What was the first thing to be created?

 

How can we reconcile between the following ahaadeeth:


“Allaah existed and nothing existed before Him. His Throne was above the water. He wrote all things with His Hand, then He created the heavens and the earth”


and:


As soon as Allaah created the Pen...”?


These ahaadeeth appear to contradict one another as to which thing was created first, and the reports which say that the first one to be created was Muhammad the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

Praise be to Allaah. 

These ahaadeeth are in harmony with one
another; they do not contradict one another. The first thing that Allaah
created of the things that are known to us was His Throne, which He
rose over after He created the heavens, as Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):

“And He it is Who has created the heavens and the
earth in six Days and His Throne was on the water, that He might try
you, which of you is the best in deeds” [Hood 11:7]

 With
regard to the Pen, there is nothing in the hadeeth to indicate that
the Pen was the first thing created. What the hadeeth means is that
when Allaah created the Pen, He commanded it to write, so it wrote down
the decrees of all things.

 With
regard to Muhammad (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him), like all other human beings, he was created
from the water (semen) of his father, ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib.
He is no different from other human beings in the manner in which he
was created, as he said about himself, “I am a human being, I forget
as you forget.” He (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) felt fear, got thirsty, felt cold, suffered from
the heat, got sick and died. Everything that humans go through as a
part of human nature, he also went through, but he is distinguished
by the fact that he received Revelation and he was qualified to bear
the Message, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Allaah knows best with whom to place His Message”
[al-An’aam 6:124]