351 — Al-Firyābī informed us, saying: Abū Marwān ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Habīb al-Missīsī narrated to us, saying: Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī narrated to us, from Sufyān—that is, al-Thawrī—from Abū Hāshim, from Mujāhid, who said:

Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both—was told, “There are people here who speak concerning divine decree.” He replied, “They deny the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. I will surely seize one of them by the hair and drag him by it! Allah, Mighty and Majestic, had His Throne upon the water before He created anything. Then He began creation, and the first thing He created was the Pen. He commanded it, saying, ‘Write.’ It then wrote all that would occur until the Hour arose. People merely proceed according to a matter already settled.