Events of the Day of Resurrection and the Beginning of Creation

Zurara b. Aufa told that God's messenger asked Gabriel, "Have you seen your Lord?" Gabriel trembled and replied, "Between Him and me, Muhammad, there are seventy veils of light, and if I approached one of them I would be burned." Thus, it is given in al-Masabih. Abu Nu'aim transmitted it in al-Hilya on the authority of Anas, but did not mention that Gabriel trembled.

Ibn `Abbas reported God's messenger as saying, "God created Israfil who has been keeping his feet in line from the day he was created and not raising his glance. Between him and the Lord who is blessed and exalted there are seventy lights not one of which he could approach without being burned." Tirmidhi transmitted it and called it sahih.

Jabir reported the Prophet as saying that when God created Adam and his offspring the angels said, "O Lord, Thou hast created them eating, drinking, marrying and riding[*], so appoint the world for them and the next world for us." God most high replied, "I shall not make him whom I have created with My hand and in whom I have breathed of My spirit like one to whom I say `Be' and he comes into existence." *Mirqat, 5:333, says this refers to riding on animals and sailing on ships. The verb rakiba can have either meaning.Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-lman.

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "A believer is held by God in more honour than some of His angels." Ibn Majah transmitted it.

God's messenger took me by the hand and said, "God created the earth on Saturday, created the mountains in it on Sunday, created the trees on Monday, created what is objectionable on Tuesday, created the light on Wednesday, sent forth the animals in the earth on Thursday, and created Adam in the late afternoon on Friday, at the end of the creation and at the last hour of the day between the afternoon and the night." Muslim transmitted it.

He told that while God's prophet and his companions were sitting clouds came over them and God's prophet asked, "Do you know what these are?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "These are the clouds (`anan), these are the water-carriers of the earth which God drives to people who do not thank Him or call upon Him." He then asked, "Do you know what is above you?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "It is the firmament, a ceiling which is guarded and waves which are kept back." He then asked, "Do you know what is between you and it?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Between you and it are five hundred years." He then asked, "Do you knew what is above that?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Two heavens with a distance of five hundred years between them." He went on speaking like that till he counted seven heavens, the distance between each pair being like that between the heaven and the earth. He then asked, "Do you know what is above that?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Above that is the Throne, and the distance between it and the [seventh] heaven is the same as that between each pair of heavens." He then asked, "Do you know what is below you?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "It is the earth." He then asked, "Do you know what is under that?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Under it there is another earth with a journey of five hundred years between them," and so on till he had counted seven earths with a journey of five hundred years between each pair. He then said, "By Him in whose hand Muhammad's soul is, if you were to drop a rope[1] to the lowest earth it would not pass out of God's knowledge[2]." He then recited, "He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward, and He is omniscient[3]." Ahmad and Tirmidhi transmitted it, Tirmidhi saying[4] that God's messenger's recitation of the verse indicates that it would go down within God's knowledge, power and authority, for God's knowledge, power and authority are everywhere, while He is on the Throne, as He described Himself in His Book[5]. This is the reading in the text on the margin of Mirqat. In Tirmidhi, in his book on Tafsir al Quran, the tradition occurs in his section on sura 57 (al-hadid), the reading being "if you were to drop a man with a rope..." Literally, "it would fall upon God." Quran, 57:3. Tirmidhi says in the passage cited above, "some of the learned have expounded this tradition..." Cf. Quran; 7:54; 10:3, etc.

He reported God's messenger as saying, "Adam was sixty cubits tall and seven cubits broad."

Abu Dharr told that he asked God's messenger who was the first of the prophets and he replied that it was Adam. He asked if he was really a prophet and he replied, "Yes, he was a prophet to whom a message was given." He asked God's messenger how many messengers there had been, and he replied, "There have been three hundred and between ten and twenty all told." In a version on the authority of Abu Umama Abu Dharr told that he had asked God's messenger the number which made up the full complement of the prophets, and he replied, "A hundred and twenty-four thousand among whom were three hundred and fifteen messengers all told."

Ibn 'Abbas reported God's messenger as saying, "Being given information is not like seeing. God most high gave Moses information about what his people had done regarding the calf and he did not throw down the tablets, but when he saw what they did he threw down the tablets and they were broken." Ahmad transmitted the three traditions.