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Bearers of the Throne

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The four supporters (angels) of the celestial throne

Bearers of the Throne or also known as ḥamlat al-arsh (Arabic: حملة العرش, romanized: Ḥamālat al - Arsh),[1][2] are a group of angels in Islam.[3]

The Quran mentions them in Quran 40:7 and Quran 69:17. They are mentioned in the al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, a book of prayers attributed to Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin.[4]

Description

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In Islamic traditions, the Hamalat al-Arsh are a group of angels whose sole task is to bear the Throne of God.[5] According to Muqatil ibn Sulayman, the angels of the throne are the first angels God created.[6]

Ibn Abbas is reported as saying, that the number of this angels are four but at Day of resurrection, they will increase to eight.[7]

They are often portrayed in zoomorphic forms. Al-Suyuti who quoted Wahb ibn Munabbih, and Al-Bayhaqi in book of al Asma' wa al Sifat, that each of those different anthropomorphic angels has four faces of a human, bull, vulture, and lion.[8] Other hadiths describe them with six wings and four faces.[9] Meanwhile, al-Suyuti narrated the Hamalat al-Arsh has four wings.[8]

According to a hadith transmitted from At-Targhib wat-Tarhib authored by ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm ibn ʻAbd al-Qawī al-Mundhirī, the bearers of the throne shaped like a rooster, with their feet on the earth and their nape supporting the Throne of God in the highest sky.[Notes 1] a number modern Islamic scholars from Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, and other institutes in Yemen and Mauritania also agreed the soundness of this hadith by quoting the commentary from Ibn Abi al-Izz, a classical era scholar who supported this narrative.[10]

These four angels are also held to be created from four different elements: light, fire, water, and mercy.[11] in his commentary about Al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Ibn Abi al-Izz has quoted a hadith regarding the physical size of the angel which authored by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, It is also said they are so large that a journey from their earlobes to their shoulders would take seven hundred years.[12][13]

According to al-Suyuti who quoted a Hadith transmitted by Ibn al-Mubarak, archangel Israfil is one of the bearers of the throne.[14]

