Tafsir of Ayat ul-Kursi

By Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal

All praise is due to Allah lord of the worlds.  We praise His and we beseech him for help & assistance. Whomsoever Allah guides none can lead astray. And whomsoever Allah refuses to guide no one can guide. I testify to the fact that there’s no deity worthy of worship but Allah.  And I also testify that Muhammad (PBUH) is his last Prophet and Messenger.

Brothers and sisters in Islam Allah has blessed us once more to witness another day of youmul jumua.  Today we shall be explaining the greatest ayah of the Holy Qur’an.  This verse is called ayatul kursi.  In this verse Allah said:

He is Allah! Laa ilaaha illaa huw, none has the right to be worshipped except Him.  He is al Hayy, the Ever Living.  He is al Qayyum, the One who sustains and protects all that exists in the heavens and the earth.  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 save by His permission?  He knows what happens to his creatures in this world and what fate awaits them in the Hereafter.  And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge save 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.

Brother and sisters in Islam we shall explain each sentence of this verse so that the congregation will understand the meaning of ayatul kursi which is the greatest ayah of the Holy Qur’an.
 

The Qur’an states:
He is Allah! Laa ilaaha illaa huw, none has the right to be worshipped except Him.

When a Muslim recites this sentence of ayatul kursi, he/she is hereby repeating the shahada.  It must be borne in mind that the shahada has 7 conditions which have to be practiced in order for a person to be accepted as a real Muslim.  The first condition of shahada is ilm, knowledge of what the shahada means.  There is a so-called Muslim country in which the citizens are Muslims who recite the shahada, yet until recently they used to hold a weeklong festival to send praises to the gods of the sea.  How can a Muslim recite the shahada and ayatul kursi and declares that Allah is the only true deity yet sends praises to the gods of the sea?!  Indeed these people have nullified their shahada because there’s no excuse for the shirk of worshipping a false god.

Allah said he will forgive any crime except shirk. 

Hence Allah said:
Verily Allah doesn’t forgive the crime of shirk, worshipping false gods but He will forgive anything else to whom He wills; and whoever set up partners with Allah in worship has indeed committed a grave sin.  Surah 2: 48

These so-called Muslims who hold a weeklong festival to praise the gods of the sea to bless them in their catch of the fish and to protect their boats from capsizing do not practice Laa ilaaha illal laa, there’s no deity worthy of worship but Allah.  They recite it for cultural reasons but not by conviction. Anyone who recites the shahada but doesn’t know what he/she is reciting is a kafir because the first condition of shahada is knowledge of what the shahada means.

He is al Hayy, the Ever Living, al Qayyum.  
Allah refers to Himself as al Hayy in this sentence.  Thus He alone is the Ever Living.  The Goofi Soofis and the Berailwis give this attribute to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).  Hence they claim that he is alive in his grave and he is fully aware of the affairs of his Ummah.  It must be borne in mind that it is the ijmaa, agreement of the sahabas that the Prophet (PBUH) is dead and to go against the ijmaa of the sahabas is an act of kufr.  When the Rasool (PBUH) passed away Umar (ra) said: 
“If I hear anyone saying Muhammad is dead I shall cut off his head with my sword.”

Then Abu Bakr (ra) went into the home of the prophet and kissed him on the forehead and said to the Ummah: 
“People anyone who worships Muhammad let him know that Muhammad is dead, and anyone who worships Allah, let him know that Allah is alive and cannot die.”

Then Abu Bakr (ra) read the ayah:  Verily you Muhammad shall die and all your companions shall die too. Surah Zumar 39: 30   

The real reason why the Goofi Soofis and the Berailwis of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa and Turkey spread the creed that the Holy Prophet is al Hayy so he is still alive in his grave, is because they are grave-worshippers and they believe that the Rasool can respond to their requests when they beseech him for things.  The creed that Muhammad is alive in the grave and is fully aware of the affairs of his Ummah is farfetchedness and it goes against the creed of orthodox Muslims.  We shall use a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari to refute the Goofi Soofi and the Berailwis. 

