Etymology
While not all verses in the Quran carry a specific name, this one was given the name 'Ayat Al-Kursi' (Kursi: literally a footstool or chair, and sometimes translated as the Throne.) The Kursi mentioned in this Verse should be distinguished from the 'Arsh (Throne) mentioned in V 7:52, 10:3, 85:15 and elsewhere. Muhammad said: "The Kursi compared to the 'Arsh is nothing but like a ring thrown out upon open space of the desert." If the Kursi extends over the entire universe, then how much greater is the 'Arsh. It is narrated from Muhammad bin 'Abdullah and from other religious scholars that the Kursi is in front of the 'Arsh (Throne) and it is the at the level of the Feet." Another opinion preferred by Tabari, Sufyan al-Thawri in their exegesis, in the Mufradat by Raghib and narrated by Bukhari as the opinion of Saeed ibn Jubayr, interprets Kursi as "Allah's Knowledge (Ilm)". Islamic religious belief holds that anyone who recites the verse enters the protection and security of God. Commonly, it is recited by Muslims before they go to sleep.
Read more about this topic: Al-Baqara 255
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)