al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 45 -- The Throne (al-ʿArsh)
full parallel manuscript · complete bitext
الإنسان الكامل · في العرش
The complete chapter on the Throne (al-ʿArsh), rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment of al-Jīlī’s text, nothing dropped, the Arabic and the English aligned line by line. al-Jīlī’s argument is that the Throne is the locus of the divine Magnificence and the “body of the Presence” — the all-encompassing sphere that stands to absolute existence as the body stands to the human, with an inward (the world of holiness, the Names and Attributes) and an outward (the world of likening and form); he weighs, and qualifies, the Sufi identification of the Throne with the “Universal Body.”
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الباب الخامس والأربعون في العرش
Chapter Forty-Five: On the Throne (al-ʿArsh)
اعلم أن العرش على التحقيق مظهر العظمة ومكانة التجلي وخصوصية الذات، ويسمى جسم الحضرة ومكانها.
Know that the Throne, in [the way of] verification, is the locus of manifestation of the Magnificence, the place-rank of the self-disclosure, and the special property of the Essence; and it is called the body of the Presence and its place.
glossary: arsh, tajalli, dhat, hadra
لكنه المكان المنزه عن الجهات الست وهو المنظر الأعلى والمحل الأزهى، والشامل لجميع أنواع الموجودات.
But it is the place transcendent above the six directions; it is the highest vista (al-manẓar al-aʿlā) and the most radiant locus, the one comprehending all the kinds of existents.
glossary: tanzih
فهو في الوجود المطلق كالجسم للوجود الإنساني، باعتبار أن العالم الجسماني شامل للعالم الروحاني والخيالي والعقلي إلى غير ذلك.
So it is, within absolute existence, like the body for human existence -- in the consideration that the corporeal world comprehends the spiritual world, the imaginal, the intellectual, and what is beyond that.
ولهذا عبر بعض الصوفية عنه بأنه الجسم الكلي وفيه نظر، لأن الجسم الكلي وإن كان شاملا لعالم الأرواح.
And for this, some of the Sufis expressed it as the Universal Body (al-jism al-kullī) -- and in that there is room for reconsideration; for the Universal Body, even though it comprehends the world of spirits,
فالروح فوقه والنفس الكلي فوقه، ولا نعلم أن في الوجود شيئا فوق العرش إلا الرحمن، وقد عبروا عن النفس الكلي بأنها اللوح.
the spirit is above it, and the Universal Soul is above it; and we do not know that in existence there is anything above the Throne except the All-Merciful (al-Raḥmān). And they have expressed the Universal Soul as the Tablet (al-Lawḥ).
glossary: lawh-mahfuz
فهذا حكم بأن اللوح فوق العرش، وهو خلاف الإجماع.
So this is a ruling that the Tablet is above the Throne -- and that is contrary to the consensus (al-ijmāʿ).
على أن من قال من أصحابنا الصوفية:
Granting that whoever among our companions, the Sufis, has said
إن العرش هو الجسم الكلي، لا يخالفنا أنه فوق اللوح، وقد عبر عنه بالنفس الكلي.
that the Throne is the Universal Body does not dispute with us that it is above the Tablet -- and he has expressed it [the Tablet] as the Universal Soul.
ولا شك أن مرتبة النفس أعلى من مرتبة الجسم، والذي أعطانا الكشف في العرش مطلقة، إذ أنزلناه في حكم العبارة.
And there is no doubt that the rank of the Soul is higher than the rank of the Body; and what the unveiling (al-kashf) gave us concerning the Throne was [given] absolutely, since we have brought it down into the ruling of [verbal] expression.
glossary: kashf
قلنا بأنه فلك محيط بجميع الأفلاك المعنوية والصورية سطح ذلك الفلك هي المكانة الرحمانية.
We said that it is a sphere (falak) encompassing all the spheres, the meaning-ones and the form-ones; the surface of that sphere is the All-Merciful place-rank (al-makāna al-raḥmāniyya).
ونفس هوية ذلك الفلك هو مطلق الوجود عينية كان أو حكمية، ولهذا الفلك ظاهر وباطن.
And the very ipseity of that sphere is absolute existence, whether entified or rulingly [conceptual]; and this sphere has an outward (ẓāhir) and an inward (bāṭin).
