The noble angels surround it, foremost among them the cherubim—peace be upon them—whose resonant voices rise in sanctification and exaltation.

The expanses of the heavens are likewise filled with angels: each day seventy thousand of them arrive at the Much-Frequented House in the seventh heaven, never to return to it again. Their parting act is the proclamation of la ilaha illa Allah, praise, magnification, and blessings and salutations.

He spread the earth for all living beings upon a coursing stream of water, fixed upon it towering mountains, blessed it, and apportioned its provisions in four days before creating the heaven. Within it He established two of every pair as a sign for people of discernment—supplying His servants with all they need in winter and summer, and with every beast they require and possess.

He began the creation of man from clay and made his offspring from an extract of a lowly fluid, lodged in a secure abode. He then made him hearing and seeing, after he had been nothing worth mentioning, and honored him with knowledge and instruction.

With His noble Hand He created Adam, the father of humanity: He shaped his form, breathed into him of His Spirit, and caused His angels to prostrate to him. From him He created his wife Eve, the mother of humankind, comforting his solitude, lodging them both in His Garden, and showering them with His favor. Then He sent them down to the earth, in keeping with the wisdom He had decreed. From the two of them He spread many men and women, dividing them by His tremendous decree into kings and subjects, poor and rich, free and enslaved, freeborn women and bondmaids. He settled them across the length and breadth of the earth, making them successive generations who replace one another until the Day of Reckoning and the presentation before the All-Wise, the All-Knowing.

He subdued for them rivers from every land, cutting through regions toward cities great and small, in proportion to their needs and purposes. He caused springs and wells to gush forth, sent clouds laden with rain, and produced for them every variety of crop and fruit.

He bestowed upon them all that they asked for—whether by the tongue of speech or the tongue of their very condition:

“And if you were to count the favors of Allah, you could never enumerate them; indeed, mankind is most unjust and ungrateful.” (Qur’an 14:34)

So exalted is the Generous, the Most Great, the Forbearing.