The Quran

اللَّهُ الَّذي خَلَقَ سَبعَ سَماواتٍ وَمِنَ الأَرضِ مِثلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ الأَمرُ بَينَهُنَّ لِتَعلَموا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَديرٌ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَد أَحاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيءٍ عِلمًا

Ali Unal

God is He Who has created seven heavens and of the earth the like of them; His commands (concerning the creation and its operation, and the life of the inhabitants of the heavens and earth) descend through them,¹ so that you may know for certain that surely God has full power over everything, and that God indeed encompasses all things in (His) Knowledge.

The earth and the heavens are like two countries, under one government, that conduct important relations and transactions. For example, He directs the affair from heaven to the earth; then the affair ascends to Him in a day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you reckon (32: 5; and see note 4). Moreover, the earth needs the light, heat, blessings, and forms of mercy (like rain) sent from the heavens. Also, as all Revealed religions confirm, angels and spirit beings descend to the earth for certain purposes. Thus, we may deduce that the inhabitants of the earth can ascend to the heavens.
People can travel to the heavens via their minds, visions, and imaginations. Freed from, or purified of, their carnal and material being’s gross heaviness, the spirits of Prophets and saints travel in such realms; our Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, traveled through all the realms of the heavens with his spirit and body, which gained the refinement of spirit; this is what we call the Ascension (Mi’rāj). And God lifted up Jesus, upon him be peace, with both his spirit and body to the heavens. The spirits of ordinary people do so after death, and then are returned to the intermediate realm (between this world and the next). Since those who are “lightened” and have acquired “subtlety” and spiritual refinement travel there, certain inhabitants of the earth may go to the heavens if they are clothed in an “ideal” body, energetic envelope, or immaterial body or form, and are light and subtle like spirits. And also, humankind can physically travel to the heavens.
The earth, as Said Nursi describes it (The Words, “15th Word,” 195), despite its small size and insignificance when compared with the heavens, is the heart and center of the universe with respect to its meaning and art, for it is our cradle and dwelling place. Moreover, it exhibits all the miracles of the Divine Names and concentrates and reflects God’s infinite activity as the Master, Sustainer, Trainer, and Ruler of all beings. It is also the center and pivot of the endless Divine creativity displayed in infinite liberality, particularly in the numerous small plant and animal species, as well as in the microcosm of samples of all that is found in the Hereafter’s truly vast worlds: the speedily operating workshop for eternal textiles, the fast-changing place of copies of eternal scenes, and the narrow, temporary field and tillage that rapidly produces seeds for the permanent Gardens (in the Hereafter).
Due to this immaterial greatness and importance with respect to art, the wise Qur’ān puts the earth on a par with the heavens, although it is like the tiny fruit of a huge tree when compared with the heavens. It places the earth on one side of the scales, and the heavens on the other, and repeatedly says, the “Lord of the heavens and the earth” (mentioning both together).