Iḵẖwanu-ṣ-safā, or Brothers of purity / translated from the Hindūstānī of Ikrām 'Alī, by John Platts; carried through tne press by Edward B. Eastwick.

  • Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Iḵẖwanu-ṣ-safā, or Brothers of purity / translated from the Hindūstānī of Ikrām 'Alī, by John Platts; carried through tne press by Edward B. Eastwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    244/256 (page 228)
    CHAPTER XXV. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE WOULD OF SPIRITS. When the frog finished this speech, a sage of the Genii said: “ 0 ye assembly of men and animals ! Ye are ignorant of the multitudes of such of God’s creatures as are spirits, composed of light, and totally unconnected with material bodies:—Who are pure in¬ telligences, simple essences, and abide in the celestial orbs. Some of these—those who form the band of angels—are stationed in the vaults of heaven; and some, who dwell in the space filled by the atmosphere, are the Genii, and the band of evil spirits. Now, did you possess any knowledge of the vast numbers of these creatures, you would know that men and animals are as nothing compared with them. For the space of the atmosphere is ten times that of the land and water; and the space of the ethereal1 sphere again is ten times that of the atmosphere. Similarly the lunar 1 In so translating Jcura-i-falaJc, I am guided by the Arabic, which has, “kuratu'l asir-‘Al a sir (6 alOrip)—is the ethereal sphere; the Urdu should,