I asked, "Messenger of Allah, where was our Lord before He created His creation?"He replied, "He was in a cloud, with no air below it and no air above it, and He created His Throne upon the water."Ahmad bin Mani said that Yazid bin Harun explained, "Al-ama means that there was nothing with Him."
حدثنا أحمد بن منيع حدثنا يزيد بن هارون أخبرنا حماد بن سلمة عن يعلى بن عطاء عن وكيع بن حدس
قلت يا رسول الله أين كان ربنا قبل أن يخلق خلقه قال كان في عماء ما تحته هواء وما فوقه هواء وخلق عرشه على الماء قال أحمد بن منيع قال يزيد بن هارون العماء أي ليس معه شيء
[Its chain of transmission is hasan]. Ibn Majah narrated it in the Muqaddimah, chapter on what the Jahmiyyah denied, hadith 182, from the hadith of Yazid bin Harun through the same route. Ibn Hibban graded it sahih, hadith 39, as did Hakim, 4/560, and Dhahabi agreed with him.Waki bin Hudus is hasan al-hadith. Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, Hakim, and others considered him reliable.