Sayyiduna Imran bin Husain (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I was sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when some people from Banu Tamim came to him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: O Banu Tamim! Accept the glad tidings. They said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)! You have already given us glad tidings, so grant us (wealth and property). Then some people from Yemen came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). He said: O people of Yemen, accept the glad tidings, for Banu Tamim did not accept it. They said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)! We accept it. We have come to you to gain understanding of the religion and to ask you about the beginning of this matter—how it was (i.e., how the universe began). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: First there was Allah, and there was nothing before Him. The Throne was upon water. Then He created the heavens and the earth, and He wrote everything in the Book (i.e., the Preserved Tablet).

The narrator says: Then a man came to him and said: O Imran, hold your mount, for it has gone away. So I went out in search of it, but the mirage would disappear before I could reach it. By Allah! I wish it had gone away, but I had not gotten up from there.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "When Allah Almighty created the creation, He wrote in His Book what He made obligatory upon Himself, and that writing is placed above the Throne (and in it is written): 'Indeed, My mercy prevails over My wrath.'"
(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) The statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "It is placed above the Throne," relates to the expressions used by the Arabs in their idioms, although what is meant is 'under the Throne,' not 'above the Throne.' Just as Allah Almighty says: "Behind them is a king," what is meant is 'ahead of them is a king,' for if he were behind, those people would have already passed by. Its example is the saying of Allah Almighty: "Indeed, Allah is not ashamed to set forth the example of a mosquito or what is above it (as an example)," meaning what is less than a mosquito.