and did not mention the creation of the Throne, even though the Throne too is created. For Allah says:

“He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne.”

He is the Creator of everything—the Throne and all else—and the Lord of everything—the Throne and all else. In the hadith of Abū Razīn, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did speak of the creation of the Throne. In the hadith of ʿImrān, however, he did not speak of its creation; rather, he spoke of the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is therefore clear that he described the beginning of the creation of this world, not the beginning of creation in an absolute sense.

Since this alone was his answer, it is clear that this alone was what they asked him about; they did not ask him about the beginning of creation in an absolute sense. It cannot be that he answered a question they had not asked while leaving their actual question unanswered. He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is far above that. Moreover, his wording indicates only this. It does not indicate that he mentioned the very beginning of creation and intended, by relating the creation of the heavens and the earth after His Throne had been upon the water, merely to explain the order of some created things in relation to others. They did not ask him merely about their order; rather, they asked him about the beginning of this matter. It is therefore clear that they asked him about the beginning of the creation of this world, and he told them about it, as stated at its beginning: in the beginning, “Allah created the heavens and the earth.”

Some explain this as: In the beginning—or at the outset—Allah created the heavens and the earth. The point is that it describes the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth, that water covered the earth, and that the wind was blowing over the water. It thus states that