[199] The trustworthy Sheikh Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Jilli narrated to me from his teacher al-Khusaybi, tracing the report back to Humran ibn A'yun, who said:

Abu Hanifa asked our Master al-Sadiq—may His Might be exalted—about the Throne (al-'Arsh): what it is and from what it is [made]. The answer from our Master—may His Might be exalted—was that He said:

"It is that through which Allah manifested His Light, in which He deposited His Secret, upon whose back He established Himself (Istawa), and whose shoulders He encompassed."

Abu Hanifa asked: "Which is greater: it, or the heavens and the earth?"

Our Master—may His Might be exalted—replied: "There is no limit (Ghaya) to the Throne of Allah; and that which has no limit is not something external to His Essence (Dhat)."

Abu Hanifa said: "So the Throne is the Limit?"

Our Master said: "Yes, because no boundary can reach it, and no opposite can contend with it in its essentiality."