Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Allah Almighty had ordained the destiny fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The polytheists of Quraysh used to dispute with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regarding the matter of destiny, so concerning this, the following verse was revealed: "Indeed, the criminals will be in error and Hellfire, the Day they are dragged on their faces into the Fire (it will be said): Taste the touch of Hell. Indeed, We have created everything according to a decree."

Sayyiduna Imran bin Husain (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I was sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and my she-camel was tied at the door of the mosque. Meanwhile, some people from Banu Tamim came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). They said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! We have come to you to learn about the religion. We want to ask you about the beginning of this matter, how did it happen? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: First, there was only Allah, and there was nothing else besides Him. The Throne was upon the water. Then He wrote everything in the Dhikr (i.e., in the Glorious Qur’an or in the Preserved Tablet). Then He created the heavens and the earth. The narrator says: Meanwhile, a man came and said: O Imran, catch your she-camel, she has broken the rope and gone away. The mirage would have disappeared before that. (Sayyiduna Imran, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates) By Allah! I wish I had left the she-camel (and kept listening to the conversation of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him).

Sayyiduna Abu Razin Uqayli (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I asked, "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Will we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When there are no clouds, can you see the moon on the night of the full moon or the sun?" The people replied, "Yes." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah is greater than that." I asked, "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Where was our Lord before He created the heavens and the earth?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He was in a place of 'Ama' (meaning it cannot be comprehended); above Him and below Him was emptiness."

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) In narrating these words, a person named Hammad bin Salamah made a mistake; he narrated the word 'Ghamam' (cloud), whereas the word is 'Ama', and by this the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) meant that the creation does not have the ability to truly comprehend its Creator, because their Lord existed even when neither time nor place existed, and He cannot be known by time, place, or anything else, because He is the Lord of all these things. Thus, the knowledge of the creation about His essence is as if His essence is veiled in 'Ama' from the knowledge of the creation. This does not mean that Allah was in the state of 'Ama', because this is an attribute that resembles the attributes of the creation.

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.

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When Allah decided to create the creation, He wrote in a book that is with Him: 'My mercy has prevailed over My wrath.' (The narrator is unsure, perhaps the words are:) 'My mercy has outstripped My wrath.' The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, so this writing is with Allah above the Throne. (The narrator says:) Or perhaps it is as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this statement of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "When Allah Almighty created the creation, He made mercy obligatory upon Himself with His hand of mercy (and wrote this): 'Indeed, My mercy has prevailed over My wrath.'"

Sayyiduna Salman al-Farsi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth, He created one hundred mercies, which are layered between the heavens and the earth. Out of these, He placed one mercy in the earth; because of this mercy, a mother shows kindness to her child and wild animals care for one another, while ninety-nine mercies He has reserved until the Day of Resurrection. When the Day of Resurrection comes, He will complete the hundred through this mercy."

Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah has one hundred mercies. Out of these, He has sent down one mercy among the jinn, humans, and animals. Because of this mercy, they show kindness to one another, and because of it, they have compassion for each other. Even wild animals are merciful to their offspring because of it. Allah has kept back ninety-nine mercies, with which He will show mercy to His servants on the Day of Resurrection."