444 — Al-Firyābī informed us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us, saying ⦗868⦘: Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāh narrated to us, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Abū Hāshim, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: A group of people who were discussing the divine decree were mentioned to him, so he said:

“Indeed, Allah Most High rose over His Throne before He created anything. The first thing He created was the Pen, and He commanded it to write all that would come to pass until the Day of Resurrection.”