I stood before my Master—mighty is his might—and he said to me: 'O Salman, did their assault upon you grieve you?' I replied: 'O my Master, my grief is only for you, and my contentment is only in you.'

Then he extended his right hand toward the heaven and grasped its reins, and he extended his left hand toward the earth and grasped its reins. Nothing remained between the heaven and the earth except the span of our height.

I thought that he had changed the earth for another earth and the heavens for others; I saw the heaven folded, and His creation emerged before Him. Then he said to me: 'O Salman, how many times do you remember me [manifesting] such power in the past nations?' I said: 'O my Master, I remember them but cannot count them from your knowledge; and I know that this day is not the Day of the Imminent (al-Azifa) unless you will it, for to you belongs the change of decree (al-Bada') and the Will.'

Then he released the reins of the heaven and the earth from his hand, and they returned to their place and their original state. Then he said to me: 'O Salman, since when have you remembered me?' I replied: 'O my Master, I remember you when there was neither earth nor heaven, , nor any time from the ancient, bygone eras.