and the Prophet said to him, “Have you come to take my soul or to visit?” He replied, “I have never visited anyone before you, that I should visit you.” He then gave him an apple, which he smelled, and his soul departed into it. And that Fātimah wept over him until she disturbed the people of Medina, who took her out to the houses of mourning. They also recount stories about the prophets like those mentioned in this question, explaining them through verses never heard from the scholars. They gather together for a night over each of these accounts.

Some scholars had forbidden them to transmit such material, requiring them to transmit only material bearing records of readings before learned shaykhs. They therefore relied on books containing accounts like those mentioned above, composed by a man called al-Bakrī. What, then, must they do concerning such matters? For they transmit things that contradict what is reliably reported from the messengers, peace be upon them, and some of what they transmit disparages them. Will someone who orders that they be stopped be rewarded?

They also relate that Allah took a handful of the light of His Face and looked at it, whereupon it sweated and shed drops. Allah created a prophet from every drop. That handful was the Prophet, and a brilliant star remained; it was a light passed from the loins of men to the wombs of women.

Shaykh al-Islām, the exemplar of faith, Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbās Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halīm ibn ‘Abd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyyah al-Harrānī, answered, saying: