Summary

The hadith of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, in its setting with Banu Tamim and the people of Yemen, is tied to a clear question: “the beginning of this matter”, meaning the beginning of this witnessed universe, not the beginning of all creation in an absolute sense. The answer centres on the start of creating the heavens and the earth, while mentioning that the Throne was upon water, and that everything was written in al Dhikr (the Record), meaning al Lawh al Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet).

The point is the beginning of this created universe and its ordering, in harmony with the Qur’an speaking about the creation of the heavens and the earth in 6 days while the Throne was upon water, and with the hadith about the decree being written 50,000 years before the creation of the heavens and the earth, while the Throne was upon water.

The Weaker Understanding and Why It Fails

A weaker understanding of the hadith is that this is an announcement that Allah existed alone, then began all hawadith (occurrences), and that hawadith have a beginning in their jins (kind) and their aʿyan (individual entities), that jins al zaman (the kind of time) is newly occurring, not within time, and that jins al harakat (the kind of movements) and the moving things are newly occurring, and that Allah became faʿil (a doer) after not doing anything from eternity, and that fiʿl (action) was not even possible before that. From this, some extend the claim into kalam (speech): either that Allah became mutakallim (speaking) after not speaking, and that kalam was not even possible before, or that kalam is an attribute of ability in description only, not actual speech by mashīʾah (will) and qudrah (power), but rather something necessary to the Essence. From this, they split again: some say the Qur’an is only meaning expressed through the Tawrah, Injil, Zabur, and Furqan, while others say it is huruf (letters) and aswat (sounds) necessary to the Essence, never ceasing.

This reading is weakened because it derives an extensive ʿaqidah claim about tasalsul al hawadith (succession of occurrences), divine action, and kalam (speech) from wording that does not clearly express those meanings, then builds further theological conclusions upon that basis. It also depends on treating the variant wordings as equal in force, and on reading the conjunction as establishing a precise sequence, even though neither the wording nor the context clearly supports carrying that much weight.

The Stronger Reading and Why It Is Stronger

“The Beginning of This Matter” Means This Witnessed Universe

“This matter” points to something present and witnessed. It fits the maʾmur (the commanded thing brought into existence), not the command “Be” itself. A question framed this way is about the beginning of this known universe, not an unseen absolute beginning of all created things.

The Answer Mentions Creating the Heavens and the Earth, Not the Throne

The reply mentions creating the heavens and the earth, but does not mention creating the Throne, even though the Throne is created. If the question were about the first created thing absolutely, leaving out the creation of the Throne would be a gap in the answer. The wording instead fits answering about the start of this universe, where the focus is the creation of the heavens and the earth.

The Strongest Established Wording Is “Before Him”

Although “before Him”, “with Him”, and “other than Him” appear in transmission, the sitting was one, and ʿImrān did not leave until the incident of the riding animal, which points to one wording being spoken, and the others being narrated by meaning.

The wording “before Him” is strengthened by the well known dua: “You are the First, so nothing is before You; You are the Last, so nothing is after You; You are the Apparent, so nothing is above You; You are the Hidden, so nothing is below You”, matching “He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden”.

This makes the wording “before Him” the strongest and most reliable foundation. It does not address the beginning of all hawadith, nor does it speak about “the first created thing” in itself.

“And” Does Not Fix the Sequence Needed for the Weak Reading

The mention of Allah’s being, the Throne being upon water, and the writing in al Dhikr all come with simple conjunction, not with “then”. On the strongest view, conjunction by itself does not establish a strict sequence. Even if sequence were assumed, it would still not amount to a clear statement about the very first created things, nor about when the Throne and water were created. The wording “then” only appears with the creation of the heavens and the earth, which fits the apparent aim of clarifying the beginning of this universe’s creation.

Existence Language for the Throne and Writing, Creation Language for the Heavens and Earth

The Throne being upon water and the writing in al Dhikr are mentioned as already established realities, without any wording about their beginning or initial creation. By contrast, the heavens and the earth are specifically mentioned with creation wording. This distinction fits the apparent aim of the hadith: clarifying the beginning of creating the heavens and the earth, at a time when the Throne was already upon water. This also agrees with the Qur’an and with the hadith mentioning that the decree was written 50,000 years earlier while the Throne was upon water.

Even If “With Him” Were Taken, It Still Fits This Universe, Not All Existence

Even if the wording “nothing with Him” is taken, it may be understood as “nothing with Him from the matter being asked about”, namely the witnessed universe.

It still does not force the claim that Allah existed without any created thing whatsoever in every possible sense, nor does it establish that every jins of hawadith must have an absolute beginning.

