِبَاقًۭا ۖ مَّا تَرَىٰ فِى خَلْقِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ مِن تَفَٰوُتٍۢ ۖ فَٱرْجِعِ ٱلْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَىٰ مِن فُطُورٍۢ ﴿٣﴾
Allazee khalaqa sab'a samaawaatin tibaaqam maa taraa fee khalqir rahmaani min tafaawutin farji'il basara hal taraa min futoor
[And] who created seven heavens in layers. You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency. So return [your] vision [to the sky]; do you see any breaks?
Quran 67:3 · Sahih International · Read Surah Al-Mulk
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًۭا ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰٓ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَسَوَّىٰهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍۢ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌۭ ﴿٢٩﴾
Huwal lazee khalaqa lakum maa fil ardi jamee'an summas tawaaa ilas samaaa'i fasaw waahunna sab'a samaa waat; wa Huwa bikulli shai'in Aleem
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, [His being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things.
Quran 2:29 · Sahih International · Read Surah Al-Baqarah
فَقَضَىٰهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَاتٍۢ فِى يَوْمَيْنِ وَأَوْحَىٰ فِى كُلِّ سَمَآءٍ أَمْرَهَا ۚ وَزَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا بِمَصَٰبِيحَ وَحِفْظًۭا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْعَلِيمِ ﴿١٢﴾
Faqadaahunna sab'a samaawaatin fee yawmaini wa awhaa fee kulli samaaa'in amarahaa; wa zaiyannassa maaa'ad dunyaa bimasaabeeha wa hifzaa; zaalika taqdeerul 'Azeezil 'Aleem
And He completed them as seven heavens within two days and inspired in each heaven its command. And We adorned the nearest heaven with lamps and as protection. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.
Quran 41:12 · Sahih International · Read Surah Fussilat
Other verses add to the picture: "We have created above you seven layered heavens" (23:17), "We constructed above you seven strong [heavens]" (78:12), and Nuh asked his people, "Do you not consider how Allah has created seven heavens in layers?" (71:15). The heavens glorify Allah, with all who are in them (17:44).
The lowest heaven is the one we see, with its stars:
وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا بِمَصَٰبِيحَ وَجَعَلْنَٰهَا رُجُومًۭا لِّلشَّيَٰطِينِ ۖ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابَ ٱلسَّعِيرِ ﴿٥﴾
Wa laqad zaiyannas samaaa'ad dunyaa bimasaa beeha wa ja'alnaahaa rujoomal lish shayaateeni wa a'tadnaa lahum 'azaabas sa'eer
And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars and have made [from] them what is thrown at the devils and have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze.
Quran 67:5 · Sahih International · Read Surah Al-Mulk
And seven earths?
ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍۢ وَمِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ ٱلْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًۢا ﴿١٢﴾
Allaahul lazee khalaq Sab'a Samaawaatinw wa minal ardi mislahunna yatanazzalul amru bainahunna lita'lamooo annal laaha 'alaa kulli shai'in Qadeerunw wa annal laaha qad ahaata bikulli shai'in ilmaa
It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them. [His] command descends among them so you may know that Allah is over all things competent and that Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge.
Quran 65:12 · Sahih International · Read Surah At-Talaq
"Of the earth, the like of them" was understood by most early scholars to mean seven earths. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever takes a hand-span of land unjustly, it will be hung around his neck from seven earths" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3198; Sahih Muslim 1610). What the seven earths are is not explained in sound texts, and scholars warned against filling the gap with guesses.
The Miraj: who is in each heaven
On the night of the Isra and Miraj, Jibril took the Prophet ﷺ up through the heavens. At each one Jibril asked for the gate to be opened, the keeper asked who was with him and whether he had been sent for, and then welcomed him. In each heaven he met prophets who greeted him: "Welcome to the righteous brother and the righteous prophet." Adam and Ibrahim said "the righteous son", as his forefathers.
| Heaven | Who the Prophet ﷺ met | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| First | Adam | On his right were the souls of his children bound for Paradise, and he laughed; on his left those bound for Hell, and he wept |
| Second | Yahya and Isa | The two cousins, together |
| Third | Yusuf | Who had been given half of all beauty (Sahih Muslim 162) |
| Fourth | Idris | The Prophet ﷺ recited: "And We raised him to a high station" (19:57) |
| Fifth | Harun | |
| Sixth | Musa | He wept that more of this ummah would enter Paradise than of his own. On the way back, he advised asking for the fifty prayers to be reduced |
| Seventh | Ibrahim | Leaning his back against al-Bayt al-Ma'mur, which seventy thousand angels enter every day, never to return |
This is the order in Sahih al-Bukhari 3207 (from Malik ibn Sa'sa'ah) and Sahih Muslim 162 (from Anas). One narration in al-Bukhari, from Sharik, gives a different order for some prophets; scholars such as Ibn Hajar judged that narration to contain errors by Sharik. Read the full night on our Isra and Miraj page.
