BİRİNCİ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL · Birinci Madde
Article One
Concerning certain conditions of the sphere of fire.
O beloved! Know that the astronomers have said: Simple bodies – which are fire, air, water, and earth – from their various mixtures, composite bodies (murekkebat ecsam) known as the “three origins” arise; and these again divide into four. Thus, the elements (anasir) come into being. It is due to the coming together, transformation, and separation of these last four (through various causes) that the formation and dissolution of composite bodies occur – and these are called "essentials" (erkan).
Therefore, these elements and four essentials are situated within the sphere of the moon, i.e., beneath its concave surface, in the order mentioned above, each nested within the other and settled in their respective places. Of all these, undoubtedly the element of fire is the most subtle and the most noble; it is a simple body, a spherical substance, encompassed by two parallel surfaces. Its convex surface is tangent to the concave surface of the sphere of the moon, and its concave surface is tangent to the convex surface of the sphere of air.
The essential place of the sphere of fire is beneath the sphere of the moon and above the sphere of air. In its very nature, it is supremely exalted, subtle, and pure. Like the other elements, it is colorless and without hue, and surpasses them all; the eyes cannot perceive it. Although reflections of sunlight with their warmth cause dense fogs and thick vapors to rise from the earth and every kind of mineral, reaching it, the sphere of fire burns them all and transforms them into pure fire, returning them to its own essence.
If the sphere of fire were like fire beside us – colored and luminous – it would obstruct our vision from observing the realm of the spheres and the stars.
The nature of the element of fire is fundamentally to be settled and established in its place; however, because it is subject to the daily movements of the sphere of the moon, it travels east to west around the center of the universe along with it. And all its parts perpetually revolve in this manner.