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Is it correct to say that Allah Almighty "originates things but does not begin them, for the origin of things is existence, not non-existence"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The interpretation of the phrase "He reveals matters, He does not originate them" is linked to the verse: "Every day He is in a [new] state" (Ar-Rahman: 29). It means that Allah reveals matters that He already knew, and He does not originate new matters that were not known to Him. This negates bada' (change in divine will or knowledge) from Allah, for He knows everything eternally. Abrogation (naskh) is a manifestation of rulings He knew eternally, not a new appearance of something He did not previously know. As for the claim that the origin of things is existence, this is incorrect. Rather, the origin of all things other than Allah is non-existence, and their existence requires an originator, as Allah says: "And does not man remember that We created him before, while he was nothing?" (Maryam: 67).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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