Beginning of Creation

ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from ʿAmr, from ʿAtaʾ, from Safwan ibn Yaʿla, from his father (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) recite from the pulpit: ‘And they will call, “O Malik!”’ Sufyan said: In ʿAbd Allah’s recitation it is: ‘And they will call, “O Mali!”’

ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf informed us: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yunus informed me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: ʿUrwa narrated to me that ʿAʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (ﷺ), told him that she said to the Prophet (ﷺ), ‘Did you face a day harder than the day of Uhud?’ He said, ‘I suffered at the hands of your people what I suffered, and the hardest thing I suffered from them was on the day of al-ʿAqaba, when I presented myself to Ibn ʿAbd Yalil ibn ʿAbd Kulal, but he did not respond to what I wanted. I went away, weighed down with sorrow, and did not recover until I reached Qarn al-Thaʿalib. I raised my head and saw a cloud shading me. I looked, and there was Gabriel in it. He called me and said, “Allah has heard what your people said to you and how they answered you. He has sent you the Angel of the Mountains, so you may command him regarding them as you wish.” The Angel of the Mountains called to me, greeted me, and said, “Muhammad, it is as you wish. If you wish, I will bring the two mountains down upon them.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Rather, I hope Allah will bring forth from their descendants those who worship Allah alone and associate nothing with Him.”’

Qutayba narrated to us: Abu ʿAwana narrated to us: Abu Ishaq al-Shaybani said: I asked Zirr ibn Hubaysh about Allah’s saying, ‘He was at a distance of two bow-lengths, or nearer; then He revealed to His servant what He revealed.’ He said: Ibn Masʿud narrated to us that he saw Gabriel, who had six hundred wings.

Hafs ibn ʿUmar narrated to us: Shuʿba narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrahim, from ʿAlqama, from ʿAbd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him), regarding His saying, ‘He certainly saw some of the greatest signs of his Lord.’ He said: He saw a green covering that filled the horizon of the sky.

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ansari narrated to us, from Ibn ʿAwn: al-Qasim informed us, from ʿAʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: ‘Whoever claims that Muhammad saw his Lord has made a grave claim. Rather, he saw Gabriel in his created form, whose immense figure filled the horizon.’

Muhammad ibn Yusuf narrated to me: Abu Usama narrated to us: Zakariyya ibn Abi Zaʾida narrated to us, from Ibn al-Ashwaʿ, from al-Shaʿbi, from Masruq, who said: I said to ʿAʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her), ‘Then what of His saying, “Then he drew near and came closer, until he was at a distance of two bow-lengths or nearer”?’ She said: ‘That was Gabriel. He used to come to him in the form of a man, but this time he came to him in his own form, the form that was truly his, and filled the horizon.’

Musa narrated to us: Jarir narrated to us: Abu Rajaʾ narrated to us, from Samura, who said: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Last night I saw two men come to me. They said, “The one who kindles the Fire is Malik, its keeper, and I am Gabriel, and this is Mikaʾil.”’

Musaddad narrated to us: Abu ʿAwana narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Hazim, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘If a man calls his wife to his bed and she refuses, and he spends the night angry with her, the angels curse her until morning.’ Shuʿba, Abu Hamza, Ibn Dawud, and Abu Muʿawiya also related it from al-Aʿmash.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf informed us: al-Layth informed us, saying: ʿUqayl narrated to me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: I heard Abu Salama say: Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah (may Allah be pleased with them both) informed me that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say: ‘Then revelation paused for a time. As I was walking, I heard a voice from the sky. I raised my gaze toward the sky, and there was the angel who had come to me at Hira, sitting on a chair between heaven and earth. I was terrified by him and fell to the ground. I went to my family and said, “Wrap me up! Wrap me up!” Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed: “O you who are wrapped up,” through “and shun [the idols].”’ Abu Salama said: ‘Al-rijz means idols.’

Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us: Ghundar narrated to us: Shuʿba narrated to us, from Qatada. Khalifa also said to me: Yazid ibn Zurayʿ narrated to us: Saʿid narrated to us, from Qatada, from Abu al-ʿAliya: the cousin of your Prophet—meaning Ibn ʿAbbas (may Allah be pleased with them both)—narrated to us, from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: ‘On the night I was taken on the Night Journey, I saw Moses: a tall, dark-complexioned, curly-haired man, as if he were one of the men of Shanua. I saw Jesus: a man of medium height and build, with a complexion tending between red and white, and straight hair. I saw Malik, the keeper of the Fire, and the Dajjal among the signs Allah showed me. So do not doubt meeting him.’ Anas and Abu Bakra related from the Prophet (ﷺ): ‘Angels guard Madinah against the Dajjal.’

