Can Allah Create an Equal?

Then comes the whole discussion as to whether Allah can create an equal or not. This very question caused a problem in an earlier series of lessons on the ʿAqīdah Ṭaḥāwiyyah: its dars number three went into some hypothetical scenarios, and that material was taken down. Can Allah (swt) create an equal? Ibn Ḥazm al-Ẓāhirī mentioned that that is possible, but that He will not do it, and so on; there are some discussions there. But the opinion of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah, the majority opinion, is that no, He cannot. He cannot create an equal to Him.

Hearing that for the first time, one may think that it limits Allah: how, then, is He powerful over all things? The whole answer is this: it is a paradox. Allah is that one single, unique being who has all of these powers and these attributes. If there were an equal to Him, Allah would lose that uniqueness. It is a paradox; it would not work. That is why the scholars have said that Allah does not have the ability over the impossible, because that defies the very nature of the thing. If there is one entity who is unique because He is one and He is all-powerful, then to create someone else like that would have the two cancel each other out.

Again, this is being discussed only from a logical point of view, to reach this conclusion: that Allah is one, and He is the only one like that. He does not have the ability over the impossible, because that is self-defying; it is senseless. It is absurd; it is an absurdity. And because it is an absurdity, it is an impossible. So what is an impossible being? A partner to Allah. That is an impossible being. It can never come into existence; it is impossible.

So there is a necessary being, and there is an impossible being. And thirdly, and this is where everybody else comes into the picture, there are the possible beings. Possible beings are those that could come into existence, or could remain unexistent. It is just as Allah chooses. Allah is the one who makes the decision. He is the one who wills somebody to come into being. He knows who is unexistent. He knows how they would be if He brought them into existence. He knows all of these things from before, and this is exactly what Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī will speak about, where he describes how Allah (swt) knows everything from eternity about what will come into being, and when He will bring it into being. And Allah is the one who chooses that.

So our mere existence here, and our transfer from the abode of unexistence to existence, is by the merit of Allah (swt) alone. And it is only Allah (swt) who has that ability. It is that necessary existence who allows the possible existence to come into being, and who decides whether they will stay unexistent or become existent. That much is needed before starting: to be able to place ourselves, and see where we stand.