441 — Al-Firyābī informed us, saying: Minjāb ibn al-Hārith narrated to us, saying: ⦗866⦘ ʿAlī ibn Mushir informed us, from al-Aʿmash, from Habīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words of Allah Most High:

“And when your Lord took from the children of Adam—from their loins—their offspring.” [al-Aʿrāf: 172]

He said: “When Allah created Adam, He brought forth Adam’s offspring from his back in the form of tiny ants. He then called each of them by name, saying: ‘This is so-and-so, son of so-and-so; he will do such-and-such. And this is so-and-so, son of so-and-so; he will do such-and-such.’ He then took them in His Hand, in two handfuls, and said: ‘These are for Paradise, and these are for the Hellfire.’”