I declare truly, as I declared in the beginning, that light bodies are the bodies that move from the centre to the surrounding circle, and that heavy bodies are the bodies that move from that to the centre, and that the four elements and everything that is composed of them have these two direct motions. Consequently, since the firmament does not move from the centre, or to the centre,
There are some ignorant men who are uninformed as regards the works of God, who say that the firmament was composed from the four elements, which is clearly contrary to truth, for since the four elements possess a nature different in everything from the nature of the firmament, reason can not admit that the firmament could be composed of these. Because, as I said before, it is the nature of the four elements, that some of them move towards the centre and others out from the centre, and that that motion occurs at regular intervals, and is slower at the end than at the beginning, and that they (the elements) are permanent in their own places, and that they never leave
Besides, the four elements possess various properties: heat and cold, wetness and dryness, lightness and heaviness, swiftness and slowness, and the nature of the firmament is directly opposed to those natures; because in opposition to the vertical motion of the four elements there is the circular motion of the firmament, and in opposition to the periodical occurrence of that motion, is the perpetuity in the motion of the firmament, and in opposition to the swiftness and tardiness of that motion, is the perpetual slowness in the motion of the firmament. In opposition to that lasting permanency of the four elements in their own positions, is the permanent natural motion of the firmament in its own position. And as the four elements and their state of permanency are of equal antiquity, in the same way the firmament and its motion are of equal antiquity, and is without any of these properties of the four elements, for there is neither heat nor cold, wetness or dryness in it, nor lightness or heaviness, nor swiftness nor slowness.
As the parts of the four elements are made, they never become corrupted nor changed but (are) as they were from the beginning of the world, firm, compact, indestructible, indissoluble, and thus they will be until the end which the Creator ordered for them. Consequently, since the nature of the four elements and the nature of the firmament are directly opposed to each other, it is against reason and nature to say that the firmament was composed of the four elements.
Another reason against the same theory: Every object that is composed of contrary elements that work against each other and destroy each other, the whole perishes in the end; for instance, men and animals, and everything else that is composed of the four elements, in which the opposite properties of the four elements destroy each other, and when one property prevails over the other,
Thus since no sign of the dissolution is, has been, or will be, observed, let it be understood that it (the firmament) is far from being composed of the four elements. Thus may He who ordered it in such wise be blessed by everyone who should behold it (?).