The Eternality of Allah is not Related to Time

Allah the Exalted Existed Eternally without time or place and before darkness and light. Thus He is not of the tangible type within the world such as earth, stone, the stars, plants, and the human. Furthermore, He is not of the intangible type within the world, such as light, souls, air, jinn, and angels, because of His dissimilarity to the events, i.e., His Difference from all the creation.

If it were said, “Isn’t one of His Names Al-Latif?” The answer is that the meaning of Al-Latif, which is a Name of Allah, is the One Who is Merciful to His slaves, or the One Who is not reached by delusions, so they do not realize Him. Therefore, there is no resemblance for Him, the Exalted; there is no likeness for Him; and there is none similar to Him in His Self, or in His Attributes, or in His Doing. Had He been similar to the creation in one way or the other, such as by size, motion, stillness, and the like, then He would not have been the Creator of those things. Therefore, Allah the Exalted is Glorified from the attributes of the events, and likewise the Attributes of Allah are Eternal; that is, they are without beginning. Because of the importance of this subject, Imam Abu Hanifah said, “Whoever said that the Attributes of Allah are events, or he doubts, or he is neutral about that, then he is a blasphemer.” He mentioned that in the book Al-Wasiyyah. Additionally, At–Tahawiyy said, “And whoever attributes to Allah attributes of the human has blasphemed.”