from him. Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the master of Adam’s descendants: he is the greatest among them in rank and the most exalted in renown. He therefore stated that he was recorded as a prophet at that time. The recording of his prophethood is what is meant by its existence: it existed in the written decree, not in actual reality. His prophethood did not come into existence until Allah Most High made him a prophet at the age of forty, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as the Most High said to him:

“And thus We have revealed to you a spirit by Our command”—the verse.

He also said:

“Did He not find you an orphan and give you refuge?”—the verse.

And He said:

“We relate to you the best of stories”—the verse.

This meaning is therefore explicitly explained in the hadith of al-ʿIrbād ibn Sāriya, who reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I am the servant of Allah, recorded as the Seal of the Prophets while Adam still lay in his clay form. I shall tell you how my mission began: Abraham’s supplication, Jesus’ glad tidings, and the vision my mother saw when she gave birth to me, when a light shone forth for her, illuminating for her the palaces of the Levant.”

This is the wording of the hadith in Ibn Wahb’s narration: Muʿāwiya ibn Sālih narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn Suwayd, from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Hilāl al-Sulamī, from al-ʿIrbād. Al-Baghawī related it in this form in Sharh al-Sunnah (Commentary on the Sunnah). Al-Layth ibn Saʿd also narrated a similar version from him. Imam Ahmad related it in his Musnad from Ibn Mahdī: Muʿāwiya ibn Sālih narrated to us, through this chain of transmission, from al-ʿIrbād, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I am the servant of Allah, the Seal of the Prophets, while Adam still lay in his clay form. I shall tell you how this began: the supplication of my father Abraham, the glad tidings of Jesus, and the vision my mother saw; the mothers of the prophets likewise see such visions.”

And his words