The entry of the materialists into the statement of Allah the Exalted: “And if you ask them, who created the heavens and the earth?”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Regarding His saying[Luqman 31:25], he asks: Are the materialists who believe in eternalism and the like outside the scope of this verse?
Answer:
Yes. If you ask them, meaning the polytheists who believe in the existence of Allah but associate others with Him in worship, they acknowledge oneness of lordship but associate others with Him in oneness of worship. The verse refers to them. As for the denying materialist, he does not acknowledge that there is a Lord; he denies the existence of the Lord, (Glorified and Exalted is He). He says: What are these created things? They have no Creator; they created themselves, or nature created them. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Regarding His saying
And if you asked them, "Who created the heavens and earth?" they would surely say, "Allah."
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُAnswer:
Yes. If you ask them, meaning the polytheists who believe in the existence of Allah but associate others with Him in worship, they acknowledge oneness of lordship but associate others with Him in oneness of worship. The verse refers to them. As for the denying materialist, he does not acknowledge that there is a Lord; he denies the existence of the Lord, (Glorified and Exalted is He). He says: What are these created things? They have no Creator; they created themselves, or nature created them. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، تتمة فصل فيما في الشرك والزنا واللواطة من الخبث — islamhouse.com (56:24)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.