Similar beings in other religions

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The portrayal of these angels is comparable to the seraphim in the Book of Revelation.[15] They might be identified with cherubim or seraphim of Jewish traditions.[16]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The hadith were: "...Allah, the most exalted, has permitted me to speak of a rooster whose legs have separated the earth, and its neck is bent under the throne..." through the narration of Abu Hurairah by Abd al-Qawi al-Mundhiri through Al-Qadi Abu Ya'la. The Hadith were judged as authentic and sound by numerous hadith scholars such as by Nur al-Din al-Haythami in his work, Majma al-Zawa'id, Al-Tabarani in his work, Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, Mustafa al-Adawi in Sahih Al-Ahadith Al-Qudsi and also by Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani in his work Silsalat al-Hadith as-Sahihah[10] It also commented as safe as it is also supported by other Hadith from another chain from Jabir ibn Abd Allah in the Sunan Abu Dawood.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Cyril Glassé (2001). The New Encyclopedia of Islam (Paperback). AltaMira Press. p. 168. ISBN 9780759101906. Retrieved 8 December 2023. Cyril Glassé. HAMĀLAT AL - ARSH - HAMMURABI Ḥamālat al - Arsh ( lit. " bearers of the throne " ) . The eight Angels whom the Koran mentions as the bearers of the throne of God
  2. ^ حملة العرش Google Translate
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster (1995). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster, Inc. p. 53. ISBN 9780877790426. Retrieved 8 December 2023. Hardcover
  4. ^ Gimaret, Daniel. "The Psalms of Islam. Al-ṣahīfat al-kāmilat al-sajjādiyya, Imam Zayn al-‛ Abidin‛ Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn, translated with an Introduction and Annotation by William C. Chittick. The Muhammadi Trust of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (London, England 1988; distributed by Oxford University Press)." Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques 7.1 (1991): 59–61.
  5. ^ Matthew Aaron Bennett (2020). "What are the Six articles of the Faith of Islam?". 40 Questions about Islam (Paperback). Kregel Publications. p. 115. ISBN 9780825446221. Retrieved 8 December 2023. hamalat al-'arsh who bear up the throne of God
  6. ^ Tottoli, Roberto. "The Carriers of the Throne of God: Islamic Traditions Between Sunnī Angelology and Shīʿī Vision." The Intermediate Worlds of Angels. Ergon-Verlag, 2019. p. 277
  7. ^ The Asiatic Journal. Black, Parbury, & Allen. 1839. p. 195. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  8. ^ a b Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (2021). Misteri Alam Malaikat (ebook) (in Indonesian). Pustaka Al-kautsar. p. 166. ISBN 9789795929512. Retrieved 9 August 2023. Quoting Amir al-Sha'bi
  9. ^ Stephen Burge (2015). Angels in Islam: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's al-Haba'ik fi Akhbar al-malik. Routledge. p. 265. ISBN 978-1-136-50473-0.
  10. ^ a b c Abdullaah Al-Faqeeh; Fatwa centers & Islamic educational institutes in Yemen and Mauritania (2013). "رتبة حديث: أذن لي أن أحدث عن ملك من ملائكة الله من حملة العرش..." [The rank of hadith: Permit me to narrate on the authority of one of the angels of God from among the bearers of the Throne... Fatwa Number: 205000]. Islamweb (in Arabic). Saudi Arabia: Al-Imaam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  11. ^ Syrinx von Hees (2002). Enzyklopädie als Spiegel des Weltbildes: Qazwīnīs Wunder der Schöpfung: eine Naturkunde des 13. Jahrhunderts (in German). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 283. ISBN 978-3-447-04511-7.
  12. ^ Ibn Abi al-Izz (1997). Fawzi Abd al-Hamid Hamzah, Khalid (ed.). تقريب وترتيب شرح العقيدة الطحاوية: لابن ابي العز الحنفي [approachment and arrangement of the explanation of the Tahawi faith: by Ibn Abi al-Izz al-Hanafi] (in Arabic). مكتبة الضياء ؛. p. 609. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  13. ^ Ibn Abi al-Izz (1969). Al-Albani, Muhammad Nasir al-Din (ed.). مختصر شرح العقيدة الطحاوية [A brief explanation of the al-Tahawiyya creed] (in Arabic). دار النذير للطباعة والنشر،. p. 145. Retrieved 17 March 2024. - أُذِن لي أن أُحَدِّثَ عن ملَكِ من ملائكةِ اللهِ عز وجل من حملةِ العرشِ ، إن ما بين شحمةِ أذنِه إلى عاتقِه مسيرةَ سبعمائةِ عامٍ
  14. ^ Al-Suyuti (2021). Muhammad as Said Basyuni, Abu Hajir; Yasir, Muhammad (eds.). Misteri Alam Malaikat (Religion / Islam / General) (in Indonesian). Translated by Mishabul Munir. Pustaka al-Kautsar. pp. 29–33, 172. ISBN 9789795929512. Retrieved 6 February 2022. Quoting Ibnul Mubarak from a book of az-Zuhd; ad Durr al-Manshur, chain narration from Ibnul Mubarak to Ibn SHihab (1/92)
  15. ^ Bruno Becchio; Johannes P. Schadé (2016). "Hierarchy of angels". Encyclopedia of World Religions. Foreign Media Group. ISBN 9781601360007.
  16. ^ Schöck, Cornelia (1996). "Die Träger des Gottesthrones in Koranauslegung und islamischer Überlieferung" [The bearers of the throne of God in the interpretation of the Koran and Islamic tradition]. Die Welt des Orients (in German). 27: 104–132. JSTOR 25683589. OCLC 6015512997. INIST 2883962.
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