Belief and Islam

from nonexistence, and something which is said to have come from
infititude should have not come at all. It would be ignorant and
preposterous to say, “It comes from infinitude.” Likewise, men
multiplying from one another cannot be coming from eternity.
They must have multiplied beginning with the first man who was
created out of nothing. If there had not been a first man created
out of nothing and men’s multiplying from one another had come
from eternity, no man would have existed today. The case is the
same with every being. It would be ignorant and incompatible with
reason and science to say, “So has it come and so will it go. There
was no initial substance created out of nothing,” on the substances’
or beings’ originating from one another. Change does not indicate
being eternal, but it shows being created out of nothing; that is, it
shows not the quality of being Wâjib al-wujûd but being mumkin
al-wujûd.
Question: “The Creator of the ’âlam Himself and His
Attributes are eternal. Since His Attribute ‘Creativeness’ is
eternal, does not the ’âlam have to be eternal, too?”
Answer: We always witness the fact that the Creator, who is
eternal, changes substances and particles through various means
or causes; that is, He annihilates them and creates others in place
of them. The Eternal Creator creates whenever He wills; that is,
He always creates substances from one another. As He creates
every ’âlam, every substance and every particle through some
means or causes, likewise He can create them without any cause or
means whenever He wills.
A person who believes that beings are hâdith will also believe
that they will be annihilated again. It is obvious that the beings that
were created at one time while having been nonexistent can
become nonexistent again. We see now that many beings cease to
exist or change into a state making them incapable of affecting our
sense organs.
Being a Muslim requires believing the fact that substances and
objects and all beings were created from nothing, and that they
will cease to exist again. We have been seeing that substances
have been coming into existence while having been nonexistent
and ceasing to exist again; that is, their shapes and properties
have been disappearing. When objects cease to exist their
substances remain. However, as we have explained above, these
substances are not eternal, either; they were created a very long
time ago by Allâhu ta’âlâ, and He will annihilate them again
when the end of the world comes. Today’s scientific knowledge
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