Symbolism in the Holy Books, with an Emphasis on the Number of Seven in the Verse of Seven Heavens in Quran and the Apocalypse of John in the Bible

Comparative study of religion is a new branch of science, almost one-century-old, coming up with new approaches towards religious researches as in the field of comparative theology along with all of its subdivisions.
Based on these approaches, at first, this article briefly refers to the principle of symbolism both in Quran and the Bible and then it comparatively surveys the symbolic meaning of the number of seven, coming in the verse of seven heavens in the former and the Apocalypse of John in the latter. Since the Muslim scholars have had less inter-religious approaches in their studies, not so much cases of symbolic interpretations of this number could be found through their works as in those of their western counterparts. From a comparative point of view the conclusion is that the number of seven in both of the holy books conveys two meanings namely perfection and plurality.