Muhammad heads the Panjtan-i pok, the 'five pure bodies' who stand at the heart of Pamiri Ismaili cosmology and are embodied in the five wooden pillars of the traditional house. His pillar, the Shohsutun by the entrance, is cut from sacred juniper whose fragrant smoke purifies and heals, and the cradle of a newborn is set beside it. In the layered symbolism of the dwelling the Panjtan pillars are read over an older Zoroastrian frame in which they answered to the yazatas, the Prophet's post being aligned with Surush, so that the house preserves both the Muslim holy family and the guardian spirits of the pre-Islamic Pamir.