Ibn Mājah (182), Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in al-Sunna (625), Abū ʿUbayd in Gharīb al-Ḥadīth (2/226-229), ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad in al-Sunna (431), Ḥarb al-Kirmānī in al-Sunna (350), al-Ṭabarī in his Tafsir (7/6) and (12/4), Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ (6141), al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr (19/207) (468), Abū al-Shaykh in al-ʿAẓama (83), and others.
All of them narrate it by way of: Ḥammād b. Salama, from Yaʿlā b. ʿAṭāʾ, from Wakīʿ b. Ḥudus. It is also said: Ibn ʿAdus.
Al-Tirmidhī, may Allah have mercy on him, said (5/269): "This is how Ḥammād b. Salama narrated it: 'Wakīʿ b. Ḥudus', while Shuʿba, Abū ʿAwāna, and Hushaym say: 'Wakīʿ b. ʿAdus', which is more authentic. Abū Razīn's name is: Laqīṭ b. ʿĀmir." End quote.
They differed regarding the context of the question; some of them narrate it as: "Where was our Lord before He created His creation?", and some narrate it as: "before He created His Throne."
The scholars used this hadith as evidence in their works—as preceded in its referencing—and cited it in the context of acceptance and argumentation. Among those who explicitly declared it Sahih (Authentic) are:
1- The Imam Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim b. Sallām, may Allah have mercy on him.
Al-Dāraquṭnī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in al-Ṣifāt (59): Muḥammad b. Makhlad narrated to us, saying: al-ʿAbbās b. Muḥammad al-Dūrī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim b. Sallām—and he mentioned the Chapter which is narrated regarding: "The Vision", "The Footstool and the place of the two Feet", "Our Lord laughs at the despair of His servants and the nearness of His changing [their condition]", "Where was our Lord before He created the heaven?", "And that Hell will not be filled until your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, places His Foot in it, so it says: 'Enough, enough'", and similar hadiths.
He said: "These hadiths are Sahih (Authentic); the scholars of hadith and the jurists transmitted them from one another, and they are the truth according to us, about which we have no doubt. But if it is said: 'How did He place His Foot?' and 'How did He laugh?' We say: 'This is not explained, nor have we heard anyone explain it.'"
