BİRİNCİ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL · Üçüncü Madde
Article Three
Concerning the Varieties of Fire.
O Noble One! It must be known that the philosophers have said: There are many varieties of fire. Firstly, we should state that the influence of this element of fire is superior to all other burning kinds and its heat is powerful. For the Most High says in His Eternal Word: “Allah is He who created seven heavens and of the earth a like number.” (Talak 65/12).
The majority of philosophers, in order to include the simple elements within the content of this verse, assume that the element of air has three layers and the element of earth has two layers, and (along with the remaining water and fire), accept all of these as seven layers. They count the sphere of fire as the first layer. Secondly, it is the fire hidden in iron, stone, and green trees. For fire melts hard iron, burns solid stone and turns it into earth, consumes plants and trees and reduces them to ash. Thus, extracting the subtle and luminous fire from these three bodies which are dense, cold, and dark, is a wondrous art; it is among the astonishing works of Allah. Thirdly, it is the fire of lightning, which passes through subtle bodies and burns dense ones. Fourthly, it is the Fire of the Two Holy Sanctuaries (Harameyn), which shines from the sky without thunder, lightning, or any cloud. Its light was so bright that the tribe of Banu Tay could see their camels from a distance of three days’ journey. Those who were near it would be burned and appear as smoke during the day and as fire at night. (According to a narration) Ismail, peace be upon him, through his descendant Khalid bin Sinan, had a deep well dug (as he descended into the depths of the earth) and sealed this fire within it. And for a time, the people watched it there. The aforementioned fire eventually disappeared within that well. Among the types of fire we will mention here is the fifth: sparks/shooting stars, which the common folk believe to be the shining of some star. However, it is a piece of fire and smoke rising from the earth into the air, which, because it is not affected by any cold layer as it rises, shines when it reaches the fiery layer. The sixth is the Fire of Hell.