2/255 — The Verse of the Throne
The verse is the sūra's most concentrated text of transcendence, and from beginning to end it consists of declarative sentences: there is not one command, not one prohibition in it. Nothing is asked for; something is stated.
| Order | Sentence | What it states |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lā ilāha illā hū | Oneness |
| 2 | al-Ḥayyu'l-Qayyūm | The character of the existence |
| 3 | Lā taʾkhudhuhū sinatun wa lā nawm | The denial of deficiency |
| 4 | Lahū mā fi's-samāwāti wa mā fi'l-arḍ | Dominion |
| 5 | Man dha'lladhī yashfaʿu… | The limit of mediation |
| 6 | Yaʿlamu mā bayna aydīhim wa mā khalfahum | Knowledge |
| 7 | Wa lā yuḥīṭūna bi-shayʾin min ʿilmih | The limit of knowledge — for the other side |
| 8 | Wasiʿa kursiyyuhu's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍ | Extent |
| 9 | Wa lā yaʾūduhu ḥifẓuhumā | Not being wearied |
| 10 | Wa huwa'l-ʿaliyyu'l-ʿaẓīm | The close |
The structure widens from the inside outward: from the Essence to the attribute, from the attribute to dominion, from dominion to extent. And it closes at the end with two names.
ٱلْقَيُّوم — root ق-و-م: to stand, to stand over a matter and keep it going. The pattern is on the measure fayʿūl and in Arabic conveys intensification.
The lexicographers explain the word in two directions, and both are transmitted: the one who stands by Himself (not needing another) and the one who keeps everything standing (the existence of everything depending on Him).
That the two names come side by side is worth recording: one states existence, the other the sustaining of existence. Qayyūm is akin to qiyām (standing) and iqāma (holding a matter standing) from the same root — the construct iqāmu'l-ṣalāt, used in the sūra for the prayer, is from the same root as well.
سِنَة — root و-س-ن: a heaviness settling on the eye, the state of dozing. It is the beginning of sleep, not yet sleep.
It moves from the lighter to the heavier, and in Arabic this sequence (taraqqī) strengthens the negation: if even the lightest is absent, the heavier is absent altogether. The same structure had been set up at al-Wāqiʿa 56/25 for laghw and taʾthīm.
And the verb must be recorded: lā taʾkhudhuhū — "it does not take him, does not seize him". Sleep is described as something that takes a person: a person does not decide on sleep, sleep takes him. What is denied is precisely this capacity to be taken.
The sentence is built in the form of a question, and in Arabic this pattern (istifhām inkārī) states a negation: "who is there that can intercede?"
But the sentence does not refuse intercession altogether: it leaves an exception — illā bi-idhnih. The door, that is, is not shut; it is tied to permission.
This fits the line set up earlier in the sūra: at verse 48 it was stated that intercession will not be accepted, and the same emphasis was made at verse 254. The detail here is that permission is kept separate. It is a disputed subject; I confine myself to transmitting the debate in the classical commentaries and establish no ruling.
The choice of the word fixes the meaning: what is denied is not knowing but encompassing. A person may know; he cannot go round a thing and grasp the whole of it.
And here too there is an exception: illā bimā shāʾ. The sentence does not close knowledge off entirely; it bounds it by what is given.
كُرْسِىّ — the lexical sense the lexicographers give: a place of sitting, a throne, a seat; and, in connection with the root, something joined together and made firm.
| View | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Knowledge — the kursī is a figure for the breadth of His knowledge |
| 2 | Dominion and sovereignty — the extent of His rule |
| 3 | Its reality is not known — the wording is accepted as it stands and its manner left to God |
But one clause is required, and it has been consistently preserved in this index: the word cannot be understood in a way that ascribes place, body or sitting to God. That would run against the verse's own integrity: the same verse states that not even sleep can take hold of Him. To build a bodily meaning after a sentence that denies sleep breaks the text's own logic.
The word again comes by way of a bodily picture, and again it is denied. Like sleep, weariness too points to a being's limit of carrying. The verse lifts both.
At Qāf 50/38 the same idea occurs with another word: wa mā massanā min lughūb (no weariness touched Us) — it was treated in Qāf.
ٱلْعَلِىّ — root ع-ل-و: height. ٱلْعَظِيم — root ع-ظ-م: greatness; the connection the lexicographers make with ʿaẓm (bone) was recorded in al-Ḥāqqa.
After a sequence of ten sentences of transcendence, the verse closes with two attributes, and both attributes state a comparison: high and great. The close, that is, reduces to two words the fact that nothing enumerated can encompass Him.