Praise
be to Allah
Firstly:
What is
indicated by many texts is that Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is
above all of His creation, for He is the Most High, Most Exalted, may He be
blessed and sanctified.
The Throne is
the roof of all creation and Allah, may He be exalted, is above the Throne,
risen above it, as He tells us in seven places in His Book. The word istiwaa’
(referring to His having risen above the Throne) is known from a linguistic
point of view, how is not known, and believing in it is obligatory, as was
narrated from Anas ibn Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him).
See also the
answers to questions no. 992 and
219403.
Secondly:
Allah, may He be
exalted, tells us that His Throne is great, and that it has bearers who
carry it. There is a hadith which describes their huge size.
Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Those
[angels] who carry the Throne and those around it exalt [ Allah ] with
praise of their Lord and believe in Him and ask forgiveness for those who
have believed, [saying], “Our Lord, You have encompassed all things in mercy
and knowledge, so forgive those who have repented and followed Your way and
protect them from the punishment of Hellfire”
[Ghaafir 40:9].
Abu Daawood
(4727) narrated from Jaabir ibn ‘Abdillah that the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I have been given permission to speak of
one of the angels of Allah, one of the bearers of the Throne. The distance
between his earlobe and his shoulder is like the distance of seven hundred
year’s travel.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Daawood.
Thirdly:
The Throne has
bearers who are carrying it now and will carry it on the Day of
Resurrection, as indicated by the verse quoted above, and as mentioned in
the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): “… but
when our Lord, may His name be blessed and exalted, decrees some matter, the
bearers of the Throne glorify Him, then the inhabitants of heaven who are
closest to them glorify Him, until the tasbeeh (glorification) reaches the
inhabitants of this lowest heaven. Then those who are nearest to the bearers
of the Throne say: What did your Lord say? And they tell them what He said…”
Narrated by Muslim (2229).
But it is
narrated that the bearers of the Throne now are four, and on the Day of
Resurrection they will be eight; it was said that they will be eight angels,
or they will be eight rows of angels.
The view that
the bearers of the Throne now are four is the view of the majority of
mufassireen; this view was thought most likely to be correct by a number of
scholars, including Ibn Katheer.
Ibn al-Jawzi
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: It says in the hadith that today they
are four, and on the Day of Resurrection Allah will send four more angels to
support them. This is the view of the majority. End quote from Zaad
al-Maseer (4/331).
See: Tafseer
Ibn Katheer (7/130).
The hadith
referred to is what was narrated by at-Tabari with his isnad from ‘Abd
ar-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn Aslam who said: The Messenger of Allah ( blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Today it is carried by four and on
the Day of Resurrection it will be carried by eight.” This is a da‘eef
(weak) hadith, because its isnad (chain of narrators) is interrupted.
At-Tabari also
narrated with his isnad from Ibn Ishaaq who said: It was narrated to us that
the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“Today they – meaning the bearers of the Throne – are four, and on the Day
of Resurrection Allah will support them with four others, so they will be
eight.” See Tafseer at-Tabari (29/59).
The soundest
evidence to support that is what was narrated by Ahmad (2314), ad-Daarimi in
his Sunan (2745), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Asmaa’ wa’s-Sifaat
(771) from Ibn ‘Abbaas, that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) confirmed something that Umayyah said in his poetry. He said: “A
man and a bull under its (the Throne’s) right foot, and an eagle under the
other foot, and a lion lying in wait.”
The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “He has spoken the truth.”
This hadith was
classed as saheeh by Ibn Katheer, and by Ahmad Shaakir in Tahqeeq
al-Musnad.
Ibn Katheer said
in his Tafseer (7/130): This is a jayyid (good) isnad. It implies
that the bearers of the Throne today are four, and on the Day of
Resurrection they will be eight, as Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning): “And
there will bear the Throne of your Lord above them, that Day, eight [of
them]”
[al-Haaqqah 69:17].
End quote.
It says in
al-Bidaayah wa’n-Nihaayah (1/21): This is a hadith with a saheeh isnad;
its men are thiqaat (trustworthy). It indicates that the bearers of the
Throne today are four. End quote.
Al-Bayhaqi (may
Allah have mercy on him) said: The only one who narrated this hadith was
Muhammad ibn Ishaaq ibn Yasaar with this isnad.
What is meant by
it is narrated in another hadith from Ibn ‘Abbaas, according to which the
Kursiy is carried by four angels, an angel in the form of a man, an angel in
the form of a lion, an angel in the form of a bull, and an angel in the form
of an eagle.
End quote from
al-Asmaa’ wa’s-Sifaat by al-Bayhaqi (2/206).
The editor and
annotater, Shaykh ‘Abdullah al-Haashidi, classed the hadith as saheeh, and
discussed its isnaads (chains of narration).
Fourthly:
With regard to
the answer to the question: where will Allah be when the (eight) angels
carry His Throne?
The answer is:
That Allah, may
He be exalted, is above His Throne, and His Throne is above all of His
creation; the Throne and its bearers are created beings, and Allah has no
need of the Throne and has no need of its bearers, for He is the
Ever-Living, the Sustainer of [all] existence, the maintainer of all things,
and everything is sustained by Him. The angels only carry His Throne by His
power, may He be glorified, for it is He Who gave them the power to do that.
