reaches (1) of His creation.’ (2)
He—peace and blessings be upon him—also said, relating from his Lord:
‘The son of Adam reviles Me, and it is not right for him to do so; and the son of Adam denies Me, and it is not right for him to do so. As for his reviling Me, it is his saying, “Allah has taken a son,” whereas I am al-Aḥad, al-Ṣamad—the One, the Self-Sufficient—Who neither begets nor is begotten. As for his denying Me, it is his saying, “He will not bring me back as He created me the first time,” yet the first act of creation is no easier for Me than bringing him back.’ (3) (4)
And in the Sunan he said to a Bedouin:
‘Woe to you! Allah is not to be sought as an intercessor with any of His creation; Allah’s majesty is far greater than that. Indeed, His Throne is above His heavens (5)’—and he formed a dome with his hand—‘and it creaks beneath Him like the creaking (6) of a brand-new saddle…’
(1) In the original, s reads “ma adrakah basaruhu” (“what His sight perceived”); this is confirmed by the t edition; Sahih Muslim; Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 1, p. 70 (Introduction, ch. 13); and Musnad Ahmad, vol. 4, p. 405. A variant appears in Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 1, p. 71, hadith 196; and Musnad Ahmad, vol. 4, p. 401: “...lauhriqat subhat wajhihi kullu shay’in adrakah basaruhu” (“...all the brightness of His face that His sight perceived was burned”).
(2) Found in Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, pp. 161–162 (Book of Faith, ch. “Allah does not sleep,” on the authority of Abu Musa); Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 1, pp. 70–71 (Introduction, ch. 13, hadith 195); and Musnad Ahmad, vol. 4, p. 405.
(3) Shatm (insult, censure): abusive speech or description implying deficiency. See Lisān al-Arab, vol. 12, p. 318 (s.v. shatm); Fath al-Bari, vol. 13, p. 9 (Book of the Beginning of Creation).
(4) The hadith, with variant wording, is narrated by al-Bukhari from Abu Hurayrah in al-Bukhari’s Book on the Beginning of Creation, vol. 4, p. 73, ch. 1; in his Tafsir of Sūrat al-Baqarah, vol. 5, p. 149, ch. 8 (“They say, ‘God has taken a son’”); and in his Tafsir of Sūrat al-Ikhlās, vol. 6, p. 95. See also Sunan al-Nasa’i, vol. 4, p. 91 (Book of Funerals, ch. “Souls of Believers”); and Musnad Ahmad, vol. 2, pp. 317, 350, 351, 393, 394.
(5) In t: “aw” (“or”).
(6) In s: “atil” (“prolonged”), which is erroneous.