What is above the seventh heaven
- Al-Bayt al-Ma'mur, the Frequented House, a house of worship for the angels, said by scholars to be above the Kaaba (52:4; Sahih al-Bukhari 3207).
- Sidrat al-Muntaha, the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary. Its fruits were like the clay jars of Hajar and its leaves like the ears of elephants, and four rivers came from its roots, two hidden and two visible, the Nile and the Euphrates (Sahih al-Bukhari 3207). Ibn Masud said it is where everything that rises from the earth ends, and everything that descends from above stops (Sahih Muslim 173).
- Jannah, Paradise: "Near it is the Garden of Refuge" (53:15). The highest level, al-Firdaws, is "the middle of Paradise and its highest part, and above it is the Throne of the Most Merciful" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2790). See our Jannah page.
- The Kursi, the footstool, which "extends over the heavens and the earth" (2:255).
- The Throne (al-Arsh), the greatest of all created things. "The Most Merciful [who is] above the Throne established" (20:5): Muslims affirm this as Allah has said it, without likening Him to His creation and without asking how.
وَلَقَدْ رَءَاهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَىٰ ﴿١٣﴾ عِندَ سِدْرَةِ ٱلْمُنتَهَىٰ ﴿١٤﴾ عِندَهَا جَنَّةُ ٱلْمَأْوَىٰٓ ﴿١٥﴾ إِذْ يَغْشَى ٱلسِّدْرَةَ مَا يَغْشَىٰ ﴿١٦﴾
Wa laqad ra aahu nazlatan ukhraa 'Inda sidratil muntaha 'Indahaa jannatul maawaa Iz yaghshas sidrata maa yaghshaa
(13) And he certainly saw him in another descent (14) At the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary - (15) Near it is the Garden of Refuge - (16) When there covered the Lote Tree that which covered [it].
Quran 53:13-16 · Sahih International · Read Surah An-Najm
How big are the heavens?
The Quran stresses how vast and seamless they are: "Do you see any breaks?" (67:3), and "the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander" (51:47).
A well known report says the distance between each heaven and the next is five hundred years' journey (Jami at-Tirmidhi 3298; Sunan Abi Dawud 4723, from al-Abbas). Its chains are weak, as al-Tirmidhi himself indicated and al-Albani graded, so the number should not be quoted as a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. A report comparing the heavens and earth inside the Kursi to seven coins in a shield, and the Kursi inside the Throne to a ring thrown in a desert, is graded sahih by al-Albani through its many routes, though some scholars consider it weak.
The seven heavens and science
Some writers match the seven heavens to the layers of the atmosphere, or to galaxies and "universes". These are personal readings, not tafsir. The classical scholars understood the heavens as real, created bodies above us, the nearest of which holds the stars, and said that what lies beyond is part of the unseen (al-ghayb) known through revelation. It is better to hold to what the texts say than to tie the Quran to a scientific theory that may change.
The English idiom "in seventh heaven", meaning extremely happy, comes from this shared Jewish and Islamic picture of seven heavens with the highest closest to God.
Questions
What are the 7 heavens in Islam?
Seven layered heavens created by Allah, one above another (67:3). The nearest is adorned with stars (67:5). On the Miraj, the Prophet ﷺ met Adam, Yahya and Isa, Yusuf, Idris, Harun, Musa and Ibrahim, one heaven after another.
Which prophet is in the seventh heaven?
Ibrahim, leaning against al-Bayt al-Ma'mur (Sahih al-Bukhari 3207; Sahih Muslim 162).
Is Jannah in the seventh heaven?
Paradise is above the seven heavens, near the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (53:14-15). Its highest level, al-Firdaws, lies directly below the Throne (Sahih al-Bukhari 2790).
What is the distance between the heavens?
A popular report says five hundred years between each heaven, but its chains are weak (Jami at-Tirmidhi 3298; Sunan Abi Dawud 4723). The Quran says only that they are vast and layered.
What does seventh heaven mean?
In Islam, the highest of the seven heavens, where the Prophet ﷺ met Ibrahim and beyond which lie the Lote Tree and Paradise. In English, "seventh heaven" is an idiom for great happiness, drawn from the same idea.
Sources
- Quran 2:29, 2:255, 17:44, 19:57, 20:5, 23:17, 41:12, 51:47, 52:4, 53:13-16, 65:12, 67:3, 67:5, 71:15, 78:12. Translation by Sahih International.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 349 (from Abu Dharr, on Adam in the first heaven), 2790, 3198, 3207; Sahih Muslim 162, 173, 1610. Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Tawhid, the narration of Sharik, with Ibn Hajar's comments in Fath al-Bari.
- Jami at-Tirmidhi 3298 and Sunan Abi Dawud 4723, graded weak by al-Albani. Al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, on the hadith of the Kursi and the Throne.
- Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Quran al-Azim, on 65:12 and 67:3-5; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, on the creation of the heavens.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.