I went out to the cemetery to show them that I was complaining to God of what befell me. Amir Almuminin, al-Hasan, al-Husayn, and al-Miqdad followed me. I stood before my Master — exalted be his glory — and He said to me: "Did their pouncing upon you sadden you?" I said: "O my Master, my sadness is only for Your sake, and my satisfaction is only in Your sake." He stretched out His right hand to the heaven and seized its reins¹, and stretched out His left hand to the earth until there remained between heaven and earth only the span of our height. I thought He had changed the earth for another earth and the heaven for another, and that the heaven was rolled up and His creation appeared before Him. Then He said: "O Salman, how much of such power do you recall for Me in the former nations?" I said: "O my Master, I recall it but cannot count its number; from Your knowledge I have known that this day is not the Day of the Imminence unless You will it, for to You belong the Inception and the Will." He then released the reins of the heaven and the earth from His hands, and they returned to their places and their original state.

Then He said: "O Salman, how much of Me do you recall?" I said: "I recall You when there was neither earth, nor heaven, nor any time among the ancient passing ages, while You were One in Your Unicity, Ancient in Your Pre-eternity, a Solid Pre-eternity; an Originator with whom nothing existed. Then You willed and invented the Thing, which is Your Name, Your Veil, Your soul that warns, Your eye that looks, Your ear that hears, Your tongue that speaks, the Side and the Flank, and the Throne which You established over all Your sovereignty and to which You entrusted Your treasury² and gave mastery over Your keys. You invented him by Your power and directed him by Your wisdom. So You are the Namer and he is the Name; he is the Messenger and You are the Sender; he is the Place and You are the Creator. You are above him and he is beneath You. Then he created me as You created him, and he produced me as You produced him, and he commanded me as You commanded him.