BİRİNCİ FEN · İKİNCİ BÂB · YEDİNCİ FASIL · Birinci Madde
Article One
The sphere of Venus, the Brightest, signifies the Common Perigee.
O Noble One! Know that astronomers have stated: Among the seven planets mentioned in the preceding articles is Venus, which is third relative to the lunar sphere; it resides beneath the brilliant sun. It is the uppermost of the two "below" (as-suflayn), and closest to the solar sphere. The star Venus dominates alone within its sphere and is named “the Lesser Fortune” (sa‘d-i asgar).
Astronomers, just as they have established the existence of three spheres in the structure of the three highest spheres (as-salāsat al-‘ulwiyya), have also proven the existence of three spheres for Venus and arranged its order accordingly. The first sphere is like the sphere of the constellations in its center, girdle, poles, and motion; it represents that. The second sphere is outside the center, again enclosed by two parallel surfaces on the body of the first sphere, and carries the center of the epicycle. The third sphere is itself the epicycle, upon one side of which the star Venus remains fixed. As the epicycle moves in a circular motion about its own center, it rotates Venus along with it.
The sphere of Venus, the Brightest, is the universal perigee sphere. It is harmonious in its center and axis, in its girdles and poles, and in its motion, with the sphere of the constellations; it conforms to it as do the other planets. It is enclosed by two parallel surfaces and is a spherical body. Its upper surface is tangent to the concave surface of the solar sphere above it. Its concave surface is tangent to the convex surface of Mercury below it. And this sphere, the universal perigee sphere, like the other spheres above and below it, is primarily subject to the daily motion of the greatest sphere; with its first movement, it moves slowly from east to west around the center of the universe. With its second movement, it proceeds slowly westward around the center of the universe by means of its own motion, as much as the slow motion of the sphere of the constellations. It appears as if it is moved by the sphere of the constellations. Thus, the points of Venus’s solstice, equinox, ascending node, and descending node advance one degree every seventy years due to this movement.