Allahu allathee khalaqa sabAAa samawatin wamina al-ardi mithlahunna yatanazzalu al-amru baynahunna litaAAlamoo (surah Talaq: 12)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(65:12) Allah it is He Who created seven heavens, and, like them, the earth. *23 His commandment descends among them. (All this is being stated so that you know) that Allah has power over everything, and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge.

Allaahul lazee khalaq Sab`a Samaawaatinw wa minal ardi mislahunna yatanazzalul amru bainahunna lita`lamooo annal laaha `alaa kulli shai`in Qadeerunw wa annal laaha qad ahaata bikulli shai`in ilmaa

*23) "Also their like-- does not mean that He created as many earths as the heavens, but it means that He has also created several earths as He has created several heavens. "Of the earth- mean that just as this earth which is inhabited by man is serving as bed and cradle for the creatures living on it, so has AIlah made and set other earths also in the universe, which serve as beds and cradles for the creatures living on them. Moreover, there arc clear pointers in the Qur'an to the effect that living creatures are not found only on the earth but also in the heavens. (For instance, sec .Ash-Shura: 29 and E.N. SO on it). In other words! the countless stars and planets seen in the sky are not all lying desolate, but like the earth there are many among them which are inhabited.
From among the earliest commentators Ibn 'Abbas is the one, who had expressed this truth in the period when man was not even prepared to imagine that in the miverse there are other habitats also, apart from the earth, where rational creatures live. Even the scientists of today are yet in doubt about this being a reality, nothing to say of the people living 1500 years ago, That is why Ibn 'Abbas felt hesitant about whether he should say such a thing before the common people ar not, because he feared it might affect their 'faith. Mujahid says that when he was asked the meaning of this verse, he said: "If I give you the commentary of this verse, you will turn disbelievers, and your disbelief will be that you will deny it." Almost the same thing has been related from Sa'id bin Jubair, saying; 'Ibn 'Abbas said: what can be the guarantee that if I tell you its meaning, you would not turn disbelievers?" (lbn Jarir, 'Abd bin Humaid). However, Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Hakim and Baihaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman and Kitab al-Asma' was Sifat have cited, on the authority of Abud-Doha, this 'commentary from Ibn 'Abbas in different words: "In each of those earths there is a Prophet like your Prophet, an Adam like your Adam, a Noah like your Noah, an Abraham like your Abraham, and a Jesus like your Jesus." This tradition has been related by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bat and by Ibn Kathir in his Commentary, and Imam Dhahbi says: "It has been reported authentically, but in my knowledge none apart from Abud-Doha has related it; therefore, it is an uncommon and rare tradition." Some other scholars regard it as a falsehood and Mulla 'AIi; Qari, in his Maudu at Kabir (p. 19), has described it as a fabrication, and written: `Even if it is a tradition from Ibn 'Abbas, it is based on Israelite traditions." But the truth is that the actual reason why the people have rejected it is their regarding it as remote from reason and beyond understanding; otherwise there is nothing in it which may by itself be opposed to reason. Thus, 'Allama Alusi in his discussion of it in his commentary writes: "There is neither any intellectual barrier to taking it as correct nor religious. It only means that in every earth there is a creation which turns to its origin just as mankind in our earth turns to Adam (peace be upon him). and in every earth there are individuals, who are distinguished among others just as the Prophets Noah and Abraham (peace be upon them) are distinguished among us. " A little below the 'Allama writes: "The earths may be more than seven, and likewise the heavens also may not be only seven. To rest content with the number seven, which is an indivisible integer, does not necessarily negate the higher numbers." Then, about the distances between one heaven and another, which have been stated as five hundred years or so in some Ahadith. the 'Allama says: "This is not meant to gIve the exact measurement of the distances, but to express the tnrth in a manner easily comprehensible to the people."
It would be interesting to note that lately the hand Corporation of America have estimated on the basis of their astronomical observations that only in the Galaxy to which our earth belongs there arc about 600,000,000 (six hundred million) planets physical conditions on which closely resemble those on the earth, and there is a possibility that they may also be inhabited just as is the earth by living creatures. (Economist, London 26July, 1969).