Bearers of the Throne, also known as the ḥamlat al-arsh (),حملة العرش Google Translate are a group of angels in Islam.
The Quran mentions them in and . They are mentioned in the al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, a book of prayers attributed to Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin.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.
Description In Islamic tradition, the Hamalat al-Arsh are a group of angels whose sole task is to bear the Throne of God. According to Muqatil ibn Sulayman, the angels of the throne are the first angels God created.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
Ibn Abbas is reported as saying, that the number of this angels are four but at Day of resurrection, they will increase to eight.
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. Other hadiths describe them with six wings and four faces. Meanwhile, al-Suyuti narrated the Hamalat al-Arsh has four wings.
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. 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.
These four angels are also held to be created from four different elements: light, fire, water, and mercy. 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.
According to al-Suyuti who quoted a Hadith transmitted by Ibn al-Mubarak, archangel Israfil is one of the bearers of the throne.
Similar beings in other religions The portrayal of these angels is comparable to the seraphim in the Book of Revelation. They might be identified with cherubim or seraphim of Jewish traditions.
See also Tetramorph List of angels in theology
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