Among those who are qualified in the sciences, there are few. The Throne of the All-Merciful (ʿArsh al-Raḥmānī) is the throne that encompasses within itself the four existents: the Throne of the All-Merciful, nature, heba (primordial vapor), body, and the celestial sphere. It is like a Yemeni lightning flashing in the air for the sake of a mirror. Then Allah created the heba. The first form to receive the shape of the body is length, width, and depth. In this, nature becomes manifest. Its length arises from the intellect (ʿaql); its width from the nafs (the lower self); its depth from the void extending to the center. Therefore, within it these three ḥaqīqa (inner realities) are found. Thus, a triangle is formed; this is the universal body.
The first form to receive this body is the spherical form; this is the celestial sphere (falak), and its name is the Throne (ʿarsh). Allah, with the Name al-Raḥmān (the All-Merciful), has established Himself (istiwā) there in a manner befitting Him, in a way that only He knows, without anthropomorphism or modality. This is the beginning of the world of composition (the world made up of composite elements).
His establishment (istiwā) upon the Throne is from the amā (the cloud of non-being). This is the Throne of Life, which is the sixth throne. Furthermore, it is a relative throne whose existence is only by a nisba (relation). For this reason, we do not count it among the thrones or within this sea. This sea separates the Real (al-Ḥaqq) and creation (khalq). It is the veil of majesty between us and Him. Whoever among us desires to reach Him must plunge into this sea. First, he attributes the act of existent beings and any act that emerges from existent beings to the existent beings themselves. However, the act belongs entirely to the One, the Subduer (al-Wāḥid al-Qahhār). He, intending to reach us by means of the throne upon which He has established Himself as we have described, and since speech must acquire a comprehensible meaning, not literal but allusive and metaphorical, it is necessary for us to understand His bringing us down to ourselves. Thus, it is said: He brings down and He has established Himself.