when did you become a prophet?’—or, in another narration, ‘When were you recorded as a prophet?’ He replied, ‘While Adam was between spirit and body.’” Reported by Ahmad.

This “being” refers to his being recorded and decreed, which is the “fourth level,” as explained above. This level, with Allah and with whomever He wills among His creation, precedes the existence of created beings, although it may also come afterward. For:

“Allah recorded the decrees of all created beings fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth.”

Muslim related this in his Sahīh from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Hence, regarding His words,

“Indeed, We were having all that you did transcribed,”

Ibn ‘Abbās said that Allah commands the angels to copy from the Preserved Tablet what He has recorded of the divine decree, and commands the recording angels to write down the deeds of Adam’s descendants. They then compare the two records, and they match exactly. Ibn ‘Abbās would then say: “Are you not Arabs? Can a copy be made from anything but an original?”

Decreeing and recording proceed from the general to the detailed. When Allah Most High decreed the destinies of created beings fifty thousand years before creating the heavens and the earth, He did not disclose that decree to the angels. When He created Adam, before breathing the spirit into him, He disclosed to them what He had decreed, just as He discloses it to them concerning each child. Thus, it is related in the Sahīh from Ibn Mas‘ūd that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The creation of each of you is brought together in his mother’s womb for forty days as a drop of sperm, then he becomes a clinging clot for a similar period, then