His grasp, and they are too small for their relation to Him to be like that of the celestial sphere to what it contains.

The seventh argument: It is established in the two Sahīh collections that Abū Dharr said:

“I entered the mosque while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sitting there. When the sun set, he said, ‘O Abū Dharr, do you know where this sun goes?’ I replied, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It goes and prostrates beneath the Throne, then seeks permission and is granted it. It is as though it has already been told, “Return from where you came,” whereupon it rises from the west.’”

Since the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has stated that it prostrates every night beneath the Throne, and it is known that its condition differs by night and day even though its movement through its orbit is of the same kind, and that its being beneath the Throne does not itself change—the difference being only one of relation and reference—it follows that variations in relations and references do not undermine what is in itself constant and unchanging.

This also makes clear the answer to what Ibn Hazm and others have raised concerning the hadith of the descent, in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven