and on earth? All of that is in a Book; and that is easy for Allah.” (Q 22:70)

And His words: “With Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. He knows what is on land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls without His knowledge, nor a grain in the darkest recesses of the earth, nor anything moist or dry, but it is (recorded) in a clear Book.” (Q 6:59)

– As for the Sunnah: among its proofs is the Prophet’s ﷺ saying, “Allah wrote the destinies of all creatures fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth,” and he said, “while His Throne was upon the water.” Muslim related it in his Ṣaḥīḥ from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ ⦗Allah be pleased with them⦘.

Al-Bukhārī narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn ⦗Allah be pleased with him⦘, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah was, and there was nothing before Him; His Throne was upon the water. Then He created the heavens and the earth and wrote in the Reminder everything that would occur.”

Imām Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī transmitted, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit ⦗Allah be pleased with him⦘, that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “The first thing Allah created was the Pen. He said to it, ‘Write.’ It replied, ‘My Lord, what shall I write?’ He said, ‘Write the measure of all things until the Hour is established.’” It is a sound (ḥasan) hadith.

Level Three: to believe in Allah’s will (mashīʾah) and that it is all-encompassing—nothing exists or fails to exist, great or small, manifest or hidden, in the heavens or on earth, except by the will of Allah, whether it be His own act or one of the acts of His creatures.

Level Four: to believe in Allah’s creating, and that He is the Creator of everything, great and small, manifest and hidden; that His creation embraces the very essences of these beings, their attributes, and all that issues from them in words, deeds, and effects.