Imam ad-Daarimi
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: Allah is mightier than all things and
greater than every created thing. The Throne did not have the power or
strength to bear Him, and the bearers of the Throne do not have the power in
themselves to carry it, and they are not able to carry His Throne because of
what they possess of strength and power; rather they carry it by His power,
His will and His support. Were it not for that, they would not have been
able to carry it.
It has been
narrated to us that when they carried the Throne, above which is the
Almighty in His glory and majesty, they were too weak to carry it, and they
felt humbled and fell to their knees, until they were prompted to say “Laa
hawla wa laa quwwata illa Billah (there is no power and no strength except
with Allah),” then they were enabled to carry it by the power and will of
Allah. Were it not for that, the Throne would not be able to bear Him, and
neither would its bearers, the heavens and the earth and all those who are
in them.
End quote from
Naqd Bishr al-Mareesi (1/457).
In conclusion,
the answer to this dubious question is that Allah, may He be exalted, is the
Lord, the Sovereign, the Almighty Who does whatever He will. It was His
will, may He be glorified, to rise above His Throne, and it was His will
that His Throne should have bearers now and on the Day of Resurrection; it
is He, may He be glorified, Who enabled them to carry this mighty Throne and
enabled them to do that by His might and power.
Shaykh al-Islam
Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The explanation
is that is as follows:
Allah has no
need of anyone else, for He is the Creator of every created thing, and He
did not become above His creation by means of some of the things that He
created. Rather He, may He be glorified, created all created things and He,
by His Essence, is above them and has no need of any of them to be exalted,
as created beings need something to help them to be lifted up. Allah, may He
be glorified, is the One Who carries, by His might and power, the Throne and
the bearers of the Throne.
According to one
report, when Allah created the Throne, He commanded the angels to carry it.
They said: How can we carry Your Throne, when Your Majesty is above it?
He said: Say:
Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa Billah (there is no power and no strength
except with Allah).
So they are only
able to carry the Throne by His might; when Allah puts strength into a
created being, that created being becomes able to carry what Allah wills
that he should carry of His greatness and so on.
So by His might
and power, it is He Who carries both the bearer and what the bearer carries.
So how could He be in need of anything?
End quote from
Dar’ al-Ta‘aarud (7/19).
Abu’l-Hasan
al-Ash‘ari (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated two views concerning the
bearers of the throne and what they are carrying.
In
al-Maqaalaat (p. 211), he said: The scholars differed concerning the
bearers of the Throne and what they carry.
Some said that
the bearers are carrying the Creator, and when He becomes angry, the Throne
becomes heavier on their shoulders, and when He is pleased, it becomes
lighter, and thus they are able to distinguish between His wrath and His
pleasure. And the Throne makes a sound when it becomes heavy, like the
creaking of a saddle.
And some of them
said that the Creator does not become heavier or lighter, and that the
bearers do not carry Him; rather it is the Throne that becomes lighter or
heavier, and is carried by the bearers. End quote.
Shaykh al-Islam
Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Bayaan Talbees
al-Jahamiyyah (3/238):
There are two
views concerning the bearers of the Throne. The first view is that the
bearers of the Throne carry the Throne, but they do not carry the One Who is
above it.
The second view
is that they carry the Throne and the One Who is above it, as mentioned
above.
Then he
mentioned the argument of both parties.
The argument of
the first party is: we do not accept that those who carry the Throne must
necessarily be carrying the One Who is above it.
The reason being
that the one who carries the roof is not necessarily carrying what is above
the roof, unless that which is above the roof is actually resting on it,
because air, birds and so on are above the roof, but they are not carried by
other things that the roof may be carrying. Similarly, the heavens are above
the earth, but the earth is not carrying the heavens. Moreover, each heaven
has another heaven above it, and the lower is not carrying the upper.
If it is the
case with regard to created things that a thing does not necessarily carry
what is above it – rather that may or may not be the case – then the Throne
is not necessarily carrying the Lord, may He be exalted, unless there is
evidence to prove that. If the Throne is not carrying the Lord [for He is
above the Throne], then it is more appropriate to say that the bearers are
not carrying that which is above it.
The argument of
the second party is that we do not accept the notion that if the Throne and
its bearers are carrying Allah, that must mean that Allah needs them.
For it is Allah
Who created them and created their strength and their deeds, so they only
carry Him by His might and help, which is applicable to all of their deeds.
So in reality,
no one carries His essence except Him.
Similarly, if
His slaves call upon Him and He responds to them, and it is He, may He be
glorified, Who created them and created their supplication and their deeds,
then He is the One Who responds to what He created and helps them with what
they do of deeds. End quote.
Thus it becomes
clear that there is no problem with the idea that the angels are carrying
the Throne now and will do so on the Day of Resurrection.
Allah, may He be
glorified, is above His Throne and distinct from His creation, and He has no
need of the Throne or its bearers.
“And your Lord
creates what He wills and chooses; not for them was the choice. Exalted is
Allah and high above what they associate with Him”
[al-Qasas 28:68]
“He is not
questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned”
[al-Anbiyaa’
21:23].
For more
information, please see the answer to question no. 12290.
We ask Allah to
guide us and you, and make us steadfast.
And Allah knows
best.