12 illustration(s) from this book
strength, and ordered him to go beneath it, [_i.e._ beneath the lowest
earth,] and place it on his shoulders; and his hands extended beyond the
east and west, and grasped the extremities of the earth [or, as related
in Ibn-El-Wardee, the seven earths], and held it [or them]. But there
was no support for his feet: so God created a rock of ruby, in which
were seven thousand perforations; and from each of these perforations
issued a sea, the size of which none knoweth but God, whose name be
exalted: then He ordered this rock to stand under the feet of the angel.
But there was no support for the rock: wherefore God created a huge
bull, with four thousand eyes, and the same number of ears, noses,
mouths, tongues, and feet; between every two of which was a distance of
five hundred years' journey: and God, whose name be exalted, ordered
this bull to go beneath the rock: and he bore it on his back and his
horns. The name of this bull is Kuyootà.[33] But there was no support
for the bull: therefore God, whose name be exalted, created an enormous
fish, that no one could look upon, on account of its vast size, and the
flashing of its eyes and their greatness; for it is said that if all the
seas were placed in one of its nostrils, they would appear like a grain
of mustard-seed in the midst of a desert: and God, whose name be
exalted, commanded the fish to be a support to the feet of the bull.[34]
The name of this fish in Bahamoot. He placed, as its support, water; and
under the water, darkness: and the knowledge of mankind fails as to
what is under the darkness."[35]--Another opinion is, that the [seventh]
earth is upon water; the water, upon the rock; the rock, on the back of
the bull; the bull, on a bed of sand; the sand, on the fish; the fish,