Ayat Al-Kursi .

In the name of allah, the most gracious, the most compassionate

The Ayat Al-Kursi is the 255^th verse in the second Surah(Al-Baqara) in the Quran. So why do they tell us to recite it before we sleep, before reading the yassin and after each prayer?

Now like me, I did not know what it meant so let us delve into the meaning of this ayat that we often recite in our lives…I have to say, to me the meanings of ayat Al-Kursi has a certain thing to it…You can kind of feel Allah’s dominance over everything from this Ayat alone…

Tafsir Ayat Al-Kursi

[ From Tafsir of Imam Ibn Kathir, Abridged under the supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri ]

اللَّهُ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لاَ تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلاَ نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلاَ يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلاَّ بِمَا شَاءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَلاَ يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ

Allahu la ilaha illa huwa, Al -Haiyul-Qaiyum La ta’khudhuhu sinatun wa la nawm lahu ma fi as-samawati wa ma fil-’ard Man dhal-ladhi yashfa’u ‘indahu illa bi-idhnihi Ya’lamu ma bayna aydihim wa ma khalfahum wa la yuhituna bi shai’in min ‘ilmihi illa bima sha’a Wasi’a kursiyuhus-samawati wal ard wa la ya’uduhu hifdhuhuma wa Hu wal ‘Aliyul-Adheem

“Allah! None has the right to be worshipped but He, the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission? He know what happens to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter. and they will never compass anything of His Knowledge except that which He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.”

Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat Al-Kursi (v.255)

Ayat Al Kursi has Ten Complete Arabic Sentences

Allah’s statement,

Allah! None has the right to be worshipped but He

Mentions that Allah is the One and Only Lord of all creation.

Allah’s statement,

Al-Hayyul-Qayyum

Testifies that Allah is the Ever Living, Who never dies, Who sustains everyone and everything, All creation stands in need of Allah and totally relies on Him, while He is the Most Rich, Who stands in need of nothing created.

Similarly, Allah said:

And among his signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command

[ Surah Ar-Rum Ayah 25 ]

Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him

Means, no shortcoming, unawareness or ignorance ever touches Allah. Rather, He is aware of, and controls what every soul earns, has perfect watch over everything, nothing escapes His knowlegde, and no secret matter is secret to Him. Among His perfect attributes, is the fact that He is never effected by slumber or sleep. Therefore Allah’s statement,

Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him

Indicates that no unawareness due to slumber or sleep ever overtakes Allah.

Allah said afterwards,

nor sleep

Which is stronger than slumber. It is recorded in the Sahih that Abu Musa said,

The Messenger of Allah(pbuh) delivered a speech regarding four words:
“Allah does not sleep, and it does not befit His majesty that He sleeps. He lowers the scales and raises them. The deeds of the day are resurrected in front of Him before the deeds before the deeds of the night, and the deeds of the night before the deeds of day. His Veil is light, or fire, and if He removes it, the rays from His Face would burn whatever His sight reaches of His creation.”

[ Sahih Muslim 1:161 ]

Allah’s statement,

To him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth

Indicated that everyone is a servant for Allah, a part of his kingdom and under His power and authority.

Similarly, Allah said:

There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes unto the Most Gracious (Allah) as a servant. Verily, He knows each one of them, and has counted them a full counting. And everyone of them will come to Him alone on the Day of Resurrection (without any Helper, or protector or defender).

[ Surah Maryam Ayah's 93-95 ]

Allahs statement;

Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission?

Is similar to His statements,

And there are many angels in the heavens, whose intercession will avail nothing except after Allah has given leave for whom He wills and is pleased with.

[ Surah An-Najm Ayah 26 ]

and,

They cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased

[ Surah Al-Anbiya Ayah 28 ]

These Ayat assert Allah’s greatness, pride, and grace, and that no one dares to intercede with Him on behalf of anyone else, except by His permission. Indeed, the Hadith about the intercession, states that the Prophet(pbuh) said;

“I will stand under the Throne and fall in prostration, and Allah will allow me to remain in that position as much as He wills. I will thereafter be told, “Raise your head, speak and you will be heard, intercede and your intercession will be accepted”. The Prophet(pbuh) then said, “He will allow me a proportion whom I will enter into Paradise.”

[ Sahih Muslim 1:180 ]

Allah’s statement,

He knows what happens to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter

This refers to His perfect knowledge of all creation; its past, present and future. Similarly, Allah said that the angels proclaimed;

And we (angels) descend not except by the command of your Lord (O Muhammad). to Him belongs what is before us and what is behind us, and what is between those two; and your Lord is never forgetful

[ Surah Maryam Ayah 64 ]

Allah’s statement,

And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge except that which He wills

Asserts the fact that no one attains any part of Allah’s knowledge except what Allah conveys and allows. this part of the Ayah indicates that no one ever acquires knowledge of Allah and in His Attributes, except what He conveys to them. For instance Allah said,

But they will never compass anything of His knowledge

[ Surah Ta-Ha Ayah 110 ]

Allah said,

His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth.

