Did the statement that the world is eternal come from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him)?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Your Eminence, I have brought some questions and inquiries from the students there with us in Aden, specifically. Here are many inquiries, and I—Allah willing—will summarize some of them. So I say:
The Shaykh: Wait a moment, give it to the brother, and choose—my brother—the most important question in it, understood? Choose the most important question, then the second, and so on, so that we can distribute the questions among those present.
Yes.
The questioner : So I say.
The Shaykh: ... Likewise, of course, choose the most important, then the next most important.
The questioner : If Allah wills.
So I say: Your Eminence, as you know, the books of al-Saqaf reached us. And in some of these books, it is stated that Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him), Ibn Taymiyyah, believed in the eternity of the world. Is this established from Ibn Taymiyyah? What is the ruling on one who holds this belief? And what is the ruling on one who says that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) fell into this serious matter?
The Shaykh: This is a fabrication against Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). Because what comes to mind from the phrase "the statement that the world is eternal" is that the world is eternal like the Creator, according to Muslims. May the least knowledgeable and least believing of Muslims be far from saying that any of the created things is eternal. Rather, Allah is the Eternal, the First, the Apparent, and the Hidden, and He is the Creator of all things. So it is even more certain that a Muslim scholar would not say that, and it is even more certain, and more certain, and more certain, without end, that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) would say that.
So the statement that the world is eternal is the statement of the materialist philosophers who do not believe in the God, the Lord, the Creator. And Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) has great, very great struggles, more than many of the Muslim scholars, in refuting the philosophers and materialists who claim the eternity of the world. So the one who attributes to Ibn Taymiyyah the statement that the world is eternal is one of two people: either a lying, perjured enemy of Islam and Muslims, and we have no discussion with him at all; or he reads a statement by Ibn Taymiyyah and understands from it, first because of his ignorance, and because of the hatred and enmity that is lurking in his heart against Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, so he suspects from some of his words that he says the world is eternal. And Ibn Taymiyyah is greater—as we mentioned—than to fall into such a major disbelief.
I think there is something in your question—also—that I have not answered?
The questioner: And what is the ruling on one who believes this belief?
The Shaykh: The answer has already been given. I said: This is the speech of the materialists and the philosophers whom Ibn Taymiyyah refuted in his books.
Is there something else in the same question?
The questioner: The question, no.
The Shaykh : Yes, anyone else?
Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Your Eminence, I have brought some questions and inquiries from the students there with us in Aden, specifically. Here are many inquiries, and I—Allah willing—will summarize some of them. So I say:
The Shaykh: Wait a moment, give it to the brother, and choose—my brother—the most important question in it, understood? Choose the most important question, then the second, and so on, so that we can distribute the questions among those present.
Yes.
The questioner : So I say.
The Shaykh: ... Likewise, of course, choose the most important, then the next most important.
The questioner : If Allah wills.
So I say: Your Eminence, as you know, the books of al-Saqaf reached us. And in some of these books, it is stated that Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him), Ibn Taymiyyah, believed in the eternity of the world. Is this established from Ibn Taymiyyah? What is the ruling on one who holds this belief? And what is the ruling on one who says that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) fell into this serious matter?
The Shaykh: This is a fabrication against Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). Because what comes to mind from the phrase "the statement that the world is eternal" is that the world is eternal like the Creator, according to Muslims. May the least knowledgeable and least believing of Muslims be far from saying that any of the created things is eternal. Rather, Allah is the Eternal, the First, the Apparent, and the Hidden, and He is the Creator of all things. So it is even more certain that a Muslim scholar would not say that, and it is even more certain, and more certain, and more certain, without end, that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) would say that.
So the statement that the world is eternal is the statement of the materialist philosophers who do not believe in the God, the Lord, the Creator. And Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) has great, very great struggles, more than many of the Muslim scholars, in refuting the philosophers and materialists who claim the eternity of the world. So the one who attributes to Ibn Taymiyyah the statement that the world is eternal is one of two people: either a lying, perjured enemy of Islam and Muslims, and we have no discussion with him at all; or he reads a statement by Ibn Taymiyyah and understands from it, first because of his ignorance, and because of the hatred and enmity that is lurking in his heart against Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, so he suspects from some of his words that he says the world is eternal. And Ibn Taymiyyah is greater—as we mentioned—than to fall into such a major disbelief.
I think there is something in your question—also—that I have not answered?
The questioner: And what is the ruling on one who believes this belief?
The Shaykh: The answer has already been given. I said: This is the speech of the materialists and the philosophers whom Ibn Taymiyyah refuted in his books.
Is there something else in the same question?
The questioner: The question, no.
The Shaykh : Yes, anyone else?
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.