The Quran

255

Preface

اللَّهُ لا إِلٰهَ إِلّا هُوَ الحَيُّ القَيّومُ ۚ لا تَأخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلا نَومٌ ۚ لَهُ ما فِي السَّماواتِ وَما فِي الأَرضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذي يَشفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلّا بِإِذنِهِ ۚ يَعلَمُ ما بَينَ أَيديهِم وَما خَلفَهُم ۖ وَلا يُحيطونَ بِشَيءٍ مِن عِلمِهِ إِلّا بِما شاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرسِيُّهُ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضَ ۖ وَلا يَئودُهُ حِفظُهُما ۚ وَهُوَ العَلِيُّ العَظيمُ

Yusuf Ali

God. There is no god but He,-the Living, the Selfsubsisting, Eternal¹. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them². Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend³ over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them⁴ for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).

This is Ayat al Kursi, the “Verse of the Throne”. Who can translate its glorious meaning, or reproduce the rhythm of its well-chosen and comprehensive words? Even in the original Arabic the meaning seems to be greater than can be expressed in words. The attributes of God are different from anything we know in our present world: He lives, but His life is self-subsisting and eternal: it does not depend upon other beings and is not limited to time and space. Perhaps the attribute of Qayyum includes not only the idea of “Self-subsisting” but also the idea of “Keeping up and maintaining all life.” His life being the source and constant support of all derived forms of life. Perfect life is perfect activity, in contrast to the imperfect life which we see around us, which is not only subject to death but to the need for rest or slowed-down activity, (something which is between activity and sleep, for which I, in common with other translators, have used the word “slumber”) and the need for full sleep itself. But God has no need for rest or sleep. His activity, like His life, is perfect and self-subsisting. Contrast with this the expression used in Psalms 78:65: “Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.” (Cf. 20:109-110). (R).
After we realise that His Life is absolute Life, His Being is absolute Being, while others are contingent and evanescent, our ideas of heaven and earth vanish like shadows. What is behind that shadow is He. Such reality as our heavens and our earth possess is a reflection of His absolute Reality. The pantheist places the wrong accent when he says that everything is He. The truth is better expressed when we say that everything is His. How then can any creatures stand before Him as of right, and claim to intercede for a fellow-creature? In the first place both are His, and He cares as much for one as for the other. In the second place, they are both dependent on His will and command. But He in His Wisdom and Plan may grade His creatures and give one superiority over another. Then by His will and permission such a one may intercede or help according to the laws and duties laid on him. God’s knowledge is absolute, and is not conditioned by Time or Space. To us, His creatures, these conditions always apply. His knowledge and our knowledge are therefore in different categories, and our knowledge only gets some reflection of Reality when it accords with His Will and Plan. (Cf. 20:110).
Throne: seat, power, knowledge, symbol of authority. In our thoughts we exhaust everything when we say “the heavens and the earth”. Well, then, in everything is the working of God’s power, and will, and authority. Everything of course includes spiritual things as well as things of sense. (R).
A life of activity that is imperfect or relative would not only need rest for carrying on its own activities, but would be in need of double rest when it has to look after and guard, or cherish, or help other activities. In contrast with this is the Absolute Life, which is free from any such need or contingency. For it is supreme above anything that we can conceive.