Ibnu Taymiyyah claims that the creation has no beginning

والصَّلَاةُ والسَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ أَشْرَفِ اْلمُرْسَلِيْنَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الطَّيّبِيْنَ الطَّاهِرِيْن

This issue is one of the ugliest issues in belief by which ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah dissented from the sound mind and the explicit tradition and ‘ijma^ of the Muslims. He mentioned this belief in five of his books: “Minhaju s-Sunnati n-Nabawiyyah”, “Muwafaqatu sarihi l-ma^qul l i sahihi l-manqul”, “Sharhu hadithi n-Nuzul”, “ Sharhu hadithi ^Imran‘Ibnu Husayn”, and “Naqdu maratibi l-‘ijma^”.

‘Ibnu Taymiyyah’s statement in “Minhaju s-Sunnati n-Nabawiyyah”, Volume I, page 24 is: If you say to us: You said of the occurrence of the hawadith in Allah, we say to you: Yes, and this saying of ours is what the Shar^ and mind showed.

He replied to ‘Ibnu Hazm for reporting the ‘ijma^ that Allah existed eternally and nothing existed with Him, and that the disagreer with this is a kafir. After these words, ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah said: What is stranger than that is his ( ‘Ibnu Hazm’s) reporting the ‘ijma^ upon the kufr of whoever contended with the belief that Allah existed eternally by Himself and nothing existed with Him.

‘Ibnu Taymiyyah’s statement in “ Sharhu hadith ^Imran‘Ibnu Husayn”, page 193: If the kind of the creations is assumed to be eternal with Allah, this companionship is not negated by the Shar^ or the mind, but it is of His perfection. Allah, ta^ala, said that the One Who creates is not equal to whoever does not create. Then ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah said: The creation existed eternally with Him. Then he said: but many people confuse the self with the kind.

His statement in “Muwafaqatu sarihi l-ma^qul l i sahihi l-manqul”, page 291 is: We said: we do not accept. However, the daily hadith is preceded by hawadith without a beginning.

In the manuscript of “Tashnifu l-masami^”, page 342, Muhaddith, ‘Usuliyy Badru d-Din az-Zarkashiyy reported the agreement of the Muslims upon the kufr of whoever says that the kind of the world is eternal. After mentioning that the philosophers said the world is eternal by matter and shape, and that some said it is eternal by matter but its shape is muhdath (has a beginning), he said: and the Muslims charged them (the philosophers) with deviation and kufr. Before that Hafidh ‘Ibnu Daqiq al-^Id, Qadi ^Iyad, and Hafidh ‘Ibnu Hajar said the like in “ Sharhu l-Bukhariyy”. Hafidh As-Subkiyy confirmed this belief about ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah in his treatise “Ad-durratu l-mudiyyah” and as said previously, ‘Abu Sa^id al-^Ala’iyy did too. This belief was reported also by Al-Jalalu d-Dawwaniyy in “Sharhu l-^adudiyyah”. He said: I saw in a writing of ‘Abu l-^Abbas ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah the saying that the kind of al-^Arsh is eternal.

The Hanafiyy ^Allamah (very knowledgeable Islamic scholar) Al-Bayyadiyy mentioned in his book “Isharatu l-maram”, page 197, after mentioning the proofs about the beginning of the world: Hence, what ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah thought of al-^Arsh being eternal, as reported in “Sharhu l-^adudiyyah”, is invalidated.

In his poem, which is famous even among the defenders of ‘Ibnu Taymiyyah, and which contained refuting al-Hilliyy then ‘Ibnu Taymiyyah, among of what As-Subkiyy said: ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah has a refutation to what one of the Rawafid (some deviant groups) said that was complete. However, he mixed the truth with the hashw [The hashw is done by a group called al-Hashwiyyah. It is a vile group with ignorant members attributing themselves to Imam ‘Ahmad ‘Ibnu Hanbal , who is clear of them. They reported words about him which they misunderstood. Then, they continued with their bad belief claiming to cling to the hadith. The best of the Muhaddithun (pl. of Muhaddith) in his time, ‘Ibnu ^Asakir used to refrain from teaching them the hadith and prevent them from attending his circle in Damascus. This group did not have a head or someone to carry its invalid belief, except some scattered efforts which were foiled by the Muslims. Then, around the end of the 700th Hijriyyah year, ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah advocated the invalid beliefs and ideas of this group.] whenever he could. He says that there are hawadith with no beginning that occur in Allah. Praise to Allah; He is clear of what he (‘Ibnu Taymiyyah) thinks about Him.