and ceases to exist in proportion to what ceases to exist of these things. Whenever any of these things is added, His light increases, gathers together, and comes into existence. But if he means that Allah’s light remains after the heavens and the earth pass away, yet nothing appears within it, then what is it that appears after these things cease to exist? And what role do the heavens and the earth have in preserving Allah’s light?

It is established in the Sahīh, on the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Asharī, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah does not sleep, nor is it fitting for Him to sleep. He lowers and raises the balance. The deeds of the night are raised to Him before the deeds of the day, and the deeds of the day before the deeds of the night. His veil is light—or fire. Were He to remove it, the radiance of His Face would burn everything in His creation encompassed by His sight.”

Abd Allāh ibn Masūd said:

“With your Lord there is neither night nor day. The light of the heavens comes from the light of His Face.”

Thus, the truthful and trustworthy one has informed us that, were Allah to remove His veil, the radiance of His Face would burn everything encompassed by His sight—the heavens, the earth, and everything else. If the radiance of His Face would burn the heavens and the earth, and only His veil prevents this burning, could His light depend upon the heavens and the earth for its preservation?

(Seventh point: his statement, “The higher realms are its upper eyelid, and the lower realms its lower eyelid. Human multiplicity in the lower realms constitutes the lashes of the upper eyelid; the universal soul is its dark part, and the supreme spirit its white part.”

He is told: If, then, the world is this