Al-Ṭabarānī also transmitted it (1) with the wording raised to the Prophet, through the chain of Muʿāwiyah ibn Qurrah from Ibn ʿAbbās.

Taken together, these ḥadiths are virtually mass-transmitted in affirming the existence of seven earths. What is intended is that each lies above the other, and—according to the scholars of cosmology—the one below is situated at the centre of the one above, until the sequence ends with the seventh earth. This last earth is solid, with no cavity, and in its middle is the centre-point: an imagined, theoretical dot that is the resting place of heavy bodies. Everything that falls from every direction ultimately descends to it, unless something obstructs it.

The scholars differ as to whether the earths are piled atop one another with no separation, or whether a void (2) exists between each one and the next—two opinions, the same dispute that applies to the celestial spheres. The more apparent view is that a distance separates every earth from the one above it, in keeping with the plain sense of Allah’s words: “Allah is the One who created seven heavens, and of the earth the like thereof; His command descends among them” (al-Ṭalāq 65:12).

Imām Aḥmad said (3): Suraij narrated to us; al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAbd al-Malik narrated to us; from Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:

While we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a cloud passed overhead. He asked, “Do you know what this is?” We replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “It is the anān—the cloud that bears the reservoirs (4) of the earth. Allah drives it to servants of His who neither thank Him nor supplicate to Him. Do you know what is above you?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “The raqīʿ: waves held back, a protected roof. Do you know how far there is between you and it?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “A distance of five hundred years.”

He then asked, “Do you know what lies above that?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Another span of five hundred years,” and he went on until he had counted seven heavens.

He then said, “Do you know what is above that?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “The Throne. Do you know how far it is between it and the seventh heaven?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “A distance of five hundred years.”

He then asked, “Do you know what is beneath you?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “One earth. Do you know what is beneath it?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Another earth. Do you know how far it is between the two?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “A distance of seven hundred years,” until he counted seven earths.

Then he declared, “By Allah, were one of you to be lowered down with a rope to the lowest, seventh earth, he would continue descending until he reached it.” He then recited: “He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, and He is All-Knowing of everything” (al-Ḥadīd 57:3).

Al-Tirmidhī also reported it (6) from ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and several others, from Yūnus ibn Muḥammad al-Muʾaddib, from Shaybān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Qatādah, who said: al-Ḥasan related it from Abū Hurayrah, and mentioned the ḥadith—except that he stated that the distance between each