Mishkat al-Masabih 5760 — Excellent Qualities and Description of the Prophet

Al- `Irbad b. Sariya reported God's messenger as saying, "I was inscribed in God's presence as the seal of the prophets when Adam was prone in his basic substance[1]. I shall inform you about the beginning of my career: it was the petition of Abraham[2], the good tidings by Jesus[3], and the vision my mother saw when she gave birth to me and a light issued to her from which the castles of Syria shone for her." 1. i.e., the substance to which bodily form was to be added and to which the soul was to be joined. The tradition says Muhammad was inscribed in God's presence as the seal (i.e., the last) of the prophets before Adam's creation was complete. 2. Cf. Quran; 2:129. 3. Cf. Quran; 61:6 It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna, and Ahmad transmitted it on the authority of Abu Umama from "I shall inform you . . .'' to the end.