Certainty About Prophetic Intent Needs Clear Proof

Where wording can carry more than one possible meaning, certainty regarding the Prophet’s ﷺ intended meaning requires an indicator that clearly fixes one interpretation over the others. Without such an indicator, certainty cannot be claimed for the weaker interpretation.

A Major ʿAqidah Claim Cannot Rest on an Ambiguous Solitary Report

If the claim that tasalsul al hawadith (succession of occurrences) is impossible, and that jins al hawadith (the kind of occurrences) was preceded by non existence, were true and central, it would have been clearer and more repeated in the Qur’an and Sunnah, because it is a matter people need and dispute. Making it rest on a single report, with wording taken away from its full setting, is not sound.

The Worst Addition and Its Consequence

The added phrase “and He is now upon what He was” is rejected because it is not established in any authentic narration. Interpreting it to mean that no created thing truly exists distinct from Allah leads into wahdat al wujud (unity of existence). Such a meaning, associated with certain figures from that path, is rejected as false by the Sharia and by reason.

The Broader Error Behind Overusing This Hadith

Some make this hadith their main transmitted proof for claiming that jins al hawadith (the kind of occurrences) is preceded by non existence, because they do not find clear statements in the Qur’an and Sunnah directly stating that. Some then claim ijmaʿ (consensus) without any naql (transmitted proof) from the Sahabah, the Tabiʿin, or those who followed them with excellence.

Others assume that disagreement must mean “eternity of the universe” in the manner of the time based philosophers, because they only see two possibilities in many kalam works: either the philosophers’ claim of eternity, or the claim of groups such as the Jahmiyyah, Muʿtazilah, and Karramiyyah that the Lord was eternally not acting and not speaking, then later brought about speech and action without any cause. This false understanding pushes the weaker interpretation, while the stronger interpretation remains with what the wording, context, and supporting texts actually indicate. (Majmūʿ al Fatāwā 18/210–223)

Full Passage Translated

The Hadith of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn  رضي الله عنه

In Sahih al Bukhari and elsewhere, in the hadith of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (d. 52AH), that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “O Banu Tamim, accept the good news.” They said: “You have already given us the good news, so give us.” So he turned to the people of Yemen and said: “O people of Yemen, accept the good news, since Banu Tamim did not accept it.”

They said: “We accept, O Messenger of Allah.”

They said: “We have come to learn fiqh (understanding of the religion), and to ask about the beginning of this matter.”

So he said: “Allah was, and there was nothing before Him.” And in one wording: “with Him.” And in one wording: “other than Him.”

“And His Throne was upon water, and He wrote in al Dhikr (the Record) everything, and He created the heavens and the earth.”

And in one wording: “then He created the heavens and the earth.”

Then a man came to me and said: “Catch your camel.”

So I went, and I saw that the mirage stops short of it. By Allah, I wished that I had left it and not stood up.

The Meaning of “He wrote in al Dhikr”

His saying: “He wrote in al Dhikr,” meaning: al Lawh al Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet), as He said:

وَلَقَدْ كَتَبْنَا فِي الزَّبُورِ مِنْ بَعْدِ الذِّكْرِ

“And We have already written in the Zabur (Psalms) after the Dhikr.”

Meaning: after al Lawh al Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet). What is written in al Dhikr is called “dhikr (a record)” just as what is written in it is called “kitab (a book),” like His saying:

إِنَّهُ لَقُرْ أَنْ كَرِيمٌ
فِي كِتَابٍ مَكْنُونَ

“Indeed it is a noble Qur’an, in a guarded book.”

The People’s Two Views About This Hadith

The people have 2 views about this hadith.

The First View

From them are those who said: the purpose of the hadith is to inform that Allah existed alone, then He began to bring about all occurrences, and to inform that occurrences have a beginning in their kind and in their individuals, and that the kind of time is newly occurring, not within time, and that the kind of movements and moving things is newly occurring, and that Allah became a doer after not doing anything from eternity until the time when He began to act, and that action was not even possible.

Then these are two views:

• From them are those who say: likewise, He became speaking after He was not speaking anything, and speech was not even possible for Him.
• From them are those who say: speech is a matter described of Him in that He is able to do it, not that He speaks by His will and ability, rather it is something necessary to His Essence, without His ability and will.

Then these are from them:

• From them are those who say: it is the meaning, not the recited wording, expressed through the Tawrah (Torah), the Injil (Gospel), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Furqan (Criterion).
• From them are those who say: rather it is letters and sounds necessary to His Essence, it has never ceased and will never cease, and all the wordings of the books He sent down, and other than that.

