On the Footstool (al-Kursī)

Know that the Footstool is an expression for the self-disclosure of the totality of the Acts-Attributes (al-ṣifāt al-fiʿliyya); so it is the locus of manifestation of the divine Omnipotence, and the place of the penetration of command and prohibition.

And the first turning of the True subtleties (al-raqāʾiq al-ḥaqqiyya) toward the bringing-forth of the created realities is in the Footstool; and the two Feet of the Real are let down upon it.

And that is because it is the place of bringing-into-being and of annihilating, the wellspring of detailing and of leaving-undifferentiated, and the center of harm and benefit, of separation (farq) and gathering (jamʿ).

In it is the appearing of the traces of the opposed Attributes in detail; from it the divine command issues forth into existence; so it is the place of the decisive settling of the decree (faṣl al-qaḍāʾ).

And the Pen is the place of determining (al-taqdīr), and the Guarded Tablet the place of recording and inscribing.

And the exposition of the two of them will come in their [own] place, God (exalted is He) willing.

God (exalted is He) said: "His Footstool comprehends the heavens and the earth" (2:255).

Know that this comprehending is two comprehendings: a ruling [conceptual] comprehending, and an entified, existential comprehending.

As for the ruling comprehending:

it is because the heavens and the earth are the trace of one of His Acts-Attributes, and the Footstool is the place of manifestation of all the Acts-Attributes; so the meaning-comprehending is realized in every aspect of the aspects of the Footstool,

since every aspect of it is one of the Acts-Attributes.

And as for the entified, existential comprehending:

it is because existence in its entirety -- I mean the restricted, hidden existence -- encompasses the heavens and the earth and other than them; and that is what is expressed as the Footstool.

I mean the restricted existence, because we have [already] shown that it is the place of the penetration of command and prohibition, the place of the Acts-Attributes, and the locus of manifestation of the divine omnipotences.

And nothing is intended by all of that except the restricted existence, since it is the commanded -- I mean, that within which the command is made to penetrate -- and it is the place of disclosure and the locus of manifestation.

So it is the Footstool upon which the Real let down His two Feet, and in which He brought into being and annihilated, destroyed and made whole, gave and withheld, raised and lowered, exalted and abased -- glory be to Him, mighty and majestic.