Above the throne of God is the ninth sphere (ârsh).
“He created the heavens and the earths in ten days, and then took rest upon his throne.”
The throne of God, the seven stories of heaven, and the seven âshîánah (nests, houses) of the earth are firm, and having taken their rest, do not move in any way, and are absolutely without motion.
All that has been enumerated did not exist in the beginning; the Almighty God created them without elementary matter by the action of his wisdom and absolute power. When the day of resurrection arrives, he shall fold together the heavens, and change the earth for another earth, and plunge the heavenly sphere and the earth into nothing. The earth of the resurrection will be like an earth of pure silver, and in this earth nobody shall have committed a crime. As the happy Abd ullah says:
“On the day when the earth shall be changed for another earth, that is, shall be changed for an earth of white silver, where no blood shall be shed, and no crimes shall be committed.”
On the day of resurrection, heaven and hell shall be made ready; the dispersed members shall again form their body and be reunited; and the soul shall again take possession of them. Some shall be carried to heaven, others to hell. The first of mankind who was created was Adam; he was the father of men; his body was of earth; Adam was the father of all bodies, and Muhammed the father of all spirits.
“I was a prophet and a man, between water and earth;”
and all existence was brought forth according to, and in dependance upon, the existence of the prophet Muhammed.
The angels have wings to fly, with which they cross in one minute a distance of one thousand years’ journey. Satan was brought forth from fire, and was accursed on account of disobedience.[529]
This is the greatest part of the creed professed by the people of Islam. They are divided into many sects. According to the account of some belonging to the persuasion of the Sonna and the Jamáât, the Mulla Muhammed Mâsúm, of Kashghar,[530] was a learned and virtuous man, and one of those who followed the doctrine of Hanefí, to whom he attached himself so much as to choose him for his master. His origin was from Badkahshán, and his name Shaikh Hossan; he always studied the Koran, the traditions, and other books of religion and law, and regulated his conduct after them; in such way he passed the day; he kept frequent fasts, never read poems nor listened to stories, and if any body uttered before him speeches of worldly people, he became angry. He was very cautious with the Shiâhs, and admitted them not to his house. The author of this book asked him, in Lahore: “What is the cause of the aversion which you always show to the Shiâhs.” He replied: “I was originally a Shiâh, and therefore conformed myself to that creed. One night I saw in a dream the lord Imâm Hossen, the son of the lord Alí, the son of Abí Taleb, and asked him about the real truth of religion; he enjoined me: ‘Be a Sonni, and keep away from the inconstant, for they are heretics and idolators of my person, and then utter unbecoming words against the heads of religion, Abubekr, Omar, and Osman, and by such an illusion they lost the right way: the way of truth is the doctrine of the Sonnites and the Jamáât.’”