In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
The Pen and the Tablet (al-qalam wa al-lawh) are among the first of God’s creations. The sound hadith in Imam al-Tirmidhi Jami states, “The first thing that God created was the Pen, and He said to it, ‘Write!’ The Pen replied, ‘What shal I write?’ And God said, ‘Write the foreordained (qadar).’ And so it wrote what had been and what will be for all eternity.”
The statement, “The first thing that God created” implies that the Pen was the very first of God’s creation. However, another hadith with a stronger chain that Ibn Umar narrated states, “god decreed all foreordained matters before He created the heavens and the earth by fifty thousand years and (fa) His Throne was upon water.” According to Abu Yala al-Hamadani, the Throne preceded the Pen because the decree follows immediately after the creation of the Pen, given that the particle fa is used in the hadith. Furthermore, the aforementioned hadith clearly states that God’s Throne was upon water at the time. This is also supported by the fact that the Pen wrote “what had been,” implying that there was something before the Pen. In addition, Imam Ismail al-Ajluni (d. 1162/1749 states, “The primacy of the Pen’s creation is only in relation to the already existing, prophetic Muhammadan light, the water, and the Throne. And some say that primacy of creation is only in relation to the specifies itself-i.e., the first light created was the light of Muhammad and so on” (Kashf al-khafa wa muzil al-albas an ma ishtahar min al-ahadith ala alsinat al-nas [Beirut: Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1932], 1:265-66
The hadith that is related by Jabir in the Musannaf of al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam al Sanani and considered sound by recent scholarship indicated that the very first of God’s creation was the light of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him). According to the hadith, Jabir b. AbdAllah asked the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him), What is the first thing that God created?” To this, the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) replied, “O Jabir! The first thing God, the Sublime and Exalted, created was the light of your Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) from His light and that light remained in the midst of His powers for as long as He wished and there was not a at that time a Tablet or a Pen or a Paradise or a Fire or an angel or a heaven or an earth. And when God, the Sublime and Exalted, wished to create creations, He divided that light in four parts, and from the first He made the Pen, from the second the Tablet, from the third The Throne, and from the fourth everything else.” One intriguing point about this hadith is its concurrent with modern astrophysical theory, which states that all of cosmos came from what is called the initial singularity in which all of existence was rolled up in a point of infinite density and temperature. From this initial light, which burst forth in what is known as the big bang, it split into four fundamental forces: the strong nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, wear interaction, and gravitation. The fourth part mentioned in the hadith from which all else was created may refer to gravitational forces, which cause attraction between the particles of matter, allowing the seen world to exist and be held together. And God knows best.
It is important to note that none of the hadith mentioned here achieve the status of infallible narrations and should not be points of contention in creedal matters, as our scholars have stipulated. (For a critical study of the hadith of Jabir on the light of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him), see: Isa b. Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. Mani al-himyari, al-Juz al-mafqud min al-juz al-awwal min al-musannaf li al-hafiz al karbir Abi Bakr Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam al-Sanani [Lahore: Mu’assasal al-Sharaf, 2005].)
An extract from Note 50, Page 116-18 of the The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi, translated, introduced, and annotated by Hamza Yusuf, The Zaytuna Cirriculum Series.
The statement, “The first thing that God created” implies that the Pen was the very first of God’s creation. However, another hadith with a stronger chain that Ibn Umar narrated states, “god decreed all foreordained matters before He created the heavens and the earth by fifty thousand years and (fa) His Throne was upon water.” According to Abu Yala al-Hamadani, the Throne preceded the Pen because the decree follows immediately after the creation of the Pen, given that the particle fa is used in the hadith. Furthermore, the aforementioned hadith clearly states that God’s Throne was upon water at the time. This is also supported by the fact that the Pen wrote “what had been,” implying that there was something before the Pen. In addition, Imam Ismail al-Ajluni (d. 1162/1749 states, “The primacy of the Pen’s creation is only in relation to the already existing, prophetic Muhammadan light, the water, and the Throne. And some say that primacy of creation is only in relation to the specifies itself-i.e., the first light created was the light of Muhammad and so on” (Kashf al-khafa wa muzil al-albas an ma ishtahar min al-ahadith ala alsinat al-nas [Beirut: Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1932], 1:265-66
The hadith that is related by Jabir in the Musannaf of al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam al Sanani and considered sound by recent scholarship indicated that the very first of God’s creation was the light of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him). According to the hadith, Jabir b. AbdAllah asked the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him), What is the first thing that God created?” To this, the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) replied, “O Jabir! The first thing God, the Sublime and Exalted, created was the light of your Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) from His light and that light remained in the midst of His powers for as long as He wished and there was not a at that time a Tablet or a Pen or a Paradise or a Fire or an angel or a heaven or an earth. And when God, the Sublime and Exalted, wished to create creations, He divided that light in four parts, and from the first He made the Pen, from the second the Tablet, from the third The Throne, and from the fourth everything else.” One intriguing point about this hadith is its concurrent with modern astrophysical theory, which states that all of cosmos came from what is called the initial singularity in which all of existence was rolled up in a point of infinite density and temperature. From this initial light, which burst forth in what is known as the big bang, it split into four fundamental forces: the strong nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, wear interaction, and gravitation. The fourth part mentioned in the hadith from which all else was created may refer to gravitational forces, which cause attraction between the particles of matter, allowing the seen world to exist and be held together. And God knows best.
It is important to note that none of the hadith mentioned here achieve the status of infallible narrations and should not be points of contention in creedal matters, as our scholars have stipulated. (For a critical study of the hadith of Jabir on the light of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him), see: Isa b. Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. Mani al-himyari, al-Juz al-mafqud min al-juz al-awwal min al-musannaf li al-hafiz al karbir Abi Bakr Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam al-Sanani [Lahore: Mu’assasal al-Sharaf, 2005].)
An extract from Note 50, Page 116-18 of the The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi, translated, introduced, and annotated by Hamza Yusuf, The Zaytuna Cirriculum Series.
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