In al-Musnad, al-ʿIrbād ibn Sāriyah narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“I was recorded with Allah as the Seal of the Prophets while Adam still lay in his clay. I shall tell you how this began: the supplication of my father Abraham, the glad tidings announced by Jesus, and my mother’s vision when she gave birth to me: she saw a light emerge from her that illuminated the palaces of Syria.”

In the hadith of Maysarah al-Hurr, he said:

“I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, when were you recorded as a prophet?’—or, in another wording, ‘When were you a prophet?’ He replied, ‘While Adam was between spirit and body.’”

In Sahīh al-Bukhārī and Sahīh Muslim, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—who is truthful and trustworthy—told us: ‘The creation of each of you is brought together in his mother’s womb for forty days as a drop of fluid. Then he becomes a clot for a similar period, then a lump of flesh for a similar period. Then the angel is sent to him and commanded concerning four matters. He is told: “Write down his provision, his deeds, his lifespan, and whether he will be wretched or blessed.” Then the spirit is breathed into him.’ He said: ‘By Him in whose Hand is my soul—or he said, “By Him besides whom there is no god”—one of you may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until only a cubit separates him from it, but then what has been written overtakes him, and he performs the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters the Fire.’”

In Sahīh al-Bukhārī and Sahīh Muslim, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“We were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, at a funeral in Baqīʿ al-Gharqad. He said, ‘There is not one of you whose place in the Fire and whose place in Paradise have not already been written down.’ They asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, should we not then rely on what has been written and give up deeds?’ He replied, ‘Perform deeds, for everyone will be enabled to do that for which he was created. Those who are among the blessed will be enabled to perform the deeds of the blessed; but as for those who are among the wretched