came to him and narrated what I heard of the history and the account of the knowledge we mentioned.

Ja‘far ibn al-Furat said: "Let not what you heard of this account be too great for you, for I heard our Lord, Exalted Glory, say: 'Indeed, Allah has servants who do not eat or drink; they hallow Him night and day, never flagging. And indeed, Allah has worlds in His earth that none knows but He'."

I said to him: "What do you say, O my Master, regarding what the people of India and the astrologers among them mentioned of the history they recorded? It has been narrated and recorded that from the beginning from Adam until where we have reached is 6,500 (six thousand five hundred) years or slightly more."

Ja‘far ibn al-Furat the Scribe said to me: "If you know the account of the Cycles and the Eras (al-Akwār wa al-Akwār), this will not be too great for you."

Muhammad ibn Salim al-Qurashi said: This matter concerned me after it reached this world. I met the student of al-Khwarizmi and said to him: "Have you heard that behind the Equator is another world?" He said to me: "I heard that behind the Equator are five and a half degrees of civilization and a region (iqlīm) containing worlds who are the most noble of worlds; if I said they approach the angels in their deeds and religions, I would be truthful."

Muhammad ibn al-Hajj Zar said: I met a man from the people of religions and discussed something of this account with him. He said to me:

Some of our sheikhs narrated to us from our Lord al-Bāqir, Exalted Glory, that he said: "Whoever reads the sermons of our Lord Amir Al-muminin, Exalted Glory, and what he mentioned in them of the regions and cities that no one has reached nor have we seen anyone who witnessed them—what he hears of this knowledge will not be too great for him."