white or black, handsome or ugly, complete or deficient. “There is no deity except Him, the Almighty, the All-Wise.” This refutes the delegation of Christians from Najran when they said, “Jesus is the son of Allah.” It is as though He says: How could Allah have a child, when Allah Most High fashioned him in the womb?

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Mulayḥī informed us; Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī informed us; Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Baghawī informed me; ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd informed me; Abū Khaythamah Zuhayr ibn Muʿāwiyah informed me, from al-Aʿmash, from Zayd ibn Wahb, who said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—the truthful one whose truthfulness is affirmed—related to us:

“Indeed, the creation of each one of you is brought together in his mother’s womb for forty days as a drop of fluid. Then he becomes a clinging clot for a like period; 53/A then he becomes a lump of flesh for a like period. Then Allah sends the angel to him”—or he said, “The angel is sent to him with four decrees, and he writes down his provision, his deeds, his appointed term, and whether he will be wretched or blessed.” He said: “Indeed, one of you may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until only an arm’s length remains between him and it; then the decree overtakes him, and he performs the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters it. And one of you may perform the deeds of the people of the Fire until only an arm’s length remains between him and it; then the decree overtakes him, and he performs the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it.” (1)

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī informed us; ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Muḥammad al-Fārisī informed me; Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā al-Julūdī informed me; Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Sufyān informed me; Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj informed me; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr related to us; Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah related to us, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, from Ḥudhayfah ibn Usayd, who traced it back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said:

“The angel comes to the drop of fluid after it has settled in the womb for forty or forty-five nights, and says, ‘My Lord, will he be wretched or blessed?’ That is written down. He then says, ‘My Lord, male or female?’ and this is written down. His deeds, his appointed term, and his provision are then written down. Thereupon the scrolls are folded, and nothing is added to them or taken away from them.” (2)