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

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 a commentary from Ibn Abi al-Izz, a classical era scholar.[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

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

  • God’s throne in Islam
  • Tetramorph
  • List of angels in theology

Notes

  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

  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.