In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
I had a few days off my studies and that space always allows me reflect. Alhamdulillah.
In my arabic class, something happened recently that took me back a few years ago.
I was in Kano attending a madrasah, and our teacher was teaching the tafsīr of سورة الملك in Hausa. We reached the part where the word عرش was mentioned, and she was trying to explain it. She said something along the lines of, “It is like a bed,” and I was already wrinkling up my nose, then she added, “gaɗon Allah”
So the word “gaɗo” translates to “bed”
I froze.
My Rabb doesn't sleep. So why would He be described as having a bed…
I mean, I knew what she was aiming for—the word she was struggling to find was “throne.” But in that moment, I felt like the meaning was lost in translation.
That day, I made a quiet resolve: I had to learn Arabic. I didn’t want to experience Allah’s words filtered through seemingly close translations. I wanted to connect directly to the source. So help me God.
Fast forward a few years, maybe 7 years, and here I am, sitting in an Arabic class in an Arab country…
We are reading the story of Prophet Sulaiman عليه السلام and Queen Bilqis. It is the part where the hoopoe bird tells Sulaiman about what he saw in her kingdom. The text had some description of her magnificent عرش.
My teacher sets the scene beautifully, describing Bilqis’ throne as an intricate سرير of a queen. You know what سرير translates to…
yup…
“bed”
She pauses and adds, “But of course, the عرش of Allah ﷻ is beyond our comprehension, nothing like this what we can comprehend.
At that moment, it all came full circle.
I was transported back to that small school in Kano, sitting in a classroom where “gaɗon Allah” threw me into a spiral of confusion and curiosity. Now here I was, miles away, finally understanding the word عرش in its richness, its layers, and its depth.
I sat there humbled, grateful, and overwhelmed, but in a good way.
May Allah ﷻ grant us beneficial knowledge. Amin.