Basra, one of the Successors—said: “The sky is like a dome over the earth.”
Imam Abū al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn al-Munādī, an eminent scholar renowned for his knowledge of transmitted reports and his major writings in the various religious sciences, and belonging to the second generation of Ahmad’s followers, said:
“There is no disagreement among the scholars that the sky is spherical and revolves, together with all the celestial bodies within it, like a sphere turning upon two fixed, motionless poles: one to the north and the other to the south.”
He said:
“This is indicated by the fact that all the celestial bodies revolve from the east, shifting little by little in a uniform order in their movements and the measures of their segments, until they reach the middle of the sky. They then descend in that same order, as though fixed within a sphere that turns them all together in a single revolution.”
He said:
“They likewise unanimously agreed that the earth, with all its movements, on land and at sea, is like a sphere.”
He said:
“This is indicated by the fact that the sun, moon, and celestial bodies do not rise and set at the same time for everyone throughout the earth. Rather, they do so in the east before the west.”
He said:
“The terrestrial sphere is fixed at the centre of the celestial sphere, like a point within a circle. This is indicated by the fact that each celestial body appears the same size in every part of the sky. This therefore indicates that the distance between heaven and earth in all