consists of fresh dates, grapes, or the like—together with drink that is water or contains water, for a hundred years without changing, then, with still greater reason, He, glorified and exalted is He, has the power to make food and drink remain unchanged in the next creation. These matters are discussed at length elsewhere.
Section
The point here is that generation necessarily requires two sources. Anyone who supposes that the air itself between the two fire-striking implements turns into fire through being heated, without any material coming off them and turning into fire, is mistaken. This is because no fire is produced unless friction releases material from them; friction alone does not produce fire.
Moreover, people strike sparks onto something beneath the two implements, such as sūfān and hirāq (tinder materials), and the fire falls onto it. Only something heavy falls. Were there no heavy particle from the fire-striking implements—the iron and the stone—the fire would not fall. If the air alone had turned into fire, it would not descend, for air naturally rises rather than falls. Yet after the material released has turned into fire, the air near it may turn into fire, either as smoke or as flame.