Does the statement of Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mean that creatures were not created from nothing, and that man was not non-existent, and that creation from nothing resembles creation without a Lord? And is God's creation of a creature from no matter not within God's power?

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah used to refute the Jahmiyyah who claimed that substances were created out of nothing, and that Allah does not create anything from something. Ibn Taymiyyah responded by stating that Allah's power is manifested in transforming realities and creating one thing from another, such as turning white into black, and creating an opposite from its opposite. He argued that creating something from a different kind demonstrates greater power, citing Qur'anic verses that describe Allah's creation of humans from clay and animals from water.

Ibn Taymiyyah's words were not meant to imply that creation from no matter is beyond Allah's power. Rather, it was a refutation of the mutakallimun (theologians) and philosophers who asserted the eternity of matter and that substances were created from nothing. He clarified that what is observable is Allah's creation of beings from existing materials. As for the succession of events in the past, it pertains to the species (type) and not to individual entities (particulars).