A roof, protected

The ayah in tafsir

Saqf mahfuz: a roof that is guarded — from falling, from the shayatin, from collapse. Al-raj: that which returns — rain, according to many; or the turning of the stars. People turn away from the signs of that roof.

What later eyes saw

The atmosphere is a thin roof: it burns small rocks, holds breathable air, sheds the worst of the sun, and returns water in the rain. Magnetosphere and ozone are later names for parts of that hifz. The sky that “returns” is a fair name for a water cycle and for a layer that bounces radio and heat.

Where we stop

Mahfuz in the tafsir is also the guarding from devils in the higher sky. Do not flatten the unseen into ozone. Both the physical roof and the guarded heaven are in the Book.