Ibn Taymiyah’s Saying of Hawadith with No Beginning Existing Eternally with Allah

This issue is one of the ugliest issues in belief by which Ibn Taymiyah dissented from the sound mind and the explicit tradition and Ijma^ of the Muslims. He mentioned this belief in five of his books: “Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah”, “Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma^qul li Sahih-il-Manqul”, “Sharh Hadith-in-Nuzul”, “Sharh Hadith ^Imran Ibn Husayn”, and “Naqdu Maratib-il-^Ijma^”.

Ibn Taymiyah’s statement in “Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah”, Volume I, page 24 is: If you say to us: You said of the occurrence of the hawadith in Allah, we say to you: Yes, and this saying of ours is what the Shar^ and mind showed.

He replied to Ibn Hazm for reporting the Ijma^ that Allah existed eternally and no thing existed with Him, and that the disagreer with this is a kafir.  After these words, Ibn Taymiyah said: What is stranger than that is his (Ibn Hazm’s) reporting the Ijma^ upon the kufr of whoever contended with the belief that Allah existed eternally by Himself and no thing existed with Him.

Ibn Taymiyah’s statement in “Sharh Hadith ^Imran Ibn Husayn”, page 193,: If the kind of the creations is assumed to be eternal with Allah, this companionship is not negated by the Shar^ or the mind, but it is of His perfection.  Allah, ta^ala, said that the One Who creates is not equal to whoever does not create.  Then Ibn Taymiyah said: The creation existed eternally with Him.  Then he said: but many people confuse the self with the kind.

His statement in “Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma^qul li Sahih-il-Manqul”, page 291 is: We said: we do not accept.  However, the daily hadith is preceded by hawadith without a beginning.

In the manuscript of “Tashnif-ul-Masami^”, page 342, Muhaddith, Usuliyy Badr-ud-Din az-Zarkashiyy reported the agreement of the Muslims upon the kufr of whoever says that the kind of the world is eternal. After mentioning that the philosophers said the world is eternal by matter and shape, and that some said it is eternal by matter but its shape is muhdath (has a beginning), he said: and the Muslims charged them (the philosophers) with deviation and kufr. Before that Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-^Id, Qadi ^Iyad, and Hafiz Ibn Hajar said the like in “Sharh al-Bukhariyy”.  Hafiz as-Subkiyy confirmed this belief about Ibn Taymiyah in his treatise “ad-Durrat-ul-Mudiyyah” and as said previously, Abu Sa^id al-^Ala’iyy did too. This belief was reported also by al-Jalal-ud-Dawwaniyy in “Sharh-ul-^Adudiyyah”. He said: I saw in a writing of Abul-^Abbas Ibn Taymiyah the saying that the kind of al-^Arsh is eternal.

The Hanafiyy ^Allamah (very knowledgeable Islamic scholar) al-Bayyadiyy mentioned in his book “Isharat-ul-Maram”, page 197, after mentioning the proofs about the beginning of the world: Hence, what Ibn Taymiyah thought of al-^Arsh being eternal, as reported in “Sharh-ul-^Adudiyyah”, is invalidated.

In his poem, which is famous even among the defenders of Ibn Taymiyah, and which contained refuting al-Hilliyy then Ibn Taymiyah, among of what as-Subkiyy said: Ibn Taymiyah has a refutation to what one of the rawafid (some deviant groups) said that was complete. However, he mixed the truth with the hashw [The hashw is done by a group called al-Hashwiyyah.  It is a vile group with ignorant members attributing themselves to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who is clear of them. They reported words about him which they misunderstood.  Then, they continued with their bad belief claiming to cling to the Hadith. The best of the muhaddithun (pl. of muhaddith) in his time, Ibn ^Asakir used to refrain from teaching them the Hadith and prevent them from attending his circle in Damascus.  This group did not have a head or someone to carry its invalid belief, except some scattered efforts which were foiled by the Muslims.  Then, around the end of the 700th Hijriyyah year, Ibn Taymiyah advocated the invalid beliefs and ideas of this group.] whenever he could. He says that there are hawadith with no beginning that occur in Allah. Praise to Allah; He is clear of what he (Ibn Taymiyah) thinks about Him.