The Twelver Shi’a praise the narrator Yunus b. Abd
al-Rahman al-Qummi, who died in the early 9th century CE, as he was
apparently one of the companions of Imams Musa al-Kadim and Ali al-Rida and
conveyed narrations from both of them. However, the Sunni scholar and
heresiographer Ibn Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani in his al-Milal wal-Nihal
mentioned the fact that Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman put forward a heresy that the Hamalat al-Arsh (Angels bearing the Throne of
God) are in fact carrying the Holy Person of Allah Himself, and groan from
under the weight of His magnitude. Another heresiographer, Abu Mansur Abd
al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, in his al-Farq bayn al-Firaq likewise mentions the
Yunusiya subsect attributed to Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman al-Qummi, and describes his
heresy: “He claimed that Allah is borne by the bearers of his throne, through
He is stronger than they; just as the legs of the chair bear the chair although
the chair is stronger than they.” Apparently, Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman quoted the
Ayah of the Qur’an as his proof:
وَالْمَلَكُ
عَلَىٰ أَرْجَائِهَا ۚ وَيَحْمِلُ عَرْشَ رَبِّكَ فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ ثَمَانِيَةٌ
And the
Angels are at its edges. And they will bear the throne of your Lord above them,
that day, eight [of them].
(Sura 69: 17)
But
as al-Baghdadi points out, this Ayah only speaks of the Angels carrying the
Throne, and not carrying Allah Himself. But by qualifying that Allah, despite
being carried by eight Angels below Him, is nevertheless stronger than them,
Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman avoided falling into outright Kufr and Ilhad
in this matter, though he was still a misguided innovator for having introduced
this belief hitherto unheard of among the Muslims.
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