from Abu Ja‘far, from al-Rabi‘ ibn Anas, from Abu al-‘Aliyah regarding His saying: "As He began your creation, you will return [to life]," he said: They shall return to the knowledge Allah has regarding them. Do you not see that He says: "A group [He] guided, and a group deserved to be in error"?

8367 - Abu Sa‘id al-Ashajj told us, Abu Yahya Ishaq ibn Sulayman al-Razi told us, from Musa ibn ‘Ubaydah, from Muhammad ibn Ka‘b: "As He began your creation, you will return [to life]," he said: He whom Allah began to create upon guidance and happiness, He causes him to return to that upon which He began his creation, just as He did with the magicians; He began their creation upon guidance and happiness until He took them away as Muslims. And just as He did with Iblis; He began his creation upon disbelief and misguidance, and he acted with the deeds of the angels, so Allah caused him to return to that which He began his creation upon, which is disbelief. Allah, the Almighty, said: "And he was of the disbelievers."

8368 - Muhammad ibn Sa‘d al-‘Awfi informed us in what he wrote to me, my father told me, my uncle told me, from his father, from his father, from Ibn ‘Abbas: "As He began your creation, you will return [to life]," he says: Just as We created you the first time, likewise you will return.

8369 - Ahmad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Hakim informed us in what he wrote to me, Ahmad ibn Mufaddal told us, Asbat told us, from al-Suddi: Regarding His saying: "As He began your creation, you will return [to life]," as We created you, likewise you will return, you will emerge from the wombs of your mothers.

It was narrated from Sa‘id ibn Jubayr that he said: As He wrote concerning you, so you shall be.

It was narrated from al-Nakha‘i and Ibn Razin that they said: To His knowledge you will return.

His saying, the Almighty: "A group [He] guided"

8370 - Abu Sa‘id al-Ashajj told us, Yahya ibn Yaman told us, from Abu Ja‘far, from al-Rabi‘ ibn Anas, from Abu al-‘Aliyah, regarding His saying: "A group [He] guided," he said: In His knowledge.

8371 - Ahmad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Hakim informed us in what he wrote to me, Ahmad ibn Mufaddal told us, Asbat told us, from al-Suddi: Regarding His saying: "A group [He] guided," he says: A group of guided ones.

8372 - And through the same chain from al-Suddi: Regarding His saying: "A group [He] guided, and a group deserved to be in error," he says: A group is in error.

His saying, the Almighty: "Indeed, they took the devils"

8373 - My father told us, Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Dashtaki told us, ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Ja‘far told us, from his father, from al-Rabi‘, regarding His saying: "As He began your creation, you will return [to life]," He created them from dust.