Bearers of the Throne or ḥamlat al-arsh (حملة العرش) are a group of
angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...
in
Islam. The Quran mentions them in and .
Description
In Islamic traditions, they are often portrayed in
zoomorphic
The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...
forms. They are described as resembling different creatures: An eagle, a bull, a lion and a human. Other
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
s describes them with six wings and four faces. While 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 were angels who shaped like a
rooster
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
, with their feet on the earth and their nape supporting the
Throne of God
The Throne of God is the reigning centre of God in the Abrahamic religions: primarily Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The throne is said by various holy books to reside beyond the Seventh Heaven which is called ''Araboth'' ( ''‘ărāḇō ...
in the highest sky. a number modern Islamic scholars from
Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University , and other institutes Yemen and Mauritania also agreed the soundness of this hadith by quoting the commentary from
Ibn Abi al-Izz
Sadr ad-Dīn Abu'l Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz () was a 14th-century Arab Muslim scholar and jurist who served as a ''qadi'' in Damascus and Egypt. He is best known for authoring a commentary on al-Tahawi's creedal treatise '' Al-Aqidah al- ...
who supported this narrative.
These four angels are also held to be created from different elements: One from light, one from fire, one from water and one from mercy. It is also said they are so large that a journey from their earlobes to their shoulders would take seven hundred years. According to various Islamic tafsir scholars which compiled by
Islamic University of Madinah
The Islamic University of Madinah ( ar, الجامعة الإسلامية بالمدينة المنورة) was founded by the government of Saudi Arabia by a royal decree in 1961 in the Islamic holy city of Medina. Many have associated the uni ...
and
Indonesian religious ministry, the number of these angels will be added from four into eight angels during the
Day of Resurrection
In Islam, "the promise and threat" () of Judgment Day ( ar, یوم القيامة, Yawm al-qiyāmah, Day of Resurrection or ar, یوم الدین, italic=no, Yawm ad-din, Day of Judgement),
when "all bodies will be resurrected" from the dead, ...
.
This interpretation were based on Qur'an chapter
Al-Haqqa .
According to
Al-Suyuti who quoted a Hadith which transmitted by
Ibn al-Mubarak, archangel
Israfil is one of the bearer of the throne.
Comparation in another religion
The portrayal of these angels is comparable to the
seraphim in the
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
. They might be identified with
cherubim
A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...
or seraphim of
Jewish traditions
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
See also
*
Tetramorph
A tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements, or the combination of four disparate elements in one unit. The term is derived from the Greek ''tetra'', meaning four, and ''morph'', shape.
In Christian art, the tetramorph is t ...
Notes
References
Angels in Islam
Classes of angels
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