The Throne Verse (Āyat al-Kursī)

Aḥmad ibn al-Qāsim ibn ʿAṭiyyah narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dashtakī (1) narrated to us; my father narrated to me from his father; Ashʿath ibn Isḥāq narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīrah, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās:

The Children of Israel said to Moses, “Does your Lord sleep?” He replied, “Fear Allah!” Thereupon his Lord—Glorified and Exalted—called out to him: “O Moses, they have asked you whether your Lord sleeps. Take two glass vessels in your hands and spend the night standing.” Moses did so. When a third of the night had passed he became drowsy and the vessels slipped down to his knees; he revived and grasped them firmly. Toward the end of the night he grew drowsy again, the two vessels dropped, and they shattered.

He said, “O Moses, had I been prone to sleep, the heavens and the earth would have fallen and been destroyed just as those two vessels were destroyed in your hands.” It was then that Allah revealed to His Messenger the Throne Verse.

Ibn Jarīr said: Isḥāq ibn Abī Isrā’īl narrated to us; Hishām ibn Yūsuf narrated to us, from Umayyah ibn Shibl, from al-Ḥakam ibn Abān, from ʿIkrimah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:

I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recounting on the pulpit from Moses (upon him be peace): A thought occurred to Moses—does Allah sleep? So Allah sent an angel who kept him awake for three nights, then placed two flasks in his hands, one in each, and instructed him to guard them. Moses would begin to nod off; when his hands were about to meet he would awaken and clasp one hand over the other, until finally he slept soundly, his hands struck together, and the two flasks broke. Allah Most High thus set forth a parable: had He been subject to sleep, the heavens and the earth would not have remained in place.

This ḥadīth, though transmitted with a raised chain, is strange; what seems more likely is that it is mawqūf and that its origin lies in Israelite reports (2).

Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“And when We took your covenant and raised over you the Mount, [saying], ‘Hold firmly to what We have given you and remember what is in it, that you may be God-fearing.’ Then you turned away thereafter; and had it not been for the bounty and mercy of Allah toward you, you would surely have been among the losers.” (Q. 2:63–64)

He also says:

“And [remember] when We shook the mountain above them as though it were a canopy, and they thought it would fall upon them. [We said], ‘Hold firmly to what We have given you and remember what is in it, that you may be God-fearing.’” (Q. 7:171)

Ibn ʿAbbās (3) and others among the early generations said: When Moses brought them the tablets containing the Torah, he ordered them to accept it and adhere to it with strength and resolve. They said, “Unroll it before us; if its commands and prohibitions are easy we will accept it.” He replied, “Rather, accept it in its entirety.” They argued with him repeatedly. Then Allah commanded the angels, and they raised the mountain above their heads until it was “like a cloud,” that is, a canopy shading them. They were told, “If you do not accept it in full, this mountain will fall upon you.” They consented and were commanded to prostrate, so they prostrated while turning the sides of their faces to look at the mountain. This became a practice among the Jews to this day; they say, “No prostration is greater than the one by which punishment was lifted from us.”