The four supporters (angels) of the celestial throne

Bearers of the Throne or also known as ḥamlat al-arsh (Arabic: حملة العرش, romanizedḤamālat 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 eight Hamalat al-Arsh are group of angels who bearing the Throne of God.[5] Ibn Abbas has said that when the Day of resurrection come, the numbers of the Bearers of the throne will be added from four to eight angels.[6] The similar narrations also came from various modern contemporary scholars such as Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di, Wahbah al-Zuhayli, and Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar, about Quran chapter Al-Haqqa verse 69:17[7]

they are often portrayed in zoomorphic forms. According to al-Suyuti, the bearer of thrones numbered four angels, which each of them has different body shape resembling different creatures: a vulture, a bull, a lion and a human, with four wings.[8]

Al-Suyuti also 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 describes them with six wings and four faces.[9] Meanwhile, 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 who supported this narrative.[10]

These four angels are also held to be created from four different elements: light, fire, water, and mercy.[citation needed] It is also said they are so large that a journey from their earlobes to their shoulders would take seven hundred years.[11] According to various Islamic tafsir scholars which compiled by Islamic University of Madinah and Indonesian religious ministry, the number of these angels will be added from four into eight angels during the Day of Resurrection.[12] This interpretation is based on Qur'an chapter Al-Haqqa Quran 69:17.[12]

According to Al-Suyuti who quoted a Hadith transmitted by Ibn al-Mubarak, archangel Israfil is one of the bearers of the throne.[13]

Similar beings in other religions

The portrayal of these angels is comparable to the seraphim in the Book of Revelation.[14] They might be identified with cherubim or seraphim of Jewish traditions.[15]

See also

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, Engand 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. ^ The Asiatic Journal. Black, Parbury, & Allen. 1839. p. 195. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  7. ^ Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di; professor Shalih bin Abdullah bin Humaid from Riyadh Tafsir center; Imad Zuhair Hafidz from Markaz Ta'dhim Qur'an Medina; Wahbah al-Zuhayli; Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Asqar from Islamic University of Madinah. "Surat Al-Haqqah Ayat 17" (in Arabic and Indonesian). Islamic University of Madinah; Ministry of Religious Affairs (Indonesia); Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance. Retrieved 8 December 2023. Malaikat-malaikat dari segala penjuru langit menyangga Arsy Tuhannya di atas kepala mereka pada hari kiamat. Jumlah mereka adalah 8 malaikat.
  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. ^ a b Wahbah al-Zuhayli; Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di; Muhammad Sulaiman Al Asyqar. "Surat An-Nazi'at ayat 5; Tafsir Juz Amma". Tafsirweb (in Indonesian and Arabic). Islamic University of Madinah; Ministry of Religious Affairs (Indonesia); Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ Bruno Becchio; Johannes P. Schadé (2016). "Hierarchy of angels". Encyclopedia of World Religions. Foreign Media Group. ISBN 9781601360007.
  15. ^ 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.