The First Creation
The Messenger of Allah said, upon being asked about the beginning of creation:
كَانَ اللهُ وَلم يَكُن شَىءٌ غَيرُهُ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلى الماءِ، وَكَتَبَ في الذِّكْرِ كُلَّ شَىءٍ، ثُمَّ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ
[which means] “Allah Existed and nothing else existed. His ^Arsh was over the water, He ordered for everything to be written in the Guarded Tablet, then He created the Heavens and the Earth.” This is narrated by Al-Bukhariyy. The Messenger responded to this question by saying that Allah has no beginning for His Existence, meaning He is Eternal and there is no eternal one other than Him. In other words, in Eternity, nothing existed except Allah, and Allah Created everything, meaning He is the One who Brought it from non-existence to existence. The meaning of “He Created everything” is that He Brought all existing things from non-existence into existence. Allah the Exalted is Alive and does not die, because He has no end for His Existence, meaning He is Everlasting. Therefore, non-existence does not occur to Him, because had He existed after non-existence, Eternity would be impossible for Him.
The judgment of the one who says, “Allah created the creation, but who created Allah?” is a definite charge of blasphemy, because he has attributed to Allah non-existence before existence, and this is not said except about events, meaning the creations. Hence Allah the Exalted has the Necessary Existence, i.e., His non-existence is inconceivable to the mind; His Existence is not like our eventual existence, because our existence is by His Creating, and everything other than Allah has a possible existence. This means that it is mentally possible that it could exist after non-existence, and that it could go out of existence after existence. This is the judgment of the mind [regarding the possible matter] in and of itself.
Know that there are three categories of existence. The first is Eternal and Everlasting, and that pertains to Allah only, meaning there is no beginning and no end for His Existence. The judgment of the one who says that there is something eternal other than Allah is definitely a charge of blasphemy. For this reason the philosophers blasphemed by their foolish creed that the world is eternal and beginningless, because Eternity is only valid for Allah the Exalted.
The second is everlasting and not eternal, that is, it has a beginning and it has no end. This is in reference to Paradise and Hell; both of them are created, meaning they both have a beginning, however, they have no end, meaning they are everlasting. So destruction does not happen to them, nor non-existence, because Allah Willed for their everlastingness. In and of themselves, it is mentally possible that they would go out of existence.
The third is neither eternal nor everlasting, meaning it has a beginning and it has an end, and that is everything in this present life from the seven Skies to the Earth. Therefore, there is no escape from their ceasing to exist, their annihilation, and the annihilation of what is in them, whether humans, jinn or angels.
Know that it is the habit of the scholars to mention that the mental judgment is divided into three categories: the necessary, the possible and the impossible. The necessary is what is not conceived to be nonexistent, and that is in reference to Allah and His Attributes. The impossible is that which its existence is not conceived by the mind, and they sometimes express it as the prevented existence. The possible is that which its existence and nonexistence are conceived by the mind, and this why they ascribe to Allah the Necessary Existence.