[184] And from Kitab al-Maratib wa-al-Daraj, Master Muhammad—His glory is mighty—stated: 'Verily, Allah has caused the believers to dwell within the heavens and made these spheres their designated abodes. Out of their righteous deeds, He fashioned luminous bodies for them, rendering them entities that neither eat, nor drink, nor experience physical pain.' I said: 'May I be ransomed for you! Can those luminous bodies be visually seen and recognized?' He replied: 'Yes, O Abu 'Abdillah. Do you not behold the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars?' I said: 'Yes, my master.' He replied: 'All of these are the actual bodies of those who answered the Lord and accepted His call upon the true reality of Gnosis.' I then asked: 'Why is it that some of them possess an intensity of illumination greater than others, some are elevated higher than others, and some are swifter in their orbital motion than others?' He replied: 'As for the intensity of illumination, it is directly proportional to the abundance or scarcity of their esoteric sciences ¹ .