It is also established in Sahīh al-Bukhārī and elsewhere, on the authority of Imrān ibn Husayn—may Allah be pleased with him—(1) that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“Allah was, and there was nothing before Him. His Throne was upon the water. He wrote all things in the Record, and He created the heavens and the earth.”

Another narration reads:

“Then He created the heavens and the earth.” (2)

The reports transmitted from the Companions and the Successors are mass-transmitted and accord with the Quran and the sunnah: Allah created the heavens from water vapor, which [Allah] (3) called smoke.

Muslim scholars among the Companions, the Successors, and those who came after them expressed two views concerning which of these created things came first. These were related by the hadith master Abū al-Alā al-Hamdānī (4) and others. The first view is that it was the Throne, and the second that it was the Pen. They considered the first view stronger because the Quran and the sunnah indicate that when Allah Most High ordained the destinies of created beings by means of the Pen—which He commanded to write upon the Tablet—His Throne was upon the water. Thus, the Throne had been created before the Pen.

They said that the transmitted reports stating, “The first thing Allah created was