Episode 16 - Question: Who Created God?
Peace be upon you.
Introduction: The Origin of the Question
As a child, I would lie on my bed before sleep and wonder: Isn't there a creator for everything? Who created God? Then I would feel that this question is forbidden, not crossing anyone's mind around me.
As I grew up, I learned that many people ask this question, and I even learned that the Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned that many would ask it and guided us on how to deal with it.
Correcting the Basic Principle
First, what is the origin of this question? Its origin is that we assume the principle to be: "Everything has a cause, and every existent has a creator." While the correct principle is: "Every happening thing has a cause, and every created being has a creator."
Every happening thing has a cause. Happening, meaning it has a beginning, it came into existence after not existing. So, everything that has a beginning must have a cause that brought it from non-existence to existence, caused it after it was not.
What caused the plant to grow? The rain. Good, what caused the rain? The clouds. And what formed the clouds? The rising steam. Good, and where did this steam come from? From the seas. And who created the seas? God. And who created God? He has no creator because He is the first cause, meaning He has no cause.
The Impossibility of an Infinite Regression of Causes
Good, why? Because if you assume that He was created by a creator, you will ask: And who created the creator of the creator? And so on, without beginning. This leads to a regression of causes, also called (a regression of actors), which is impossible for the mind because its result is that nothing is created at all.
As we explained in the previous episode, and we gave the example of the prisoner who is not released until the soldier receives an order from his commander, and the commander from his commander, and so on, without beginning, so the prisoner is not freed. If we see that he is released, we know that the chain stopped at the one who gave the order, without receiving an order from anyone higher in rank than him.
Another example that illustrates the impossibility of the regression of causes to infinity: if you enter a house, look through a door in it, and see behind it a chandelier hanging by a chain but you do not see where this chain begins, then you are certain that it has a beginning in the ceiling, otherwise it would have fallen and not remained hanging. And you will not accept the idea that the chain could be extended to infinity.
Why is the Question "Who Created God?" a Wrong Question?
Therefore, the question (Who created the Creator?) is a wrong question; because it contradicts reason. Because reason requires that if the universe is created, there must be a non-created creator.
A wrong question; because there must be -by reason- a first cause. When you say: Who is the creator of the first cause? It is no longer first but has become a second cause. Therefore, the law of causality applies only to happening things.
If you enter your room and see that your bed has changed its place, you will say: Who changed the place of the bed? Because the change of its place is a happening matter. While if you enter your room and do not see the place of the bed has changed, you will not ask: Who kept the bed in its place? Because its remaining in its place is not a happening matter to have a causer.
And God -glory be to Him- -as He is the first cause- is not a happening matter to have a causer, but He is outside the framework of matter that He created and not subject to its laws.
If you see a doll moving by strings, and you know that there is a person behind the curtain moving it, is it acceptable for you to ask: And who moves the strings of this person?
If you see a loaf of bread and know that there must be a baker for the bread, will you ask: And who baked the baker? Of course not, but it is a funny and wrong question. Why? Because it applied a generalization in the wrong place.
And so, creation is an attribute inherent to creatures, so it is not generalized to the Creator. Therefore, the question (Who created God?) is a wrong question like the question (What is the length of the fourth side in the triangle?). It is as if you say: Who created the one who has no creator? Or who is the one who preceded the one before whom there is nothing?
The answer: The Creator has no creator; because if He had a creator, He would be a creature, not a Creator. Therefore, this question is not embarrassing, and the Sharia did not prevent it from crossing people's minds, but the Prophet, peace be upon him, informed us in advance that it would be asked and guided us on how to deal with it.
The Prophetic Guidance on Dealing with the Question
What did he guide us to? In the hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim that the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, said: "The devil comes to one of you and says: Who created such and such, who created such and such, until he says: Who created your Lord? So when he reaches this point, let him seek refuge with God and stop." (Authenticated by Bukhari and Muslim)
"Let him stop" means he should stop the continuation of this series of questions after this limit.
Is this a restriction on the mind and a disablement of the mind? Never, but it is the correct intellectual position. Why? Because this question (Who created your Lord?) is -as we explained- a question that contradicts the intellectual necessities. And the intellectual necessities are the ones from which man proceeds in reasoning, not that he seeks evidence for them so that he may continue in a series of proofs and justifications.
Meaning, the one who asks this question is as if he says: What am I doing? I am contradicting the necessary natural sciences, so let me stop at this limit, otherwise, I will waste my mind.
Therefore, in the other hadith, the Prophet, peace be upon him, directed those who come to this question to say: "God is One, God is the Self-Sufficient Master whom none can ever compel. He begets not, nor is He begotten, and there is none like Him." (Graded as good by Albani)
Meaning, I believe that God is not a happening like happenings, He was not born to have a beginning at all, and there is no one equal to Him. He is distinct from His creation, not a creature like them to have a creator. Therefore, this question is not correct in the first place.
Dealing with the Obsession of Questioning
But the question attacks me, and I know that it is not correct! Okay, then it is an obsession that you deal with as you deal with the obsession of purity, ablution, and prayer.
If you are afflicted with obsession, then the devil causes you doubt: Did you wash your hand or not? Did you intend to pray or not? Did you say the takbir correctly or not? Even though all of these are sensory, certain matters that do not require proof or inference, yet you doubt them.
What is the solution in this case? Do you resort to proof and inference? No, but you seek refuge in Allah from the devil who whispers to you and stop thinking about the doubts that he raises. And so it is in the case of the question (Who created Allah?) and you have known that it is a question that contradicts the necessities of reason.
Responding to Atheists
Finally, the question (Who created Allah?) is also asked by atheists as an objection to our belief in Allah; because they do not accept the idea that Allah is eternal without a beginning.
Say to the atheist who objects to you with this objection: Do you believe that the universe has a beginning? If he says, "Yes," then this universe must have a creator by the obvious rational necessity.
And if he says, no, but it is eternal. Then say to him: You object to the eternality of Allah, and you claim the eternality of the universe! Then, you do not object to the principle of eternality in itself, but you object to the eternality of a Creator who created the universe with knowledge, will, wisdom, and power whose effects appear in everything, and you claim the eternality of a universe, thus without a creator, a universe with no will, no knowledge, and no wisdom.
Then leave them in their tyranny, being heedless. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.