A012
Surah: 078 - Ayah: 012
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78:12
Abwab al-jannah (The eight gates of paradise)
God says in verse (78:12): "And We have built above you seven strong (heavens)." According to us these seven strong heavens are spiritual heavens which, due to being with the Holy Spirit and the Perfect Intellect, are also the seven paradises, and when paradise is created in the personal world of the salik, together they become eight paradises
As a result of the rewarding study of the last Book of God, the analysis of the symbols used by the authorities in religion and the sufic experience (i.e. spiritual experience), it can be said that, in addition to the human beings inhabiting this planet, there are eight other groups of human beings. Among them, one invisible group is on this planet and the other seven live on other planets. The bodies of these eight kinds of spiritual entities (ruhaniyyun) can be of different substances, free from heat, cold, wetness and dryness. If you wish you can call them angels, spiritual entities, human beings of other planets, creatures of paradise, etc. For, their reality is the same. In the beginning they were human beings and even now their features are (like) human beings. The only difference is that they have reached the highest stages of the subjugation of the universe and have attained the recognition (marifat) of their Sustainer (rabb) and the universe created by Him through the recognition of their own selves. Thus, they are favoured by their Sustainer.
The first proof of this reality according to the Speech of God, the Majestic, is: “And We have built (banayna) above you seven (kinds of) strong ones” (78:12). It is obvious that there is definitely a difference between “khalaqa'l-insan (He created the man)” and “bana'l-bayt (He built the house)”. Thus, in this verse is meant the creation of these seven kinds of celestial human beings [in contradistinction to the creation of earthly human beings]. Further, the purport of using “banayna (We built)” instead of “khalaqna (We created)” for their creation, is to show that they are like living abodes of our Hereafter, as it is evident from the Speech of God, the Absloute Wise: “Indeed the abode of the Hereafter is living, if they but knew” (29:64). The reason for calling them “strong” is their everlasting position, for they are the abode of survival.
This verse has been referred 2 times.