Bearers of the Throne

In Islamic traditions, the Hamalat al-Arsh are a group of angels whose sole task is to bear the Throne of God.{{cite book |author1=Matthew Aaron Bennett |title=40 Questions about Islam |date=2020 |publisher=Kregel Publications |isbn=9780825446221 |page=115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXHNDwAAQBAJ |access-date=8 December 2023 |language=En |format=Paperback |chapter=What are the Six articles of the Faith of Islam? |quote=hamalat al-'arsh who bear up 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.{{cite book |title=The Asiatic Journal |date=1839 |publisher=Black, Parbury, & Allen |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZw3AQAAMAAJ |access-date=8 December 2023 |language=En}}

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.{{cite book|author=Stephen Burge|title=Angels in Islam: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's al-Haba'ik fi Akhbar al-malik|publisher=Routledge|date=2015|isbn=978-1-136-50473-0|page=265}} Meanwhile, al-Suyuti narrated the Hamalat al-Arsh has four wings.{{cite book |author1=Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti |author-link=al-Suyuti |title=Misteri Alam Malaikat |date=2021 |publisher=Pustaka Al-kautsar |isbn=9789795929512 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDxQEAAAQBAJ |access-date=9 August 2023 |language=id|format=ebook |quote=Quoting Amir al-Sha'bi}}

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.{{#tag:ref|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{{cite web |author1=Abdullaah Al-Faqeeh |author2= Fatwa centers & Islamic educational institutes in Yemen and Mauritania |title=رتبة حديث: أذن لي أن أحدث عن ملك من ملائكة الله من حملة العرش... |trans-title=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 |url=https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/205000 |website=Islamweb |publisher=Al-Imaam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University |access-date=3 March 2022 |location=Saudi Arabia |language=ar |date=2013 |quote=}} 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.|group="Notes"}} 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.

These four angels are also held to be created from four different elements: light, fire, water, and mercy.{{cite book|author=Syrinx von Hees|title=Enzyklopädie als Spiegel des Weltbildes: Qazwīnīs Wunder der Schöpfung: eine Naturkunde des 13. Jahrhunderts|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|date=2002|isbn=978-3-447-04511-7|page=283|language= german}} 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.{{cite book |author1=Ibn Abi al-Izz |author1-link=Ibn Abi al-Izz |editor1-last=Fawzi Abd al-Hamid Hamzah |editor1-first=Khalid |title=تقريب وترتيب شرح العقيدة الطحاوية: لابن ابي العز الحنفي|trans-title=approachment and arrangement of the explanation of the Tahawi faith: by Ibn Abi al-Izz al-Hanafi |date=1997 |publisher=مكتبة الضياء ؛ |page=609 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UuPjAAAAMAAJ |access-date=17 March 2024 |language=aR}}{{cite book |author1=Ibn Abi al-Izz |editor1-last=Al-Albani |editor1-first=Muhammad Nasir al-Din |editor1-link=Al-Albani |title=مختصر شرح العقيدة الطحاوية|trans-title=A brief explanation of the al-Tahawiyya creed |date=1969 |publisher=دار النذير للطباعة والنشر، |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQGgAAAAMAAJ |access-date=17 March 2024 |language=Ar |quote=- أُذِن لي أن أُحَدِّثَ عن ملَكِ من ملائكةِ اللهِ عز وجل من حملةِ العرشِ ، إن ما بين شحمةِ أذنِه إلى عاتقِه مسيرةَ سبعمائةِ عامٍ}}

According to al-Suyuti who quoted a Hadith transmitted by Ibn al-Mubarak, archangel Israfil is one of the bearers of the throne.{{cite book |author1=Al-Suyuti |author1-link=Al-Suyuti |editor1-last=Muhammad as Said Basyuni |translator=Mishabul Munir |editor1-first=Abu Hajir |editor2-last=Yasir |editor2-first=Muhammad |title=Misteri Alam Malaikat |date=2021 |type= Religion / Islam / General |publisher=Pustaka al-Kautsar |pages=29–33, 172 |isbn=9789795929512 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDxQEAAAQBAJ |access-date=6 February 2022 |language=id |quote=Quoting Ibnul Mubarak from a book of az-Zuhd; ad Durr al-Manshur, chain narration from Ibnul Mubarak to Ibn SHihab (1/92)}}

The portrayal of these angels is comparable to the seraphim in the Book of Revelation.{{cite book|author=Bruno Becchio|author2=Johannes P. Schadé|chapter=Hierarchy of angels|title=Encyclopedia of World Religions|publisher=Foreign Media Group|date=2016|isbn=9781601360007}} They might be identified with cherubim or seraphim of Jewish traditions.{{cite journal |last1=Schöck |first1=Cornelia |title=Die Träger des Gottesthrones in Koranauslegung und islamischer Überlieferung |trans-title=The bearers of the throne of God in the interpretation of the Koran and Islamic tradition |language=de |journal=Die Welt des Orients |date=1996 |volume=27 |pages=104–132 |id={{INIST|2883962}} |oclc=6015512997 |jstor=25683589 }}

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

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{{Angels in Abrahamic Religions}}

{{Characters and names in the Quran}}

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Category:Angels in Islam

Category:Classes of angels