The Second View

The second view about the meaning of the hadith is: this is not what the Messenger intended. Rather, the hadith contradicts this. His intention was to inform about the creation of this witnessed universe, which Allah created in 6 days, then He rose over the Throne, as the Qur’an informed in more than one place. He said:

وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ

“And He is the One who created the heavens and the earth in 6 days, and His Throne was upon water.”

And it is established in Sahih Muslim, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه, from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, that he said: “Allah decreed the measures of the creation 50,000 years before He created the heavens and the earth, and His Throne was upon water.” So he informed that the decree for the creation of this universe, created in 6 days, was when His Throne was upon water, as the Qur’an informed, and as the earlier hadith, narrated by al Bukhari in his Sahih, from ʿImrān رضي الله عنهinformed.

From this is the hadith narrated by Abu Dawud (d. 275AH), al Tirmidhi (d. 279AH), and others, from ʿUbadah ibn al Samit (d. 34AH), from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, that he said: “The first thing Allah created was the Pen.

He said to it: ‘Write.’ It said: ‘What shall I write?’ He said: ‘Whatever will be until the Day of Resurrection.’”

So this Pen, He created it when He commanded it with the written decree before the creation of the heavens and the earth by 50,000 years.

It was created before the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is the first thing created from this universe, and He created it after the Throne, as the texts indicate. This is the view of the majority of the Salaf (early generations), as the sayings of the Salaf have been mentioned elsewhere.

The aim here is to clarify what the Qur’an and Sunnah indicate.

The Evidence for the Second View

The evidence for this second view is in several ways.

Way 1

The saying of the people of Yemen: “We came to ask about the beginning of this matter,” either the matter pointed to is this universe, or the kind of all created things. If what was meant is the first, then the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ answered them, because he informed them about the beginning of the creation of this universe. If what was meant is the second, then he did not answer them, because he did not mention the beginning of creation in an absolute sense. Rather, he said: “Allah was and there was nothing before Him, and His Throne was upon water, and He wrote in al Dhikr everything, then He created the heavens and the earth.” He only mentioned creating the heavens and the earth.

He did not mention creating the Throne, even though the Throne is also created. He says: “He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne,” and “He is the Creator of everything,” the Throne and other than it, and “the Lord of everything,” the Throne and other than it. In the hadith of Abu Razin (d. 80AH), the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ informed about the creation of the Throne. As for the hadith of ʿImrān (d. 52AH), he did not inform about its creation. Rather, he informed about the creation of the heavens and the earth. So it is understood that he informed about the beginning of the creation of this universe, not about the beginning of all creation absolutely.

When it is the case that he only answered them with this, it is understood that they only asked him about this, and they did not ask him about the beginning of all creation absolutely. It is not permissible that he answered them about what they did not ask, and did not answer them about what they asked. Rather, he is free of that. Also, his wording only indicates this. It does not indicate mentioning the beginning of all creation. Informing about the creation of the heavens and the earth after His Throne was upon water is intended to inform about some created things being after other created things.

They did not ask him about merely ordering. Rather, they asked about the beginning of this matter. So it is understood that they asked about the start of the creation of this universe, and he informed them about that. Some explain it with: “In the beginning,” or: “At the beginning, Allah created the heavens and the earth.”

The aim is that this includes informing about the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and that water was spread over the earth, and that wind was blowing upon the water. So he informed that at that time there was water, air, and dust. And the Qur’an informed that He created the heavens and the earth in 6 days, and His Throne was upon water. And in another verse:

ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ائْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ

“Then He rose to the heaven while it was smoke, and He said to it and to the earth: ‘Come, willingly or unwillingly.’ They said: ‘We have come willingly.’”

Reports from the Salaf mention that the heaven was created from the vapour of water, which is the smoke.

The aim here is that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ answered them about what they asked, and he only mentioned the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth. So this shows that their saying: “We came to ask about the beginning of this matter,” meant the creation of this universe.

And Allah knows best.

Way 2

Their saying: “this matter” is pointing to something present and existing. The word “amr (matter)” can mean the verbal noun, and it can mean the object acted upon, meaning what Allah brought into existence by His command. This is what they meant, because the command itself, which is His saying “Be,” is not something witnessed and pointed to. Rather, what is witnessed and pointed to is what was brought into existence by that command. He said:

وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ قَدَرًا مَقْدُورًا

“And the matter of Allah is a decreed decree.”

And He said:

أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ

“The matter of Allah has come.”

And there are other verses like it. If they were asking about the beginning of all creation absolutely, they would not have pointed to it with this, because they did not witness it, so they would not point to it with this. Rather, they also did not know it. That is only known by the report of the prophets. The Messenger ﷺ did not inform them of it. If he had informed them of it, they would not have asked him about it. So it is known that their question was about the beginning of this witnessed universe.

