Questions about islamic metaphysics

When the quran or islam describe god/allah, the paradise/jannah, angels etc... as residing in the 7th heaven/sky (or maybe on lower heavens), are these places meant to be in the philosophical metaphysical sense of being outside space time, or are they understood to be physical places in our universe (if there is a 7th century definition of universe or cosmos) that are just too far away for humans to reach without divine intervention or miracle, and same question about hell? And concerning the soul and body, did islam empathise bodily resurrection in the day of judgment, because it couldn't describe souls living without body in a metaphysical sense, and hence the 'azab al qaber (punishment on the grave) that developed later would have understood that the soul remain in the dead body, so the dead body can still feel even if unable to do anything else, so can experience reward or punishment while in the grave? Was the god in islam understood just as an omnipotent being, who can do anything, and alter physical realities by "kun fa yakun" (just ordering something to happen, and the thing immediately happening)? And was it understood that this creator can create from nothing (ex-nihillo) or just alter physical things? Because if I'm not wrong, god in the quran is never described as having a moment where he is completely alone with nothing else in existence, in quran (11:7) he is describe as having his throne on water. In other verses he is described as creating humans from clay, not from nothing. But I think I may be wrong in my final question, and there could be other verses where God is described as creating from nothing.