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بدء الخلق
Tabari opens where a Muslim historian must open: not with a king, but with the origin of the world. He gathers what the early storytellers said about the Pen, the Throne, the water, and the days of creation. Much of this layer is israiliyyat — news taken from the People of the Book — which the Prophet ﷺ permitted us to narrate, but not to believe or deny, unless the Quran or a sound hadith has already spoken.
وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ
It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and His Throne was upon the water.
Quran 11:7
The Quran’s own opening of the story. Tabari’s extra detail sits under this ayah, not above it.
The first thing Allah created was the Pen. He said to it: Write. It said: What shall I write? He said: Write the decree of all things until the Hour.
A meaning carried in Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi — sahih on the Pen
When Tabari’s creation-stories wander into lengths and names the Quran does not give, leave them as akhbar.
How to weigh this
Creation is aqidah before it is chronology. Tabari’s dates for the age of the world are inherited tallies, not wahy. Hold the six days. Hold the Throne upon the water. Release the rest.