Way 3

He said: “Allah was and there was nothing before Him.” It was narrated: “with Him,” and it was narrated: “other than Him.” The 3 wordings are in al Bukhari, and the sitting was one, and their question and his answer were in that sitting. ʿImrān (d. 52AH), who narrated the hadith, did not stand up from it when the sitting ended. Rather, he stood when he was informed about his riding animal going away, before the sitting finished. He is the one who reported the Prophet’s ﷺ wording. This shows that he only said one of these wordings, and the other 2 were narrated by meaning. So what is established from him is the wording “before.” It is established in Sahih Muslim, from Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, that he used to say in his supplication: “You are the First, so there is nothing before You. You are the Last, so there is nothing after You. You are the Apparent, so there is nothing above You. You are the Hidden, so there is nothing below You.” This agrees with, and explains, His saying:

هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ

“He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden.”

If the wording “before” is established in this hadith, then it is established that the Messenger ﷺ said it, and neither of the other 2 wordings is established at all. Many of the people of hadith mostly narrate it with the wording “before,” like al Humaydi (d. 219AH), al Baghawi (d. 516AH), Ibn al Athir (d. 630AH), and others. If he only said: “Allah was and there was nothing before Him,” then this wording does not speak about the beginning of occurrences, nor about the first created thing.

Way 4

He said in it: “Allah was and there was nothing before Him, or with Him, or other than Him, and His Throne was upon water, and He wrote in al Dhikr everything.” He informed about these 3 with the wording “and,” and he did not mention “then” in any of them. “Then” only came in his saying: “He created the heavens and the earth.” Some narrators mentioned the creation of the heavens and the earth with “then,” and some mentioned it with “and.”

As for the 3 earlier sentences, the narrators agree that he mentioned them with “and.” It is known that “and” does not, on the correct view held by the majority, give ordering. So it does not indicate placing one of them before another. Even if ordering is intended, either because the speaker intended ordering and placed some before some, or because “and” indicates ordering according to those who say it does, then it only gives placing His being before the Throne being upon water, and placing the Throne being upon water before His writing in al Dhikr everything, and placing His writing in al Dhikr everything before the creation of the heavens and the earth. There is no mention here of the first created things absolutely.

Rather, there is not even informing about the creation of the Throne and the water, even though all of that is created, as is informed elsewhere. But in answering the people of Yemen, his purpose was to inform them about the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, the created things that were created in 6 days, not about the beginning of what Allah created before that.

Way 5

He mentioned those things with wording that indicates their being and existence, and he did not speak about the beginning of their creation. He mentioned the heavens and the earth with wording that indicates creating them. Whether his saying was: “and He created the heavens and the earth,” or: “then He created the heavens and the earth,” in both cases he informed about creating them. Every created thing is newly occurring, coming to be after not being, even if it was created from a substance. As in Sahih Muslim, from ʿAʾishah رضي الله عنها, from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, that he said: “Allah created the angels from light, and He created the jinn from a flame of fire, and He created Adam عليه السلام from what was described to you.”

If the Prophet’s ﷺ wording was “then He created,” then it shows that creating the heavens and the earth was after what was mentioned earlier, from His Throne being upon water and His writing in al Dhikr. This wording is closer to the wording of the Prophet ﷺ, because it completes the explanation and achieves the purpose with a word that gives ordering. If his wording was “and,” then the flow of the speech still shows that his purpose is that He created the heavens and the earth after that, as the rest of the texts also show.

It is known that his purpose was not to inform about the creation of the Throne, nor of the water, let alone to intend that creating that was alongside the creation of the heavens and the earth. If the wording has no indication of creating that, except making it alongside the creation of the heavens and the earth, while he informed about creating the heavens alongside the Throne being upon water, then it is understood that his purpose is: He created the heavens and the earth while the Throne was upon water, as the Qur’an informed.

At that point, it must be that the Throne was upon water before the creation of the heavens and the earth, as he informed in the authentic hadith when he said: “Allah decreed the measures of the creation 50,000 years before He created the heavens and the earth, and His Throne was upon water.” So he informed that this earlier decree, before the creation of the heavens and the earth by 50,000 years, was while the Throne was upon water.

Way 6

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ either said: “Allah was and there was nothing before Him,” or he said: “and there was nothing with Him,” or: “and there was nothing other than Him.” If he only said the first, then it does not speak about His existence before all occurrences. If he said the second or the third, then his saying: “and there was nothing with Him, and His Throne was upon water, and He wrote in al Dhikr,” either means: when there was nothing with Him, His Throne was upon water, or it means: after that, His Throne was upon water. If he meant the first, then its meaning is: there was nothing with Him from this matter that was asked about, which is this universe. So the meaning is: Allah was before this witnessed universe, and His Throne was upon water.