The Hadith says:
On judgment Day some people will come to drink from my houd, lake-fount.  I will look in their faces and recognize them because they used to be Muslims during my lifetime.  But just as they are about to drink 2 angels will stop them.  I Muhammad will cry out:  “ They are Muslims, they are of my Ummah”  But the 2 angels will say to me: “You don’t know what they did after you left, they turn back on their heels as apostates from Islam.”  Sahih Bukhari Vol. 9 Hadith No. 172

We say to the Goofi Soofis and the Berailwis, if the Holy Prophet is alive in his grave and is fully aware about all matters concerning his Ummah, why is it the 2 angels will say to him on the Day of Resurrection:  “You don’t know what they did after you left, they apostated from Islam.”

It is very easy to refute a Goofi Soofi or a Berailwi because they are 100%  jaahil, ignorant in regards to Aqeeda.

Al Qayyum, is the One who sustains and protects all that is in the heavens and on earth.

Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes him. 
Allah uses This statement to prove that anyone who sleeps cannot be God, because God doesn’t sleep.  If he sleeps the entire universe will grind to a halt.  The Christians in their ignorance and arrogance claim that Jesus is God. 
But the Bible says:
Jesus slept and while he was sleeping he was in danger.  Luke 8: 28

How can God sleep?  Who would govern the universe if God should sleep?!  Moreover how can God be in danger from His own creation?!  How can God be vulnerable?!  Anyone who is vulnerable cannot be God.  Indeed ayatul kursi is used to refute the divinity of Jesus which is the pagan doctrine of the Christians.  May Allah guide the sincere ones from among them to authentic tawheed.  And may He condemn the stubborn from among them to the Hell-fire to abide therein forever.

To Him belongs whatever is in heavens and whatever is on the earth.
This ayah states that Allah is al Ghani, the rich while we are fuqaraa, the poor.  The rain belongs to Allah and without the rain people suffer drought and starvation.  We have seen people starve to death right here in Africa in some countries like Ethiopia, Chad, Niger etc etc.  The Holy Prophet said:
“In the Last Days people will become evil and withhold Zakah which is a pillar of Islam.  And had it not being for the animals Allah would not bother to send the rain.”

Allah owns all that is on earth, hence we are called ibaadur Rahman, the servants of Allah.  So our wives belong to Allah and not our properties that we own the way we own cars and houses.  Our wives are amaana, a trust for us to look after to gain Allah’s pleasure.  Any man who doesn’t fulfil this trust doesn’t deserve a wife.  Allah even owns the animals and at times He uses them as His armies to punish the kuffaar.  In Surah feel Allah told us that He used the birds to pelt Abraha and his army with stones and destroyed them.  They came from Yemen the year the Holy Prophet was born to demolish the kaba, Allah’s house.

Who is it that can intercede with Him save by His permission?
We the members of ahlus sunnah wal jamaa’a believe in shafaa’a, intercession on the Day of Judgment, but only by Allah’s permission.  The khawaarij do not believe in this crucial aspect of the Islamic creed.  Ayatul kursi tells us that intercession will take place on the Day of Resurrection but only by the will of Allah.

On Judgment Day after all the previous Prophets refuse to intercede the Holy Prophet will be given the honor to intercede on behalf of humankind.  On Judgment day a baby who died before reaching puberty will intercede for his/her parents as long as they are real Muslims.  The Holy Qur’an will intercede for those who used to read it regularly.  Ramadan will intercede and say:  “O Allah I made him hungry so give him/ her jannah.  A person who died a shaheed, martyr will be able to intercede for 70 members of his/her family. 

The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said:
“For every Nabi, Prophet there’s a dua which Allah shall answer. I saved up my dua to use it as intercession to beg Allah to give every member of my Ummah the jannah on Judgment Day.”

He knows what happens to His creatures in this world and what fate shall meet them in the Here-after.

In this statement Allah tells us that He alone has full knowledge of ilmul ghaib, unseen knowledge.  No one is allowed to claim to have knowledge of the unseen.  Some people who do black magic, work with the jinn and claim to have hidden knowledge of past and future events.   This is to assume power among the people. Anyone who makes this claim has fallen into shirk and major kufr that ejects the claimant outside the fold of Islam.  This is so because he is claiming Allah’s attributes for himself.  These attributes are The All Seeing, The All Hearing, The All Knowing.  In Europe the kuffaar install cameras all over the continent to convince the populace that they are the All Seeing, The All Hearing, The All Knowing.

