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]

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

Notes

References

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