اِنَّا Indeed We زَیَّنَّا [We] adorned السَّمَآءَ the heaven الدُّنْیَا nearest بِزِیْنَةِ with an adornment ِ۟الْكَوَاكِبِۙ (of) the stars وَ حِفْظًا And (to) guard مِّنْ against كُلِّ every شَیْطٰنٍ devil مَّارِدٍۚ rebellious لَا Not یَسَّمَّعُوْنَ they may listen اِلَی to الْمَلَاِ the assembly الْاَعْلٰی [the] exalted وَ یُقْذَفُوْنَ are pelted مِنْ from كُلِّ every جَانِبٍۗۖ side دُحُوْرًا Repelled وَّ لَهُمْ and for them عَذَابٌ (is) a punishment وَّاصِبٌۙ perpetual اِلَّا Except مَنْ (him) who خَطِفَ snatches الْخَطْفَةَ (by) theft فَاَتْبَعَهٗ but follows him شِهَابٌ a burning flame ثَاقِبٌ piercing
(37:6) We have adorned the lower heaven with the adornment of the stars5
(37:7) and have protected it from every rebellious satan.6
(37:8) These satans cannot listen to what transpires in the High Council for they are pelted away from every side
(37:9) and are repelled. Theirs is an unceasing chastisement.
(37:10) And if any is able to snatch a fragment, he is pursued by a piercing flame.7
5. By “the lower heaven” is meant the heaven nearer to us, one which we see with our naked eyes, without the aid of any external equipment such as a telescope. The worlds that can be observed with the help of telescopes, and the worlds that we have not yet been able to observe even with the help of the equipment of observation available to us are the “farther heavens”. In this regard, it ought to be clarified that sama’ is not a fixed, static object. This word and its equivalents have been used from earliest times to denote the heavens, or simply, the sphere above us.
6. The upper sphere is not an empty space that may be trespassed by anyone. On the contrary, it is strictly guarded and barriers have been erected in its various regions so that it is impossible for any rebellious devils to trespass it. Every planet has its own orbit and sphere and it is impossible for another to enter it, or for the planet itself, to move out of it. While looking around one feels that there is nothing else but space. In truth, however, this space contains numerous check posts, each of which forms a formidable barrier. One can have some idea of this by acquainting oneself with the myriad difficulties being experienced by man in his effort to reach the moon, the earth’s closest neighbor. In like manner, the jinn face insurmountable difficulties in ascending to the heavens.
7. To better appreciate this, one should recall that soothsaying was quite rampant in Arabia at that time. Such soothsayers claimed to have control over the jinn and devils, which brought to them all kinds of information. It was against this backdrop that when Muhammad (peace be on him) was designated a Prophet, he was dubbed a soothsayer for — he began to recite the verses of the Qur’an which contained information about man’s past and his future. The Prophet (peace be on him) also informed people that he received this revelation from an angel. Upon hearing this, the unbelievers immediately began to accuse him of being a practitioner of this craft and said that like other soothsayers, he too had links with the devils who informed him of tidings from on high.
The present verse refutes this charge, asserting that devils have no access to the heavens. Moreover, the devils are incapable of deriving any information from the angels. If, however, anything the angels say accidentally reaches their ears, then even before they descend to earth, they are hotly pursued by meteors. In other words, devils cannot interfere in the workings of the universe; they do not even have any access to the basic information regarding it. (For further details see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Surah al-Hijr 15: nn. 8 and 10-12, Vol. IV, pp. 284-286.)