The 12ver shias claim that their imams have full knowledge of the ghaib, unseen. And nothing slips them.  Khomeni even made this claim in page 52 of his book The Islamic State.  This creed is shirk.  Not even the Holy Prophet had full knowledge of the ghaib. In regards to this fact Allah said:
Say O Muhammad:  “I possess no benefit or harm for myself except as Allah wills.  If I had knowledge of the ghaib, unseen I would have piled up goodness in abundance and no evil would have touched me.  I am only a warner and a bringer of glad tidings for a people who believer.”  Surah A’raaf 7: 188

If Allah is telling us in this ayah that not even the Holy Prophet had full knowledge of the ghaib, how can the 12vers claim that their imams have full knowledge of the unseen and nothing slips them.   We the members of ahlus sunnah wal jamaa’a say to the shias:  You claim in your history books that Hasan (ra) was poisoned by his enemies so that Yazeed can become the caliph.  If Hasan had full knowledge of the ghaib, why did he eat a plate of food that contained poison; are u saying Hasan committed suicide?!   It is very easy to debate with a  Christian, Shia, Berailwi and a Goofi Soofi because none of these four have any knowledge of Tawheed.

End Of 1st Khutba
His Kursi (footstool) extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them

The word Kursi is rightly translated as footstool but sometimes wrongly translated as the throne.  The word for the throne is Arsh.  A Muslim should not get offended when he is taught that Allah has 2 hands and 2 feet because these hands and feet do not resemble our hands and feet.  Nothing of the creation resembles Allah.  It is Allah who told us that He has feet, thus He said:

Remember the Day of Judgment when Allah shall expose His shin for humankind to see.  Then all shall prostrate themselves to Allah, but they the hypocrites will not be able to do so.  Surah Qalam 68: 42

The Holy Prophet on commenting on this Qur’anic verse said:
“Allah shall lay bare His shin on the Day of Resurrection, and all the believers, men and women will prostrate themselves before Him;  but there will remain those who used to prostrate themselves in the world for showing off and for gaining good reputation.  Such a one will try to prostrate himself on the Day of Judgment, but his back bones will become a single vertebra bone so he will not be able to prostrate.”  Sahih Bukhari Vol. 6  Hadith no. 441

Allah feels no fatigue in preserving the heavens and the earth.  And He is the Most High the Most Great.

Allah uses this statement to prove that He alone is the supreme Being who deserves to be worshipped.  He feels no fatigue and He has no weaknesses.  This is the meaning of the words subhan allah.  This means Allah is far above all weaknesses and imperfections.  Even the angels are imperfect because they drop down and faint when they hear the Qur’an been revealed to Muhammad (PBUH).

We use these words of Allah in ayatul kursi to refute the Raafidites (12vers) who claim that the sun, the moon and the stars are controlled by the imams.  Even the atoms of the universe are been controlled by the imams.  Khomeni even made this claim in page 52 of his book “The Islamic State” and no shia cleric refutes him.  This means they agree with his shirk because according to sharia law silence means agreement.  Allah told us in ayatul kursi that He alone is preserving the universe, so how can the Raafidites tell us that it is their imams who are in control of the universe, and even the atoms of the universe?!

I close this khutba by saying:  The noble Sahabi Abu Huraira said: 
Allah’s Messenger ordered me to guard the Zakah revenue of Ramadan  Then someone came to me and started stealing from the foodstuff.  I caught him and said:  I will take you to Allah’s Messenger.  That person said to me, please don’t take me to Allah’s Messenger, and I will tell you a few words by Allah will benefit you.  When you go to your bed recite ayatul kursi 2: 255, for then there will be a guard from Allah who will protect you all night long.  And Satan will not be able to come near you till dawn.  When the Holy Prophet heard this story, he said to me: That was Iblis,  he told u the truth even though he is a compulsive liar.  Sahih Bukhari Vol. 6 Hadith No. 530

Brothers and sisters if only we recite ayatul kursi before going to bed, ourselves and our properties will be protected by Allah till dawn. We notice that iblis himself is a scholar yet he doesn’t fear Allah nor worship Him. May Allah protect us all from the evil of all evil scholars.