And Abraham—peace be upon him—said in the supplication he offered for the people of Mecca: “Our Lord, raise up in their midst a messenger from among themselves who will recite to them Your revelations …” (al-Baqarah 2:129).

Imam Aḥmad (1) recorded: “Abū al-Naḍr related to us; al-Faraj ibn Faḍālah related to us; Luqmān ibn ʿĀmir related to us: I heard Abū Umāmah say, ‘I asked, O Messenger of Allah, how did your mission first begin?’ He replied,

‘It was the supplication of my father Abraham, the glad tidings of Jesus, and my mother saw a light issuing from her that illuminated the palaces of Syria.’”

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (3) transmitted the same report from Thawr ibn Yazīd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from a group of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

The purport is that he was speaking of the first public emergence of his affair among people, the spread of his name and fame. He therefore mentioned the supplication of Abraham—forefather of the Arabs—and the good news of Jesus, the last of the prophets sent to the Children of Israel, as noted earlier. This in turn indicates that the prophets who came between them also proclaimed his coming.

As for the higher assembly, his affair was already famous and well-known before Adam—peace be upon him—was created. Imam Aḥmad (4) said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us; Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, from Saʿīd ibn Suwayd al-Kalbī, from ʿAbd Allāh (5) ibn Hilāl al-Sulamī, from al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared,

‘I was, in the sight of Allah, the Seal of the Prophets while Adam was still lying in his clay. Let me tell you how that first came about: it was the supplication of my father Abraham, the annunciation of Jesus concerning me, and the vision my mother saw—and the mothers of the prophets likewise behold such visions.’”

Al-Layth also transmitted it from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ (7) with the wording: “His mother saw, when she gave birth to him, a light by which the palaces of Syria were illuminated.”