He reported God's messenger as saying, "I am the nearest of kin to Jesus, son of Mary in this world and the next. The prophets are brothers, sons of one father by co-wives. Their mothers are different, but their religion is one[*]. There has been no prophet between us." *This saying is explained as meaning that all prophets have the same religion, which is figuratively called their lather, but they differ in their law and in a number of regulations, these being figuratively called their mothers. Cf. Mirqat, 5:346. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God's messenger as saying, "All the descendants of Adam have their sides pierced by the devil with two of his fingers at birth, except the son of Mary. He went to pierce him, but pierced the membrane covering him." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Musa reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, "Many men have been perfect, but among women only Mary the daughter of `Imran and Asiya the wife of Pharaoh were perfect; and `A'isha's superiority over women is like the superiority of tharid over other kinds of food." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Razin told that he asked God's messenger, "Where was our Lord before He created the creation?" to which he replied, "He was in obscurity ('ama') with no air below Him and no air above Him, and He created His Throne on the water." Tirmidhi transmitted it. Yazid b. Harun[1] said `ama' means that there was nothing with Him[2]. Al-Wasiti (d.206), a highly estimated authority who appears in the course of the isnad. The word 'ama' presents difficulty. It commonly means `clouds', but this is felt to be inappropriate here unless figuratively in the sense of God being veiled. It is suggested that this means it is a matter which the mind cannot grasp. Cf. Mirqat, 5:349.

Al- `Abbas b. `Abd al-Muttalib asserted that he was sitting in al Batha'[*] with a company among whom God's messenger was sitting when a cloud passed. They looked at it and God's messenger asked, "What do you call this?" and received the reply "Clouds (sahab)." He said, "And rain-clouds (muzn)," to which they agreed. He said, "And clouds (`aman)," to which they agreed. He asked, "Do you know the distance between heaven and earth?" and when they replied that they did not, he said, "The distance between them is seventy-one, seventy-two, or seventy-three years, the heaven which is above it is at a similar distance (going on till he counted seven heavens). Above the seventh heaven there is a sea the distance between whose surface and bottom is like that between one heaven and the next. Above that there are eight mountain goats the distance between whose hoofs and haunches is like that between one heaven and the next. On their backs is the Throne the extent of which from top to bottom is like the distance between one heaven and the next. Then God is above that." *A stony valley at Mecca. Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Jubair b. Mut'im told that a nomadic Arab came to God's messenger and said, "People are suffering distress, the children are hungry, the crops are withered and the animals are perishing, so ask God to grant us rain, for we seek you as our intercessor with God and God as our intercessor with you." Thereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Glory be to God, glory be to God," and he continued declaring God's glory till the effect of that was apparent in the faces of his companions. He then said, "Woe to you! God is not to be sought as intercessor with anyone. God's state is greater than that. Woe to you! Do you know how great God is? His Throne is above the heavens thus (indicating with his fingers something like a dome over him), and it groans on account of Him as a saddle does because of the rider." Abu Dawud transmitted it.

He told that while God's prophet and his companions were sitting clouds came over them and God's prophet asked, "Do you know what these are?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "These are the clouds (`anan), these are the water-carriers of the earth which God drives to people who do not thank Him or call upon Him." He then asked, "Do you know what is above you?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "It is the firmament, a ceiling which is guarded and waves which are kept back." He then asked, "Do you know what is between you and it?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Between you and it are five hundred years." He then asked, "Do you knew what is above that?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Two heavens with a distance of five hundred years between them." He went on speaking like that till he counted seven heavens, the distance between each pair being like that between the heaven and the earth. He then asked, "Do you know what is above that?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Above that is the Throne, and the distance between it and the heaven is the same as that between each pair of heavens." He then asked, "Do you know what is below you?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "It is the earth." He then asked, "Do you know what is under that?" On their replying that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Under it there is another earth with a journey of five hundred years between them," and so on till he had counted seven earths with a journey of five hundred years between each pair. He then said, "By Him in whose hand Muhammad's soul is, if you were to drop a rope[1] to the lowest earth it would not pass out of God's knowledge[2]." He then recited, "He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward, and He is omniscient[3]." Ahmad and Tirmidhi transmitted it, Tirmidhi saying[4] that God's messenger's recitation of the verse indicates that it would go down within God's knowledge, power and authority, for God's knowledge, power and authority are everywhere, while He is on the Throne, as He described Himself in His Book[5]. This is the reading in the text on the margin of Mirqat. In Tirmidhi, in his book on Tafsir al Quran, the tradition occurs in his section on sura 57 (al-hadid), the reading being "if you were to drop a man with a rope..." Literally, "it would fall upon God." Quran, 57:3. Tirmidhi says in the passage cited above, "some of the learned have expounded this tradition..." Cf. Quran; 7:54; 10:3, etc.