Hasan read to me a statement by the Shaykh of Islam, in which he said

Al-Halabi: Shall I read the phrase from the Shaykh of Islam?

The Shaykh: Go ahead.
Al-Halabi: Perhaps it will clarify what our brother Murad intends to say. He saysThe Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him): "And this is the issue of the creation of the universe and its precedence. No one among the children of Adam can establish evidence for the precedence of the celestial spheres in the first place. And all that they have mentioned does not contain anything that indicates the precedence of anything from the universe with knowledge. Their limit is only to indicate the precedence of the type of action—on the precedence of the type of action, meaning the action of Allah, i.e., not the action that is the acted-upon—and their limit is to indicate the precedence of the type of action and that the Actor has always been an Actor, and that the created things have no beginning, and the like of that from ... "

The Shaykh: And what does "the created things have no beginning" mean? This is what we are telling you.
Al-Halabi: Because of their connection to the type of action.

The Shaykh: They have no beginning. There is no created thing except that before it was a created thing. There is no created thing except that before it was a created thing. There is no created thing except that before it was a created thing. And every created thing is preceded by non-existence.
Wafi: In our research, we found that created things have no beginning in the attributes of Allah.
Al-Halabi: No, he is narrating from ...

The Shaykh: The problem here is the confusion between linking the attribute to the attributed.
Al-Halabi: We have seen this often in the words of the Shaykh of Islam. He links between them, distinguishing between the action, the Actor, and the acted-upon.

The Shaykh: This is correct and true, otherwise the issue would lead to incarnation later. But this does not mean that there is a created thing that was not preceded by non-existence.
Al-Halabi: Okay, shall we continue, our Shaykh?

The Shaykh: Go ahead.
Al-Halabi: He says: "And that the created things have no beginning, and the like of that from what does not indicate the precedence of anything specific from the universe. And this does not contradict any of the texts of the Prophets, but rather agrees with them. As for the mass-transmitted texts from the Prophets that Allah created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, and that Allah is the Creator of everything, and that everything other than Him is a created thing that came into existence after it was not."

The Shaykh : Yes.
Al-Halabi: "So no one can mention a rational proof that contradicts this, and this has been elaborated in other places. And this issue of the creation of the universe is the greatest point where the philosophers returned, which the theologians were unable to resolve. There is nothing in it that indicates the precedence of anything from the universe in the first place. For this reason, what the people established as evidence that every acted-upon is a created thing that came into existence after it was not, and that everything other than Allah is an acted-upon, so it is a created thing, does not contradict that. Rather, what contradicts that is the origin of the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah, where they said that Allah was and did not speak with anything, and did not do anything. Rather, speech and action were impossible for Him, not possible for Him in eternity, not possible for Him in eternity ..."

The Shaykh: But, we say it is possible.
Al-Halabi: Ah, their statement means that he affirms it.

The Shaykh: No problem, my brother, what do we want with the Jahmiyyah? Now you understand that he explicitly states that every created thing is preceded by non-existence?

The questioner: Shaykh, yes.

The Shaykh: Okay, then does this statement align with your understanding that he says the Throne is the first created thing?
Fawq: No, no, it means you need to reconcile them.

The Shaykh: Repeat the phrase, repeat the phrase.
Al-Halabi: "And all that they have mentioned does not contain anything that indicates the precedence of anything specific from the universe in the first place. Their limit is only to indicate the precedence of the type of action and that the Actor has always been an Actor, and that the created things have no beginning, and the like of that from what does not indicate the precedence of anything specific from the universe. And this does not contradict any of the texts of the Prophets, but rather agrees with them."

The Shaykh: All right.
Fawq: The created things have no beginning, so this is not connected to Allah, but to the created thing.

The Shaykh: The created things.
Wafi: Created things that have no beginning, so that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is a Creator constantly.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Fawq: But the strange thing is that ...

The Shaykh: You should be at peace with your opponent and tell him ...

The questioner: A misguided man who does not want the truth.

The Shaykh: Understood. But so that he does not have an argument that Ibn Taymiyyah says that every created thing is preceded by non-existence, what do you have against him? You are speaking words that you do not understand about him, and perhaps we share with you that we do not understand them. But this does not necessitate declaring him a disbeliever, given his explicit statement that there is no created thing except that it is preceded by non-existence. But he conceives of the created things as having no beginning. We are unable to grasp this conception.