He used to narrate that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The first thing Allah created was the Pen, and He commanded it to write everything that would come to be."
أنه كان يحدث أن رسول الله ﷺ قال: إن أول ما خلق الله القلم، وأمره أن يكتب كل شيء يكون.
Abu Yaala (2329) narrated it from Ahmad bin Jameel Marwazi, who said, Abdullah bin Mubarak told us, from Rabah bin Zayd, from Umar bin Habeeb Makki, from Qasim bin Abu Bazza, from Saeed bin Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, and he related the same. Its chain of transmission is sahih. Abdullah bin Ahmad also transmitted it by this route in "Sunnah" (854). Bazzar also narrated it, and Haythami said in "Majma" (7/190), "Its narrators are trustworthy narrators."Ibn Abu Asim also transmitted it in "Sunnah" (108) through the route of Ibn Mubarak. Bayhaqi said in Qadr wal-Qadar (192/1), Abu Ali said, "No one but Umar bin Habeeb attributed it with a chain from Qasim, and he is the Makki whose hadiths are collected."I say, Umar bin Habeeb is the Makki, and he is trustworthy and virtuous. Scholars have affirmed his trustworthiness, so his being the sole transmitter does not harm the narration. It has also been reported from Ibn Abbas as a stopped narration through daif chains, some of which are acceptable. Firyabi transmitted these in "Qadr" (65, 76, 77, 78), and from him Ajurri in Sharia (183), and also from others besides him.The ruling favors treating it as a raised narration, because of the additional knowledge it contains. Moreover, a matter of this kind cannot be stated merely on the basis of personal opinion, so it is also effectively a raised narration by ruling.