For if His purpose were this earthly House, His statement would be void, because those who intend for it and perform pilgrimage to it are never [entirely] safe, as what happens to them might be what happens to those who do not perform pilgrimage to it, nor do they believe in it. And similar to it is the saying of the Exalted: {And We placed between them and the cities which We had blessed [other] manifest cities, and We determined between them the [distance of] journey, [saying], "Travel through them by night and by day in safety"} (Saba 18).

If His purpose—Exalted is He—by the "manifest cities" were the villages of Mecca, and by the "cities which were blessed" the villages of the Levant (al-Sham), it would be a void statement. This is because between the manifest cities and the blessed cities are deserts, wild beasts, floods, winds, and other such dangers.

And Gold and Silver have been named "Sun and Moon"; and the First and the Second have been named "Sun and Moon"; and the Messenger of Allah and the Commander of the Faithful have been named "Sun and Moon." Idols have also been named "Suns and Moons," as evidenced by the saying of the Exalted: {Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostrate to Allah, who created them, if it should be Him that you worship} (Fussilat 37).