Maʿānī al-ʾAkhbār 1, narration 86

Translation

4. We were told by Abu Nasr, Ahmad bin Hussain bin Ahmad bin Ubaid al-Naisabouri al-Marwani, in Nishapur – and I did not find anyone more hostile than him – that he said: We were told by Muhammed bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim bin Mahran al-Sarraj, that he said: We were told by Hasan bin ‘Arafa al-‘Abdi, that he said: We were told by Wakee’ bin Jarrah, from Muhammed bin Isra’eel, from Abu Saleh, from Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, whilst he was saying: I and Ali were created from one Light, we were glorifying Allah at the Right of the Throne before Adam was created with two thousand years. When Allah created Adam, He made that Light into his backbone, and he resided in the Garden whilst we were in his backbone, and he intended to perform the intentional mistake whilst we were in his backbone, and Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He, did not cease moving us from pure backbones into pure wombs until He ended us up at Abdul-Muttalib, and so He divided us into two halfs, and He made into the backbone of Abdullah and made Ali into the backbone of Abu Talib, and He made in me the Prophethood and Blessing, and in Ali the Fluentness and Knighthood. He derived for us two names from His Names, and hence, the One with the Throne is the Praised and I am Muhammed, and Allah is the Most Subleme and this is Ali.

Translation: Basel Kadem — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.