assamawaati
WHY DO WE USE THE WORD “GALACTIC HEAVENS” INSTEAD OF “HEAVENS” IN THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY QUR’AAN?
When translating the Qur’aan, one should select word(s) that bring out the strength and depth of the Arabic text. Now most people translate the Arabic word “assamawaati” as “heavens” but a more accurate translation would be “galactic heavens”. Why???? The Hans-Wehr Arabic-English Dictionary on page 432 defines assamawaati as “the highest heaven”:
Assamawaati “THE GALACTIC HEAVENS” is inclusive of the following: the planet earth, all the six spheres which are (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, exosphere), the meteorites, planets, stars, sun, galaxies, comets, etc. The galactic heavens reach up until the point of the Spiritual realm. The galactic heavens are the dimensions for man and all his dimensions on the physical plane. So you can see why the Arabic word assamawaati should be translated as “THE GALACTIC HEAVENS” rather than “THE HEAVENS”. You see the English word “galactic” in connection with “heavens” brings out the strength and depth of the Arabic word “assamawaati” far more than just translating it as “heavens”. The word “galactic heavens” helps picturesquely create in your mind the depth of all that exists in the heavens on the physical plane and we all know that Allah created such dimensions that are so vast, the mind of mortal man cannot conceive. . .I must repeat, the translation “galactic heavens” is perfect and far more superior than just “heavens”. Any scientist would agree with this point, for the simple fact that it is more scientific and it fits the context better. The Arabic word assamawaati is found in the following places (Qur’aan 2:107, 116-117, 164, 255, 284; 3:190; 5:17, 18; 6:1, 3, 14, 101; 7:54; 10:3, 55, 66, 68; 13:2; 15:85; 17:99; 21:30; 22:18; 24:35, 64; 25:59; 27:65; 31:10; 35:44; 40:57; 42:5, 12, 29), just to name few. I would like to provide a few examples and compare our translation with others:
The Arabic word “assamaa (galactic heaven)” is singular for “assamawaati (galactic heavens”. Below I have provided an example of the word in singular form:
I would advise you to study various video tapes/documentaries on astronomy with good graphics, so you can deepen your knowledge of Allah’s creation. I want to quickly illustrate some points so that you can get a grasp of how vast assamawaati (the galactic heavens) is. At this point in time, the fastest speed that we know of is the speed of light. Let me illustrate how fast the speed of light is: if we travel at the speed of light around the earth, it would take the snap of a finger to make it around the earth only once; if we travel to the moon from earth at the speed of light it would take 1.3 seconds; if we travel to the sun from earth at the speed of light it would take about 8 minutes; this is how fast the speed of light is. Now if we travel the distance of the Milky Way (which is our galaxy) from end to end at the speed of light, it would take us a 100, 000 (One Hundred Thousand) years. This is how large our Milky Way galaxy is; it will actually take us 100, 000 years to travel from end to end at the speed of light. 100, 00 thousand years is a long time, much longer than the natural human life expectancy and note I am just talking about one galaxy, The Milky Way. And there are millions to trillions of galaxies within a given universe and as time goes on, new galaxies are being created, and this is a fact that has been documented by scientists. Can’t you see how great and vast the assamawaati (galactic heavens) is and Allah has created 7 assamawaati (galactic heavens). We cannot even conceive how large/vast are the boundaries and limits of assamawaati (galactic heavens) and especially all the 7 assamawaati (galactic heavens) are. . .This right here should deepen your understanding as to the reason why “assamawaati” should be translated as “galactic heavens” rather than just “heavens”. The translation “galactic heavens” brings out the strength and depth of the Arabic word “assamawaati” when the English word “heavens” does not. I would like to give a few more examples. If we wanted to travel to the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way at the speed of light, it would take 2 million years to get there; our solar system consists of the circumference or space of the sun and all the planets that orbit around the sun. Now, we know that our solar system is huge. I do not have to go in depth for you to understand how humongous our solar system is, but if you want to compare it to the size of our Milky Way (which is just one galaxy), it would be the size of the area of a coffee cup; there are perhaps 200 billion stars within our own galaxy: The Milky Way, and again there are millions to trillions of galaxies in one universe and Allah says that He has created 7 “assamawaati”, so can you now see again, the reason why we translate this Arabic word as “galactic heavens” instead of “heavens”. I would like to give another example. Deep into the universe, there are quasars that emit or give off as much energy every second as our sun could radiate in 10 million years and the source of a quasar’s power is still unknown. I must contend, again, that there is no doubt that the Arabic word “assamawaati” should be translated as “galactic heavens” instead of just “heavens”. There are places in the Qur’aan where we translate “assamawaati (galactic heavens)” as “boundless universes” and this is directly due to the context in which the word is used. You see Allah says that He created 7 “assamawaati (galactic heavens)”. I want to reiterate the fact that we cannot even fathom how vast that is. Stop for a minute to allow this manifest reality to incubate. . .Because these verses are describing ALL the “assamawaati (galactic heavens)” and we, as mortal man and mortal woman cannot come close to conceive the boundaries and limits of the physical universes and Allah has created 7 “assamawaati (galactic heavens)”, for these reasons we translate these verses (Qur’aan 17:44; 39:67; 41:12; 65:12; 67:3; 71:15; 23:17; 78:12), just to name a few, as “boundless universes” rather than “galactic heavens”, below are some examples: Allah, who is so Great and Mighty says that He has all the “assamawaati” folded within His right hand (Qur’aan 39:67) and because this verse is referring to ALL the “assamawaati”, we too in this verse translate the Arabic word as “boundless universes”: As vast are the boundaries and limits of all the 7 assamawaati (galactic heavens), where it is to the point, beyond human comprehension, it is so, and I mean so small and minute to Allah, our Majestic Creator and Master. All the 7 “assamawaati (galactic heavens/boundless universes)” that Allah has created are folded within His right hand, Praise Be To Allah Most Glorified And Exalted. One may ask the following question: IF WE TRAVEL FAR ENOUGH IN THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE, CAN WE MAKE IT TO THE SPIRITUAL SIDE? The answer is NO, we cannot travel all the way to the Spiritual side or 
