well i was asking you guys that question. But mr AQ said "UP IN THE HEAVEN" by saying up it means "SKY" cuz theres nothing else up there except sky and i was watching this doc on space other day n tell u the truth there was no heaven up on sky....
Peace Faru
Welcome to Gupshup! I would like to clarify a few things first.
There are certain things in Islam which are quite solid and one of those is the concept of UP and how it relates to a domain of height and thus outwardness from the Earth.
It is an established belief that Earth is the lowest of physical domains, meaning it is the inner most to us. Also when speaking about the spiritual domain it needs to be given a parameter in reference to the physical domain. This is where metaphysics comes in.
Accordingly, it is clear that the limits of the physical world is where our perception of it becomes limited. We can physically perceive i.e. observe the limits of the skies beyond them is not perceivable we cannot measure nor can we comprehend those things, but we can imagine and conceptualise them. This process puts in place another realm a realm of belief in the unseen. That what we can perceive with our inner vision.
Jannah is literally translated to 'garden' but beyond the samawaat (skies) there are these things by faith. However, your documentary can only talk about what is within the first sama' the first layer of sky which is everything that we can fathom with our physical faculties.
In the time of Muhammad (SAW) a mute woman was asked where God was, she pointed to the sky and Muhammad (SAW) called her a believer. This is evidence that UP is the correct understanding for those things Ghaib. Becuase UP is actually outward and outward is distance from us and the greater the distance from us the lower grasp we have of it the lowest grasp are of those things ghaib which are ... unseen.
Allah (SWT) is the Most High ... we can understand this in both physical terms and allegorical terms.
For height is a position of authority and rank rulership and control just like a heirachy diagram, but height is compounded physically too, we put Qur'an in high places out of reverence, the podium is a high place.
Height also has strategic advantage it is the vantage point from where the greatest field of view can be reconciled. So both literally and allegorically we can understand that height is superior.
Furthermore in the Qur'an, Allah (SWT) states He Rose over the Arsh. Over provides the understanding of that which is under is in a position of controlled and in servitude. But it also demonstrates the outwardness that Allah (SWT) encapsulates all but nothing can encapsulate him.
Also linguistically in Arabic there is a grammatical construct known as a mudhaf:mudhaf ilay which is the possessed: possessor construct. One example is Rasulullah.
That means Prophet of God. It is a rule that a general noun like Rasul cannot be preceded by the letters Al i.e. Al-Rasul means 'The Prophet' because this is a definite condition of that noun. So nothing in the definite state can be part of the mudaf, mudafilay construct. Allah (SWT) is a name which is always in the definite state, additionally it begins with the letters Alif and Laam. Accordingly nothing therefore can put Allah the word in a condition of possessed and in actual terms this is also true Allah (SWT) cannot be possessed or contained by anything, because in order for that to happen it would need to be bigger than what occupies it. But we know that Allah (SWT) is The Most Great.
Allah (SWT) encapsulates and for us that means UP and hence every reference to a domain in the ghaib needs to be UP.
I hope this makes sense.