AL-BAQARAH 255 (AYATUL KURSI)
THE COW 255 (THE THRONE)
Johan Ishak
Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
90cm X 90cm
15 January 2015
12:00 a.m.
Buanaseni Studio Shah Alam
SOLD
The Throne Verse (Arabic: آية الكرسي ʾāyatu-l-kursī), or Ayatul Kursi, is the 255th verse (ayah) of the second chapter (sura) Al-Baqarah (the Cow). It is the most famous verse of the Qur'an and is widely memorised and displayed in the Islamic world due to its emphatic description of God's power over the entire universe. The English translation of Ayatul Kursi is as follows:
- Allah — there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining.
- No slumber can seize Him nor sleep.
- To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth.
- Who is he that will intercede with Him except by His permission?
- He knows what is before them and what is behind them;
- And they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He pleases.
- His throne extends over the heavens and the earth;
- And he feeleth No fatigue in guarding And preserving them,
- For He is the Most High. The Supreme (in glory).
Ayatul Kursi displays a perfect internal symmetry comprising concentric looping verses surrounding a pivotal chiasm 'x' of the type A B C D X D' C' B' A' The reciter imagines him or herself walking through Ayat Al-Kursi until reaching the centre and seeing what is in front and what is behind, finds they represent a perfect reflection of each other. The central chiasm is represented by "Ya'lamu ma baina aidihim wa ma khalfahum = He knows what is before them and what is behind them" this is flanked symmetrically outwards so that A corresponds to A', B corresponds to B' and so forth. For example line 3 "he is the lord of the heavens and the earth" corresponds exactly to line 7 "his throne extends over heavens and earth". Such is the beauty of this verse that its arrangement is of high level poetic configuration, worthy of the divine words of God that a born illiterate such as Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) could not have created it (the verse) on his own. The Prophet himself acknowledged the power of this verse as evident by his sayings:
“Whoever recites Ayatul Kursi immediately after each prescribed Prayer, there will be nothing standing between him and his entering Paradise except death.” [Narrated by an-Nasaaee. Imaam Al-Albaanee authenticated it in Saheeh al Jam i as-Sagheer : 6464]
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