118 – “A time is coming when people will keep on questioning one another until someone finally says, ‘Here is Allah who created the creation—so who created Allah?’ When they utter that, recite: ‘Allāhu Aḥad, Allāhuṣ-Ṣamad, lam yalid, wa lam yūlad, wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥad (Allah is One, Allah is the Self-Sufficient; He begets not, nor is He begotten, and there is none comparable to Him).’ Then spit lightly to your left three times and seek refuge with Allah from Satan.”

(Reported from Abū Hurayrah):

Abū Dāwūd (4732) and Ibn al-Sunnī (621) recorded it through Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who said: “ʿUtbah ibn Muslim, the client of Banū Tamīm, narrated to me from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from him,” who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say that,” and he related the ḥadīth.

I say: This chain is good; its narrators are trustworthy, and Ibn Isḥāq explicitly stated “he narrated to me,” which removes the concern of his tadlīs.

ʿUmar ibn Abī Salamah also transmitted it from his father up to the words, “So who created Allah?” He related that Abū Hurayrah said: “By Allah, I was once sitting when a man from Iraq said to me, ‘Here is Allah who created us—so who created Allah?’ I thereupon stuck my finger in my ear, cried out, and said, ‘Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth: Allāhu’l-Wāḥid, al-Ṣamad, lam yalid wa lam yūlad wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥad.’”

Aḥmad (2/387) recorded this chain; its transmitters are reliable except that this particular ʿUmar is weak.

Aḥmad (2/539) also preserved another route: Jaʿfar narrated, “Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm told us from Abū Hurayrah,” as a marfūʿ report identical to the foregoing. Yazīd added: “Najmah ibn Ṣubaygh al-Sulamī told me that he saw a party of riders who came to Abū Hurayrah and asked him about it. He said, ‘Allāhu akbar! My close companion never informed me of anything but that I have witnessed it—and I am still awaiting this as well.’” Jaʿfar continued: “It has reached me that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘When people ask you about this matter, say: Allah existed before everything, and Allah created everything…’”