5) The Return is in the First Heaven

5) The Return is in the First Heaven

Perhaps an ignorant person would think that the first heaven is a physical heaven, or that it is the blue sky that is surrounding us that we can see with our eyes, just as many Shia and Sunni interpreters have thought.

But the truth is that this is not the case, for it is an ideal heaven, and it cannot be seen with the eye.

In the book Maa Abd Al-Saalih [With the Virtuous Servant], Sayed Ahmed Al-Hasan explains this as follows:

The first sky cannot be seen with the eye, may God grant you success. The temporal heaven is divided into a first heaven and a physical heaven. The souls of the people are within the first heaven. The human physical bodies that can be seen with the eye are in the physical heaven. This is a matter that I have explained previously in other books, and I have explained this often to the Ansar.^[8]

The physical heaven consists of these galaxies, planets and suns that can be seen; it can also be called the earth. In other words, the entire physical heaven is sometimes called the earth.

And it is another world that is not related to time and space. He pbuh says:

It has nothing to do with dimensions. It does not have space or time, and it has nothing to do with either space or time.

Even the words that we use in our world cannot accurately describe it, because it is another world. He says:

The problem is that it is another world, so it cannot be accurately described with words that are actually from this world. Words are used to describe this world and they cannot completely describe the other world, no matter what words are used, because they were not designed to describe it. These words are not a part of it. Rather, they are foreign to it (Al-Hasan, 2010d).

Also, Sayed Ahmad Al-Hasan pbuh clarified that the first heaven is among the seven heavens that have been mentioned in the six days of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and he clarified that it is where the Return occurs. He said:

And we should take note that the first heaven is the end of the temporal heaven. In other words, the temporal heaven starts in this physical world, and ends at the beginning of the spiritual, heavenly world. This means that its end is a connecting point. and this end, or connecting point, is the first heaven. In the Ziyara Al-Jamia [The Universal Visitation] it says: “. . . and the Proofs of God over the people of the temporal world, and the hereafter and the First . . .” (Al-Qumi 1997, 678).

In the Quran, the Almighty says: {And He is God; there is no deity except Him. To Him is [due all] praise in the First and the Hereafter. And the judgement is His, and to Him you will be returned} Quran Chapter “The Stories” 28:70. And God says: {And you have already known the first creation, so will you not remember?} Quran Chapter “The Inevitable” 56:62.

There are two worlds in the First: al-Tharr, and the Return. The First contains the souls. God Almighty has not looked at the world of bodies since He created it, as the Prophet of God pbuhap has said. The focal point begins at the end of the world of bodies, which is the end of the temporal heaven. This end is the first heaven.

The Almighty says: {And We have created above you seven layers, and never have We been of [Our] creation unaware} Quran Chapter “The Believers” 17:17. The seven layers are the seven heavens, starting from the first heaven and going up to the seventh heaven. The temporal, physical heaven is not part of the seven heavens. This is because it is not above us. Rather, we are in it. It encompasses us, is under and above us, and surrounds us from every direction of the earth: {They urge you to hasten the punishment. And indeed, Hell encompasses the disbelievers} Quran Chapter “The Spider” 29:54. It will soon become clear to you, in what follows, the reason I have cited this verse here.

This means that if the heavens are counted in this manner they become eight, not seven. However, the physical, temporal world is not included as it is a part of the temporal heaven, which includes a first heaven and a physical heaven. Therefore, if the First, or the temporal heaven, is mentioned, then it is included because it is part of it, or it belongs to it.

The physical heaven is sometimes considered as part of the earth, and sometimes as part of the temporal heaven, because it is the observable side of it. The earth is in the physical heaven, rather all seven earths are there, including the seventh earth (hell). Likewise, paradise is in the second heaven. As for the earthly paradise (Adam's paradise), it exists within the First [heaven]. This is because the First, as I have clarified, is part of the temporal heaven-and the First is the kingdom of the temporal heaven.

Al-Hussain Ibn Maysar said: I asked Abu Abdullah pbuh about Adam’s pbuh paradise. He said: “It is one of the paradises of this temporal world. The sun and moon rise in it, and if it were one of the other paradises, he would have never been cast out of it” (Al-Kulayni 1944, vol. 3, 247).

{And We adorned the temporal heaven with lamps and as protection} Quran Chapter “Explained in Detail” 41:12. The lamps are the prophets, messengers, and guardians pbut. They protect their followers from the whispers of the devils through divine teachings and morals that they have taught the people. And their appearance in the physical heaven is marked by the bright planets and suns. How vast is the darkness in the sky, and how few are the stars compared to the darkness. And we find it to be similar on the earth-how few are the prophets, and how numerous are the ones that disobey them, fight them, turn away from them, and do not support them. The prophets, messengers, guardians, and their supporters are always few, just like the scarcity of stars in the physical heaven.

And at the end of the greatest celestial motion (I mean the arc of descent) and the beginning of its ascent toward the hereafter, this physical world will begin transforming into hellfire and burn. Whoever has chosen the ornaments of the earth, their punishment is their return to what they chose, as they disobeyed God on account of it, or let us say on account of their staying in it, because hellfire will be raging with their deeds, actions and oppression.

And now the purpose of this previous verse is clear to you: {They urge you to hasten the punishment. And indeed, Hell encompasses the disbelievers} Quran Chapter “The Spider” 29:54.

And at the beginning of the ascension (the arc of descension), the World of the Return will begin. It is another world and another test for whoever was pure in faith or pure in disbelief. The World of the Return starts with the end of the rule of the twelfth Mahdi pbuh-the Qaim, for whom Al-Hussain pbuh will emerge (Al-Hasan 2010a, vol. 4, 175).

Sayed Ahmad Al-Hasan pbuh also says:

I hope you will note that the Return takes place in the temporal heaven, because the temporal heaven is divided into the physical heaven and the first heaven. The Return happens in the first heaven. I have mentioned this important fact for you to take note because some ignorant people probably think that the temporal heaven is only this physical heaven, whereas the physical heaven is only part of the temporal heaven as I have explained previously in some of my books, may God grant you success. Also, some of them probably think that the first heaven is the physical heaven, whereas they are different, even though the two of them together form the temporal heaven.

If this is clear, then we can understand the meaning of the Return occurring in the temporal world as mentioned in the following narration:

Imam Al-Sadiq pbuh said: The first one who the earth will split for and who returns to the temporal world is Al-Hussain, son of Ali pbut. The Return is not general, but specific. No one returns except the ones who were completely pure in faith or completely pure in disbelief (Al-Hilli 1950, 24).

The temporal world here is not the physical world or the heaven of the physical world, but it is the first heaven, and it is clear now as to why it has been called the temporal world.