In the recension transmitted by Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī, from ʿIkrimah, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said:

“The sun does not rise until seventy thousand angels prod it,(1) saying to it, ‘Rise, rise!’ It replies, ‘I will not rise over a people who worship me instead of God.’ When it is on the point of rising, a devil comes to impede it; it rises between his two horns and burns him. When it inclines toward setting it resolves to prostrate(2) to God, but a devil comes to hinder it from prostrating, so it sets between his two horns and burns him.” Ibn ʿAsākir recorded the report at full length.(3)

Among Umayyah’s poetry concerning the bearers of the Throne are the following lines:

From al-Ṭawīl:
One shoulders a single pillar of His Throne;
Were it not for the Lord of creation they would weary and grow numb.(4)
They stand upon their feet, submissive beneath it;
Their sinews quiver from the intensity of fear.(5)

Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted these verses. Al-Aṣmaʿī likewise used to recite from Umayyah’s poetry:

From al-Khafīf:
Glorify God, for He alone is worthy of glory;
Our Lord in the heavens has ever been exalted.
In the highest structure that outstripped all mankind
He set above the heavens a lofty couch.
Stretched out, no eye can reach its farthest bound;
Beneath it you behold the angels, necks bent in awe.(6)

Al-Aṣmaʿī would then explain: “al-malāʾik is the plural of malak (angel), and ṣūr is the plural of aṣwar, meaning one whose neck is bent; these are the bearers of the Throne.”

Among Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt’s verses in praise of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Judʿān al-Taymī(7) are:

From al-Wāfir:
Shall I voice my need, or has your modesty spared me,
For bashfulness, indeed, is your inborn trait?
You know men’s dues; you are a noble offshoot,
Pure pedigree and radiant honor your estate.
A generous soul whom neither dawn nor dusk
Can turn from lofty morals, large of heart.(8)
In bounty and free-handedness you outstrip the wind
Whenever winter’s cold confines the cur.
Your land is a land of honor built by Banū Taym—
And you, for that land, are its encompassing sky.