Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi
al-Arsh lil-Dhahabi
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Deanship of Scientific Research at the Islamic University
Kitab al-Arsh (The Book of the Throne) is a theological and hadith treatise by the Syrian historian and traditionist Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (673–748 AH / 1274–1348 CE), dedicated to compiling and evaluating scriptural and early scholarly reports regarding the divine Throne, God's aboveness, and His ascension over His creation .
Overview and Background
Kitab al-Arsh is one of al-Dhahabi's specialized works on creed (aqidah), written alongside related monographs such as al-Arba'in fi Sifat Rabb al-Alamin (The Forty Hadiths on the Attributes of the Lord of the Worlds) and his extensive study Kitab al-Uluww (al-Uluww lil-Aliyy al-Ghaffar) . In treating the subject of the Throne as an independent monograph, al-Dhahabi followed earlier traditionists, most notably Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Abi Shayba (d. 297 AH), author of al-Arsh wa-Ma Ruwiya Fih (The Throne and What Has Been Narrated Concerning It) .
While most classical biographers recorded the work under the title Kitab al-Arsh, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya cited a passage from it in Ijtima al-Juyush al-Islamiyyah under the descriptive name Risalatuhu fil-Fawqiyyah (His Treatise on Aboveness) . An abridgment of the work survived in the Zahiriyyah Library under the title Mukhtasar al-Dhahabiyyah .
Contents and Methodology
The work opens with the doxology:
الحمد لله الذي ارتفع على عرشه في السماء، وجلى باليقين قلوب صفوته الأتقياء "Praise be to God who rose over His Throne in the heaven, and clarified with certainty the hearts of His pious chosen ones."
Al-Dhahabi sets out to establish that God is above the Throne and distinct (mubayin) from created entities, rather than indwelling within places, while maintaining that His divine knowledge encompasses all things . The text brings together Quranic verses, prophetic traditions, statements of the Companions, the Successors, and early authorities regarding the creation, descriptions, and bearers of the Throne (hamalat al-arsh), as well as the Footstool (al-kursi) .
Al-Dhahabi employs a critical hadith methodology throughout the work, citing chains of transmission and appraising narrators and traditions to distinguish authentic reports from weak or uncorroborated transmissions .
Manuscripts and Publication
Kitab al-Arsh remained in manuscript form until its modern critical edition . Identified copies include:
- A manuscript preserved in the library of Dar al-Ulum Nadwat al-Ulama in Lucknow, India (MS 1221 Hadith), with a photographic copy held at the Islamic University of Madinah (no. 564) .
- A manuscript in the Asif Pasha collection .
- A fragmentary abridgment preserved in the Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus (Majami' no. 47) .
The complete text was edited and published by Muhammad ibn Khalifah al-Tamimi with an accompanying study on classical doctrines concerning the divine attributes .
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