Ahmad ibn Yunus narrated to us: al-Layth ibn Saʿd narrated to us, from Nafiʿ, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘When one of you dies, his place is shown to him morning and evening. If he is among the people of Paradise, then it is a place among the people of Paradise; and if he is among the people of the Fire, then it is a place among the people of the Fire.’

Abu al-Walid narrated to us: Salm ibn Zarir narrated to us: Abu Rajaʾ narrated to us, from ʿImran ibn Husayn, from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: ‘I looked into Paradise and saw that most of its inhabitants were the poor. I looked into the Fire and saw that most of its inhabitants were women.’

Saʿid ibn Abi Maryam narrated to us: al-Layth narrated to us, saying: ʿUqayl narrated to me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab informed me that Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) said: While we were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he said: ‘While I was asleep, I saw myself in Paradise. There was a woman performing ablution beside a palace. I asked, “Whose palace is this?” They said, “ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab’s.” I remembered his protective jealousy, so I turned away and left.’ ʿUmar wept and said, ‘Would I feel jealousy toward you, Messenger of Allah?’

Hajjaj ibn Minhal narrated to us: Hammam narrated to us, saying: I heard Abu ʿImran al-Jawni relate from Abu Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Qays al-Ashʿari, from his father, that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘The tent is a hollow pearl, thirty miles high in the sky. At each of its corners a believer has a household whom the others do not see.’ Abu ʿAbd al-Samad and al-Harith ibn ʿUbayd related from Abu ʿImran: ‘Sixty miles.’

Al-Humaydi narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us: Abu al-Zinad narrated to us, from al-Aʿraj, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah says: ‘I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has never occurred to any human heart.’ If you wish, recite: ‘No soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort to the eyes.’

Muhammad ibn Muqatil narrated to us: ʿAbd Allah informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Hammam ibn Munabbih, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The first group to enter Paradise will look like the full moon on the night it is full. They will not spit, blow their noses, or defecate there. Their vessels will be of gold; their combs of gold and silver; the wood in their incense burners will be aloe; and their perspiration will be musk. Each of them will have two wives; because of their beauty, the marrow of their shins will be visible through their flesh. There will be no discord or mutual hatred among them; their hearts will be one heart. They will glorify Allah morning and evening.’

Abu al-Yaman informed us: Shuʿayb informed us: Abu al-Zinad narrated to us, from al-Aʿraj, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The first group to enter Paradise will be like the full moon on the night it is full, and those who follow them will be like the brightest star. Their hearts will be like one man’s heart: they will have no discord or mutual hatred. Each person will have two wives, each so beautiful that the marrow of her shins can be seen through her flesh. They will glorify Allah morning and evening; they will not become ill, blow their noses, or spit. Their vessels will be of gold and silver, their combs of gold, the fuel of their incense burners aloe wood’—Abu al-Yaman said, meaning wood—‘and their perspiration will be musk.’ Mujahid said: ‘The early morning is the beginning of dawn, and the evening is when the sun inclines toward setting.’

Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Muqaddami narrated to us: Fudayl ibn Sulayman narrated to us, from Abu Hazim, from Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: ‘Seventy thousand—or seven hundred thousand—of my community will surely enter. The first of them will not enter until the last of them enters. Their faces will be like the full moon on its night.’

ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Juʿfi narrated to us: Yunus ibn Muhammad narrated to us: Shayban narrated to us, from Qatada: Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated to us: A robe of silk brocade was presented to the Prophet (ﷺ), though he used to forbid silk. The people were amazed by it, and he said: ‘By the One in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the handkerchiefs of Saʿd ibn Muʿadh in Paradise are better than this.’

Musaddad narrated to us: Yahya ibn Saʿid narrated to us, from Sufyan, who said: Abu Ishaq narrated to me, saying: I heard al-Baraʾ ibn ʿAzib (may Allah be pleased with them both) say: A silk garment was brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and the people admired its beauty and softness. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The handkerchiefs of Saʿd ibn Muʿadh in Paradise are better than this.’