al-Hay’a al-saniyya fī al-hay’a al-sunniyya (The radiant cosmology: On sunnī cosmology) is a religiously-oriented account of “cosmology,” that is to say, celestial and terrestrial entities from the perspective of ḥadīth, or more precisely the ḥadīth corpus. In the introduction of the Radiant Cosmology, Suyūṭī states: “This is a book on cosmology (`ilm al-hay’a), which I have compiled from the traditions (al-athār) and have appended it with reports [by earlier narrators] (akhbār) so that those with intelligence may find delight and those with vision may reflect. I have titled it The Radiant Cosmology: On Sunnı Cosmology.” On the one hand, Suyūṭī wanted to inform his readers about Sunnī cosmology, as it was discussed in traditions and reports of earlier narrators. On the other hand, Suyūṭī’s choice of the term cosmology (hay’a) for his religious enterprise was novel. The subjects that Suyūṭī treats in the Radiant Cosmology comprise the Divine Throne (`arsh), the Divine Footstool (kursī), the Tablet (lawḥ), and the Pen (qalam), which are entities mentioned in the Qur’ān, as well as the seven heavens and seven Earths, the Sun, Moon, stars, the night, day, hours, water and winds, clouds and rain, thunder, lightning, the thunderbolt, the Milky Way, the rainbow, earthquakes, mountains, seas, and the River Nile. Suyūṭī’s approach to these subjects is apparent in his chapter headings, which refer to reports of the views of selected earlier authorities regarding these “cosmological” entities. As such, the Radiant Cosmology preserves the views of these earlier religious authorities whose works are lost to us. [A. Dhanani, BEA. pp. 1112-3]
