Some Thoughts on Al-Jannah

Jannah is a word derived from Hebrew meaning ‘garden’. In Islam Adam was created in Al-Jannah, which rivers run beneath, for some reason, located above us in one of the seven skies. It would appear that the word was used in the sense of ‘garden’ in Arabic although there is a native word hadiqah. Muslims believe that Adam was created there but they also believe that there are those who end up in the Jannah. In Jewish thinking, Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) is that part of Sheol (the Underworld) reserved for the righteous dead, and which is down, not up. In Hebrew translations of the New Testament we find in Luke 23:43 אמן אמר אני לך כי היום תהיה עמדי בגן עדן׃ “Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in Gan Eden.” The Quran speaks of Al-Jannah THE Jannah, but the plural is used in a number of places, and it also speaks of TWO jannahs. It also speaks of Jannat ‘Adn, the Gardens of Eden, in the plural, as in S 18:31.