﴿ بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ هَلْ أَتَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْإِنسَٰنِ حِينٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلدَّهْرِ لَمْ يَكُن شَيْـًۭٔا مَّذْكُورًا ﴾

“HAS THERE [not] been an endless span of time before man [appeared - a time] when he was not yet a thing to be thought of?”

And from his narration on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that he said regarding the interpretation of Allah's saying (Hath there come upon man (ever)): '(Hath there come upon man (ever)) there has come upon Adam (any period of time) a period of 40 years when he was created and fashioned (in which he was a thing unremembered?) not knowing who he was, what his name was or what Allah wanted from him.