Waki’ narrated in his Tafsir that Ibn Abbas said,

“Kursi is the footstool, and no one is able to give due consideration to [Allah's] Throne”

[ At-Tabarani 12:39 ]

Al-Hakim recorded this Hadith in his Mustadrak (Al-Hakim 2:282) from Ibn Abbas who did not relate it to the . Al-Hakim said, “It is Sahih according to the criteria of the Two Sahihs, and they (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.”

In addition, Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn Abbas said,

“If the seven heavens and the seven earths were flattened and laid side by side, they would add up to the size of a ring in a desert, compared to the Kursi”

[ Ibn Abi Hatim 3:981 ]

From the Holy Quran: the Kursi, literally a footstool or chair, is sometimes wrongly translated as Throne. Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) said: “The Kursi compared to the ‘Arsh(Throne) is nothing but like a ring thrown out upon open space of the desert.” If the Kursi extends over the entire universe, then how much greater is the ‘Arsh(Throne). Indeed Allah, the creator of both the Kursi and the ‘Arsh, is the most Great.

Ibn Taimiyah said: a) To believe in the Kursî. b) To believe in the `Arsh (Throne) [sic]. It is narrated from Muhammad bin `Abdullâh and from other religious scholars that the Kursî is in front of the `Arsh (Throne) and it is at the level of the Feet.

[ Fatawa Ibn Taimiyah, Vol. 5, Pages 54, 55 ]

However,

None of the above explanations is authentically related from the Prophet(pbuh) f all the astonishing mention of “the Feet“ – and who are “Muhammad bin `Abdullâh” and the “other religious scholars”?! Nor is the call for imitating what “Ibn Taymiyya said to believe” other than a bankrupt innovation. Nor is the translation of kursî as “Throne” wrong when called for in certain cases, as in the narration: “On the Day of Resurrection your Prophet shall be brought and shall be made to sit in front of Allah the Almighty, on His kursî.” Some of the Salaf, among them al-Hasan al-Basri, even explicitly said that the kursî is the `arsh. Furthermore, it is authentically related from Ibn `Abbas that he said: “His kursî is His knowledge (kursiyyuhu `ilmuhu),” and this is the explanation preferred by the Imams of the Salaf such as Sufyan al-Thawri, al-Bukhari, al-Tabari, al-Bayhaqi, and others.

So the meaning of Kursi, whether it be a footstool or Allah’s knowledge, Only Allah knows….We’ll find out on the Day of Judgment….

Allah said,

And He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them

Meaning, it does not burden or cause Him fatigue to protect the heavens and earth and all that is in between them. Rather, this is an easy matter for Him. Further, Allah sustains everything, has perfect watch over everything, nothing ever escapes His knowledge and no matter is ever a secret to Him. All matters are insignificant, modest and humble before Him. He is the Most Rich, worthy of all praise. He does, what He wills, and no one can ask Him about what He does, while they perfect alertness concerning everything. He is the Most High, the Greatest, there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, and no Lord other than Him.

Allah’s statement,

And he is the Most High, the Most Great

Is similar to His statement,

the Most Great, the Most High

[ Surah Ar-Rad Ayah 9 ]

These and similar Ayat and authentic Hadiths about Allah’s Attributes must be treated the way the Salaf (righteous ancestors) treated them by accepting their apparent meanings without equating them [with the attributes of the creation] or altering their apparent meaning.

Some of the virtues in reciting Ayat Al-Kursi

It was narrated that Abu Umamah Al-Bahili (radiAllahu anhu) said: The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: “Whoever recites Ayat al-Kursi immediately after each prescribed Prayer, there will be nothing standing between him and his entering Paradise except death.”

[an-Nasa'i, Ibn Hibban, ibn Sunni, at-Tabarani, ibn Hibban - Sahih]

It is reported by at-Tabarani that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: “The one who recites Ayat al-kursi after the conclusion of an obligatory prayer, he is under the care of Allah until the next prayer commences.”

[at-Tabaraani’s At Targheeb wat-Tarheeb (2:435)]

When you lie down in your bed, recite ayat al-Kursi, Allah! La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists… [al-Baraqah 2:255] until the end of the ayah, then you will have a protector from Allah and no shaytan (devil) will come near you until morning comes

[Sahih al-Bukhari]

Abdullah bin Mas’ud (radiAllahu anhu) narrates that a person said to Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam): “O Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam), teach me something through which Allah I will give me benefit.” He said: “Continue reciting Ayatul Kursi. This will be a means of protection for you, your children and even those houses which are near your house.”

Everything has its pinnacle and the pinnacle of the Qur’an is Surah al-Baqarah. In it there is an ayah which is the greatest in the Qur’an: Ayat al-Kursi

[at-Tirmidhi]

Ali ibn abu Talib (RadiAllahu anhu) narrates, “I cannot understand how a person, who is a Muslim, and owner of reason (intellect) can spend the night without reading Ayat al Kursi. If you knew the benefits of it, then you will never discard it under any condition”.

It was narrated from Abu Hurairah (RadiAllahu anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: “In Surat Al-Baqarah there is a verse which is the best of all the verses of the Qur’an. It is never recited in a house but Shaitan leaves: Ayat Al-Kursi.”

Taken from:

Mutmainna

MuslimAccess

Sunnah.org

~May Allah forgive me for anything wrong I might have said and may we be granted the taufik and hidayat to implement what has been said in our daily lives

Ameen~

Assalamualaikum.