The ḥadīth also establishes the legitimacy of adopting a kunya (teknonym) even when one has no children. This is an Islamic courtesy unparalleled, to my knowledge, among other nations. Accordingly, Muslims—men and women alike—should hold fast to it and abandon those foreign customs that have crept into their society, such as the titles “Beik,” “Effendi,” and “Pasha,” and likewise “Monsieur,” or “Sayyid,” “Sayyida,” and “Ānisa,” for all of these are alien to Islam. The Ḥanafī jurists have expressly declared the use of “Effendi” disliked because it constitutes self-commendation, as noted in the marginalia of Ibn ʿĀbidīn. As for the title “sayyid,” it is to be applied only to a person who enjoys some measure of authority and leadership; in that regard comes the ḥadīth, “Stand for your master,” which appeared earlier under no. 66. It must not be used indiscriminately, as that too would be a form of self-praise.

133 – “The very first thing Allah created was the Pen, and He commanded it: ‘Write everything that will occur.’”

It was narrated by Abū Yaʿlā (1/126) and al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa’l-Ṣifāt (p. 271) via Aḥmad, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us; he said: Rabāḥ ibn Zayd narrated to us from ʿUmar ibn Ḥabīb, from al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, attributed to the Prophet.

Among the benefits of the ḥadīth:

It alludes to what people repeat—until it has become a firmly-rooted belief in many hearts—namely that the Muḥammadan Light was the first thing Allah created; this is not