Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 182
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الصَّبَّاحِ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ هَارُونَ، أَنْبَأَنَا حَمَّادُ بْنُ سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ يَعْلَى بْنِ عَطَاءٍ، عَنْ وَكِيعِ بْنِ حُدُسٍ، عَنْ عَمِّهِ أَبِي رَزِينٍ، قَالَ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَيْنَ كَانَ رَبُّنَا قَبْلَ أَنْ يَخْلُقَ خَلْقَهُ قَالَ " كَانَ فِي عَمَاءٍ مَا تَحْتَهُ هَوَاءٌ وَمَا فَوْقَهُ هَوَاءٌ ثُمَّ خَلَقَ الْعَرْشَ عَلَى الْمَاءِ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah and Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah reported to us; they said: Yazid ibn Harun reported to us: Hammad ibn Salamah informed us, from Ya‘la ibn Ata, from Waki ibn Hudus, from his paternal uncle Abu Razin, who said: I asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, where was our Lord before He created His creation?’ He replied, ‘He was in a cloud, with air beneath it and air above it; then He created the Throne upon the water.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic says ‘in ama’ (a cloud or obscurity) and states that there was air both beneath and above it; the English witness’s ‘water’ before the Throne is not present in that clause.
كَانَ فِي عَمَاءٍ مَا تَحْتَهُ هَوَاءٌ وَمَا فَوْقَهُ هَوَاءٌ
Ama’ has been interpreted as cloud or obscurity; the source does not disambiguate the term.
Which established rendering does the project prefer for ama’ in this theological narration?