Allah's eminence is allegorical...

Allah's eminence is allegorical, 261, line 2; these expressions have no reference to bodily existence, ibid., lines 6-7. The next section, bib 48, p.261, explains Qur. 11, 7, "and His Throne was upon the water". Water was created prior to the heavens and earth. The arsh is described in bib 49, p. 263.

Kursi is the outward gate, الباب الظاهر and arsh, the inward gate, الباب الباطن the arsh was the fourth of created things, the first three being (1) Atmosphere (al-hawa'), (2) the Pen (al-qalam), and (3) the Light (an-nur). [^3]: The Imam takes the literal meaning of istawa, that is, to be or make oneself equal to, or in respect of, something. The relationship of Allan to each one of His creatures is equal, that of the Creator to the created. [^4]: Here the translator has an interesting note.

He says "Shaykh Mufid, on whom be peace, writes that the literal meaning of 'arsh is sovereignty (سلطنة) and kingdom (ملك) and that 'arsh which is carried by angels is in the seventh heaven, and that is only a portion of the 'arsh which means `kingdom'. This much belief concerning 'arsh is sufficient and the tradition, by which Sh. Saduq has described the qualities and the appearance of the angels carrying the arsh, is one which has come down through a single source (حديث آحاد).

Therefore to believe in the qualities of the angels, to believe in the tradition as having been handed down from the Imams and to believe that the angels who carry the 'arsh have the appearance as described in the hadith, all this is not necessary. What is certain is that which we have related. The translator, Badayuni ". [^5]: Here there is a variation in the texts: N العرش الذي حمله جميع الخلق; D العرش الذي جملة جميع الخلق.

If jumlatu be adopted as the correct reading -and there are good grounds to do so -the meaning would be "that 'arsh which is the sum and substance of creation . . . [^6]: The meaning of arsh as knowledge was ascribed to it only in order to bring in the prophets and Imams, who were considered to be the torch-bearers of the light of knowledge - a beautiful simile, deriving its origin from the remote past, and dear to the heart of the artistic Persian. For arsh, see MB, 355.

In Sunnite theology, the 'arsh may be a seat of light or a red hyacinth (MC, 148), and "Allah created the preserved tablet from a white pearl, which is ,seven times longer than the distance between Heaven and earth, and attached it to the Throne".