Who Created Him Then?

If Allah (swt) were not pre-eternal, not qadīm, as the text says here, qadīmun bi-lā ibtidāʾ, it would mean that He started somewhere. The question then arises: who created Him? There are then two possible routes. One can say that there was another God before Him who created Him. Fine: who created that one? There was another one who created him. Who created that one? It can never end. One of two things has to be done. The first is to go into infinity, with gods who have created the others, which is ridiculous; according to logic, that is a very absurd proposition.

The other option is to say: God one (and this has to be taken in context here) was created by God two, who was created by God three; and rather than go into what is called infinite regress, or tasalsul, which is absurd, this third God, God three, was then created by God one. So God one is the creator of God three. The problem there is what is called circular reasoning, al-dawr in Arabic. That is also problematic. When none of those work, one eventually has to conclude that there is a non-contingent beginning: a beginning that was there first, which brought everything else into existence.

Today there are a lot of people who do not believe in God, but who believe in this non-contingent beginning; they articulate it in different ways. Philosophers said it was this main intellect, the master intellect, from which other intellects were created. Others have their different ideas, simply calling this a non-contingent beginning, without being able to pinpoint it exactly, because they feel that they cannot say it is Allah. They're just one step away. But Allah is that non-contingent beginning. He is the one who has always been there, and who put everything else into motion.

So that is Allah (swt): qadīmun bi-lā ibtidāʾ. And He is dāʾimun bi-lā intihāʾ: He will always be existent. Because if He has always been there, He has to always remain there. This may be a bit complex, but consider the relativity of it. If somebody has always been in existence, according to us in a time, though He is not in time, it is impossible for Him to have an end. Where would it begin; where would it start? When that does not apply to Him, and He has been established as that beginning, based on the evidences just given and on the other absurdities that would follow if this were not believed, then He cannot have an end either. He will always remain. He is simply that necessary being who has always been there.

There is a lot of other discussion and detail about exactly these points, which is not gone into here, because it requires a willingness to study philosophy and all these concepts, which get a bit confusing. Some people then ask what this has to do with our dīn, and so on. So it is not necessary. For anyone in turmoil about the existence of Allah, it can be discussed further. But, inshāʾAllāh, this much is sufficient.