as though they were two bulls in the fire of Hell.” Allah Most High says:

“The sun and the moon move by precise reckoning,”

like the pivot of a millstone. He also says:

“You will see no disparity in the creation of the Most Merciful.”

Among bodily shapes, this holds only for rounded forms, not polygons, whether triangular, square, or otherwise. A polygon has disparities, since its corners differ from its straight sides, whereas a rounded body is uniform on every side and in every direction, with no part differing from another.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, addressed the Bedouin who said, “We seek your intercession with Allah, and we seek Allah’s intercession with you.” He replied:

“Woe to you! Allah is not to be sought as an intercessor with any of His creation. His majesty is far greater than that. His Throne is above His heavens like this”—and he made a dome-like gesture with his hand—“and it creaks beneath Him as a new saddle creaks beneath its rider.”

Abū Dāwūd and others narrated this from Jubayr ibn Mut‘im, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayrah reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When you ask Allah for Paradise, ask Him for al-Firdaws, for it is the highest and most central part of Paradise, and its roof is the Throne of the Most Merciful.”

He thus stated that al-Firdaws is both the highest and the most central part. This is possible only in a rounded form. In a square or a similar shape, its middle is not its highest point; rather, it is all level.

As for the consensus of the scholars, Iyās ibn Mu‘āwiyah—the renowned imam and judge of