The sun and moon are in the celestial sphere, as Allah, Most High, has told us; they do not move from one heaven to another. The heavens are not connected to the earth, whether at Mount Qāf or anywhere else. Rather, the celestial spheres are round, as Allah and His Messenger have told us and as Muslim scholars and others have stated. Abū al-Husayn ibn al-Munādī, Abū Muhammad ibn Hazm, Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī and others have reported the consensus of Muslims that the celestial spheres are round.

Regarding His words,

“Each is floating in an orbit,”

Ibn ‘Abbās said: “In a circular form, like the whorl of a spindle.” In Arabic, falak denotes something round. The expression tafallaka thady al-jāriya means that a young woman’s breast has become rounded.

Allah created seven earths, one above another, as established in the authentic hadith collections from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“Whoever wrongfully takes a handspan of land will, on the Day of Resurrection, be made to wear a collar of it from seven earths.”

Abū Bakr al-Anbārī reported consensus on this, by which he meant the consensus of the people of hadith and Sunnah. Beneath the Throne is a sea, as related in the hadiths and mentioned in Quranic exegesis. Allah has also told us that He created the heavens and the earth in six days, and His Throne was upon the water.

The Throne is above all created things. It is the roof of the Garden of Eden, which is the highest part of Paradise, as established in the two Sahih collections from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“When you ask Allah for Paradise, ask Him for al-Firdaws, for it is the highest part of Paradise, and its roof is the Throne of the Most Merciful.”