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The story of The Preserved Tablet in the Quran and the Islamic tradition: verses, hadiths and the views of the exegetes, faithfully translated from Arabic.
Updated on 06 September 2026 at 3:41 AM
"Allah created the Preserved Tablet from a white pearl whose pages are of red ruby; its pen is light and its writing is light. In it, Allah has every day three hundred and sixty-three thousand moments in which He creates and provides, causes death and gives life, honors and abases, and does what He wills."
Reported by al-Hafiz Abu al-Qasim at-Tabarani, from Ibn Abbas
Ishaq ibn Bishr reported: from Muqatil and Ibn Jurayj, from Ibn Abbas: "On the front of the Tablet is written: There is no god but Allah alone; His religion is Islam; Muhammad is His servant and messenger. Whoever believes in Allah, believes in His promise and follows His messengers, He will admit him into Paradise."
He said: "The Tablet is of white pearl, as long as the distance between heaven and earth and as wide as the distance between East and West; its edges are pearls and rubies, its two ends of red ruby; its pen is light, its words are bound to the Throne, and its origin lies in the bosom of an angel."
Anas ibn Malik and other righteous predecessors said: "The Preserved Tablet is upon the forehead of Israfil."
Muqatil said: "It is at the right of the Throne."