178 — Abū al-Fadl Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sandalī narrated to us, saying: Al-Fadl ibn Ziyād narrated to us, saying: I asked Abū Abd Allah about Abbās al-Narsī. I said, “Was he a follower of the Sunnah?” He replied, “May Allah have mercy on him.” I said, “I have heard that he said, ‘My saying, “The Quran is not created,” is no different from my saying, “There is no deity but Allah.”’” Abū Abd Allah laughed and was pleased by this. I asked, “Abū Abd Allah, is it not just as he said?” He replied, “Yes. Yet this shaykh—whom Lu'ayn brought to our attention—made a point that had gone unnoticed when he said, ‘The first thing Allah Most High created was the Pen, while speech existed before the Pen.’”

I said, “Abū Abd Allah, I heard him say that myself.” He exclaimed, “Glory be to Allah! How excellent were his words! It is as though he lifted the veil from before my face,” and he raised his hand to his face. I said, “He is a shaykh who was raised in Kufa.” Abū Abd Allah replied, “Kufa’s outstanding man is truly one of a kind!”

He then mentioned the hadith of Ibn Abbās: “The first thing Allah created was the Pen.” He asked, “How many ⦗512⦘ times do you think we have recorded it?” He then said, “I examined it and found that five people had narrated it from Ibn Abbās.”

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn said: I have already set out this topic in the Book of Divine Decree, and I shall mention it here so that it may strengthen the argument of the people of truth against the people of deviation.