As for the third option, which is that the meaning is: there was nothing with Him, then after that His Throne was upon water, and He wrote in al Dhikr, then He created the heavens, then there is still no informing about the first thing Allah created absolutely. Rather, there is not even informing about the creation of the Throne and the water.

Rather, it only includes informing about the creation of the heavens and the earth. He did not clearly state that His Throne being upon water was after that. Rather, he mentioned it with “and,” and “and” is for absolute joining, and sharing between what comes after it and what comes before it. If the hadith did not clarify the first created things, and did not mention when the creation of the Throne took place, while he said it alongside his saying: “Allah was and there was nothing with Him,” then this shows that the Prophet ﷺ did not intend to inform that Allah existed alone before everything, and that created things began after that, because his wording does not indicate that. Rather, he intended to inform about the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Way 7

It is not permissible to be certain about the meaning intended by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ without evidence that proves his intent. If his wording can possibly carry this meaning and that meaning, it is not permissible to be certain about one of them without evidence. So if the stronger one is one of them, then whoever is certain that the Prophet ﷺ intended the other meaning is mistaken.

Way 8

This claim, if it were true, would be too great to be argued for with an ambiguous wording in a report narrated by only one person. Mentioning this in the Qur’an and Sunnah would be among the most important matters, because of people’s need to know it, and because of what happened in it of confusion, dispute, and people differing. Since there is nothing in the Sunnah that indicates this claim, it is not permissible to establish it by what is thought to be the meaning of the hadith from its flow.

They only heard that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah was and there was nothing with Him,” so they thought it was an established wording, separated from the rest of what the Prophet ﷺ said, and they thought its meaning is informing that He is before everything, and they built upon these two thoughts attributing that to the Prophet ﷺ. They have no knowledge for either of these two starting points, and not even a supported assumption based on an indicator.

Even if they did not become certain that he intended the other meaning, then they still have nothing that makes certainty for this meaning necessary. Doubt comes between them, while they attribute to the Prophet ﷺ what they have no knowledge that he said. Allah said:

وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ

“And do not follow what there is no knowledge of.”

And Allah said:

قُلْ إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ رَبِّيَ الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ وَالْإِثْمَ وَالْبَغْيَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَأَنْ تُشْرِكُوا بِاللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِ سُلْطَانًا وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

“Say: My Lord has only forbidden open and hidden indecencies, sin, wrongdoing without right, that you associate partners with Allah without any proof He sent down, and that you say about Allah what you do not know.”

All of this is not permissible.

Way 10

Some people added to it: “and He is now upon what He was,” and this addition was only added by some people from themselves. It is not in any of the narrations. Then some of them interpret it to mean that there is now nothing with Him that exists, rather His existence is the same as the existence of created things, like the saying of the people of wahdat al wujud (unity of existence) who say: the existence of the Creator is the same as the existence of the created. This is what Ibn ʿArabi (d. 638AH), Ibn Sabʿin (d. 669AH), al Qunawi (d. 673AH), al Tilmisanī (d. 690AH), Ibn al Farid (d. 632AH), and the like, say. This view is known by necessity, in Sharia and reason, to be false.

Way 11

Many people make this their main proof from transmitted evidence, that occurrences have a beginning, and that the kind of occurrences is preceded by non existence, because they did not find in the Qur’an and Sunnah what clearly speaks with it.

Yet they narrate this from Muslims, Jews, and Christians, as something like this is found in the books of most of the philosophers of kalam in Islam, which the Salaf criticised, and they opposed Sharia and reason with it. Some of them narrate it as a consensus of the Muslims, and they have no transmission for that, not from any of the Sahabah, nor the Tabiʿin, nor those after them upon excellence, nor from the Qur’an and Sunnah, let alone that it is the view of all Muslims.

Some of them think that whoever disagrees has said the universe is eternal, and has agreed with the time based philosophers, because he looked into many books of kalam and did not find in them except two views: the view of the philosophers who say the universe is eternal, either its form or its substance, whether it is said: it exists by itself, or it is an effect of something else.

And the view of those who replied to them from the people of kalam: the Jahmiyyah, the Muʿtazilah, and the Karramiyyah, who say: “The Lord has always been, not doing anything, and not speaking anything, then He brought about speech and action without any cause at all.”

Majmūʿ al Fatāwā by Shaykh al Islām Ibn Taymiyyah 18/210–223