فباطنه عالم القدس وهو عالم أسماء الحق سبحانه وتعالى وصفاته، وعالم القدس ومجلاه هو المعبر عنه بالكثيب الذي يخرج إليه أهل الجنة يوم سوقهم لمشاهدة الحق.
Its inward is the world of holiness (ʿālam al-quds), which is the world of the Names of the Real (glory be His and exalted) and His Attributes; and the world of holiness and its locus of disclosure is what is expressed as the Dune (al-Kathīb) to which the people of the Garden go out on the day of their being driven forth for the witnessing of the Real.
glossary: asma, sifat, kathib, mushahada
وظاهره عالم الإنس، وهو محل التشبيه والتجسيم والتصوير، ولهذا كان سقف الجنة.
And its outward is the world of humankind (ʿālam al-ins), which is the place of likening (tashbīh), corporealization, and imaging; and for this it is the roof of the Garden.
glossary: tashbih
فكل تشبيه وتجسيم وتصوير من كل جسم أو روح أو لفظ أو معنى أو حكم أو عين، فإنه ظاهر هذا الفلك، فمتى قيل لك العرش مطلقة.
So every likening, corporealization, and imaging -- of any body, spirit, word, meaning, ruling, or entity -- is the outward of this sphere. So whenever the Throne is said to you absolutely [unqualified],
فاعلم أن المراد به هذا الفلك المذكور، ومتى قيد بشيء من الصفات، فاعلم
know that what is intended by it is this sphere [just] mentioned; and whenever it is qualified by some attribute, know
أن المراد به ذلك الوجه من هذا الفلك، كقوله: العرش المجيد، فإن المراد به من عالم القدس المرتبة الرحمانية التي هي منشأ المجد.
that what is intended by it is that [particular] aspect of this sphere -- as His saying "the Glorious Throne" (al-ʿarsh al-majīd), for what is intended by it, from the world of holiness, is the All-Merciful rank, which is the wellspring of glory (majd).
Qurʾān 85:15: the Throne-epithet al-ʿarsh al-majīd (al-Burūj 85:15, dhū l-ʿarsh al-majīd); glossed, not a tagged citation
وكذلك العرش العظيم، فإن المراد به الحقائق الذاتية والمقتضيات النفسانية التي مكانتها العظمة، وذلك من عالم القدس، وعالم القدس عبارة عن المعاني الإلهية المقدسة عن الأحكام الخلقية والنقائص الكونية.
And likewise "the Mighty Throne" (al-ʿarsh al-ʿaẓīm): what is intended by it is the essential realities and the soul-ish requisites whose place-rank is the Magnificence (al-ʿaẓama); and that is from the world of holiness; and the world of holiness is an expression for the divine meanings sanctified above the created rulings and the cosmic deficiencies.
Qurʾān 9:129: the Throne-epithet al-ʿarsh al-ʿaẓīm (rabb al-ʿarsh al-ʿaẓīm, e.g. al-Tawba 9:129; al-Naml 27:26); glossed, not a tagged citation glossary: azamut
واعلم أن الجسم في الهيكل الإنساني جامع لجميع ما تضمنه وجود الإنسان من الروح والعقل والقلب وأمثال ذلك.
And know that the body, in the human frame, is the gatherer of all that the existence of the human comprehends -- of spirit, intellect, heart, and the like of that.
glossary: qalb
فهو في الإنسان نظير العرش في العالم فالعرش هيكل العالم وجسده الجامع لجميع متفرقاته.
So it is, in the human, the counterpart of the Throne in the world; for the Throne is the frame of the world and its body, the gatherer of all its scattered things.
glossary: insan-al-kamil
وبهذا الاعتبار قال أصحابنا: إنه الجسم الكلي، ولا اختلاف بيننا لاتحاد المعنى في العبارتين، والله أعلم.
And by this consideration our companions said: it is the Universal Body. And there is no disagreement between us, by reason of the unity of meaning in the two expressions. And God knows best.
Collation. Two-witness collated as part of the ʿArsh/Kursī/Pen/Tablet/Lote-Tree cluster (Bāb 45-49), staged 2026-06-02. All segments corroborated across the digital matn and the archive.org OCR; no lossy drop.
Qurʾān. No tagged verse citations in this chapter; the two Throne-epithets (al-ʿarsh al-majīd, al-ʿarsh al-ʿaẓīm) are glossed below at their loci.