It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When Allah Almighty created Adam (peace be upon him), He wiped his back, and there fell from it every soul (like tiny ants) that Allah Almighty was going to create until the Day of Resurrection. Then Allah placed between the eyes of every human being among them a gleam of light. Then He presented them to Adam (peace be upon him). Adam (peace be upon him) asked: 'O my Lord, who are these?' Allah said: 'These are your offspring.' Adam (peace be upon him) saw a man among them the gleam between whose eyes greatly pleased him. He asked: 'O my Lord, who is this?' Allah said: 'This is your son Dawud, who will be among the last of the nations.' Adam (peace be upon him) asked: 'How long a life have You appointed for him?' Allah said: 'Sixty years.' Adam (peace be upon him) said: 'O my Lord, add forty years to him from my life, so that his life may be one hundred years.' Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: 'Then (this decision) will be written down and sealed, and it will not be changed.' So when Adam's (peace be upon him) life came to an end, the Angel of Death came to him to take his soul. Adam (peace be upon him) said: 'Do forty years of my life not remain?' The Angel of Death said to him: 'Did you not give them to your son Dawud?' (The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)) said: So Adam (peace be upon him) denied it, and his offspring deny; he forgot, and his offspring forget; and he erred, and his offspring err." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, and the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) concerning this saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And recite to them the story of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he detached himself from them" [Surah al-A'raf: 175] , that he said: "He is Bal'am bin Abar (a man by that name)."