al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 46 -- The Footstool (al-Kursī)

ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (b. 767 AH / 1365 CE; d. c. 1422-1428 CE)

full parallel manuscript · complete bitext

الإنسان الكامل · في الكرسي

canonical early 15th c. (author d. c. 1408-1428 CE) Arabic ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (b. 767 AH / 1365 CE; d. c. 1422-1428 CE) tr. Hekhal Targum engine (claude-opus-4-8[session]); AI-assisted draft, editor review pending

The complete chapter on the Footstool (al-Kursī), rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment, the Arabic and English aligned line by line. al-Jīlī reads the Footstool as the self-disclosure of the divine Acts-Attributes — the locus of omnipotence and of command, the place of “the decisive settling of the decree,” upon which “the two Feet of the Real are let down.” On the Qurʾānic “His Footstool comprehends the heavens and the earth” (2:255) he distinguishes a ruling (conceptual) comprehending from an entified, existential one.

How to read this. Use the view switcher: Split shows Arabic and English side by side; English and Original give each alone; Annotated attaches the inline Targum data (glossary terms, the verified Qurʾān locus) to each segment. Digital-draft edition: two-witness collated, glossary-locked, Qurʾān-verified, labeled AI-assisted with editor review pending.

الباب السادس والأربعون في الكرسي

Chapter Forty-Six: On the Footstool (al-Kursī)

اعلم أن الكرسي عبارة عن تجلي جملة الصفات الفعلية، فهو مظهر الاقتدار الإلهي، ومحل نفوذ الأمر والنهي.

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.

glossary: kursi, sifat, tajalli, qudra

وأول توجه الرقائق الحقية في إبراز الحقائق الخلقية في الكرسي وقدما الحق متدليتان عليه.

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.

glossary: qadamayn-nalayn

وذلك لأنه محل الإيجاد والإعدام، ومنشأ التفصيل والإبهام، ومركز الضر والنفع والفرق والجمع.

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).

glossary: jam, farq

فيه ظهور آثار الصفات المتضادة على التفصيل، منه يبرز الأمر الإلهي في الوجود، فهو محل فصل القضاء.

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).

glossary: sifat, qada-qadar, al-amr

والقلم محل التقدير، واللوح المحفوظ محل للتدوين والتسطير.

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

glossary: qalam-ala, lawh-mahfuz, qada-qadar

وسيأتي بيانهما في مكانهما إن شاء الله تعالى.

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

قال الله تعالى: وسع كرسيه السموات والأرض.

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

Qurʾān 2:255: Āyat al-Kursī, al-Baqara 2:255; verbatim, verified

اعلم أن هذا الوسع وسعان: وسع حكمي ووسع وجودي عيني.

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

فالوسع الحكمي:

As for the ruling comprehending:

هو لأن السموات والأرض أثر صفة من صفاته الفعلية، والكرسي هو محل مظهر جميع الصفات الفعلية، فحصل الوسع المعنوي في كل وجه من وجوه الكرسي.

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,

glossary: sifat, kursi

إذ كل وجه منه صفة من الصفات الفعلية.

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

وأما الوسع الوجودي العيني:

And as for the entified, existential comprehending:

فهو لأن الوجود بأسره، أعني الوجود المقيد الخفي محيط بالسموات والأرض وغيرهما، وهو المعبر عنه بالكرسي.

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.

glossary: wujud, kursi

أعني الوجود المقيد لأننا قد بينا أنه محل نفوذ الأمر والنهي، ومحل الصفات الفعلية، ومظهر الاقتدارات الإلهية.

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.

glossary: sifat

وليس المراد بجميع ذلك إلا الوجود المقيد، إذ هو المأمور أعني المنفوذ فيه الأمر، وهو المجلي والمظهر.

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.

فهو الكرسي الذي دلى الحق عليه قدماه وأوجد فيه وأعدم وأهلك فيه وأسلم، وأعطى ومنع ورفع ووضع، وأعز وأذل، سبحانه عز وجل.

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.

glossary: qadamayn-nalayn

Collation. Two-witness collated as part of the ʿArsh/Kursī/Pen/Tablet/Lote-Tree cluster (Bāb 45-49), staged 2026-06-02. No lossy drop.

Qurʾān. One verse: Āyat al-Kursī (al-Baqara 2:255), verified verbatim against the canonical Qurʾān.

Apparatus

The doctrine of the Footstool

al-Jīlī treats the Footstool (al-Kursī) as the self-disclosure of the totality of the Acts-Attributes (al-ṣifāt al-fiʿliyya): the locus of the divine Omnipotence and of the penetration of command and prohibition, where the opposed Attributes appear in detail and the decree is decisively settled. It is the rank just below the Throne (Bāb 45) and just above the Pen (Bāb 47) and the Tablet (Bāb 49): the Pen determines, the Tablet records, the Footstool commands. On “His Footstool comprehends the heavens and the earth” (Qurʾān 2:255) he reads a double comprehending — the conceptual (the heavens and earth as a trace of the Acts-Attributes) and the existential (the restricted existence that encompasses them). The “two Feet” of the hadith are read as the place of the descent of the divine command.

Model: claude-opus-4-8[session]. Glossary: akbarian-sufism-v0.27. Frame: zahir-batin. Drafted: 2026-06-02. Edition: full parallel manuscript (17 segments, complete).

Source-text attestation: base from the ibnalarabi.com digital matn (kamil.php?id=49); two-witness collated against the archive.org OCR as part of the Bāb 45-49 cluster, no lossy drop. Qurʾān: Āyat al-Kursī (al-Baqara 2:255) verified verbatim (“wasiʿa kursiyyuhu l-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ”). Glossary terms engaged: kursī, ṣifāt, tajallī, qudra, qadamayn-naʿlayn, jamʿ, farq, qaḍāʾ-qadar, qalam-aʿlā, lawḥ-maḥfūẓ, wujūd.

Status: AI-assisted draft, editor review pending; not deployed. Part of the full-manuscript edition of al-Insān al-Kāmil.