, and all of this precedes the Creator. Whatever precedes the Creator is not part of creation.”
I say:
By “before creation,” he means the One who wills, speaks, and has power, together with His will, speech, and power. As for the object of His will and power, to which He speaks, either he means its being established in knowledge through His saying to it, “Be,” or it was not included in the wording. This statement implies that … (1)
He also said, “He has always been One who would act,” and explained this in terms of His action, as noted above.
In his History of Nishapur, in the biography of Imam Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzaymah, Abū ‘Abd Allah al-Hākim gave a lengthy account of the dispute between him and some of his companions, including Abū ‘Alī al-Thaqafī, Abū Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishāq al-Duba‘ī, Abū Bakr ibn Abī ‘Uthmān the ascetic, and Abū Muhammad ibn Mansūr the judge. He mentioned that a group reported to the imam that some of his companions had begun opposing him without his knowledge, and that they followed the doctrine of the Kullābiyyah. Imam Abū Bakr was firmly opposed to the Kullābiyyah.
Al-Hākim said: Abū Bakr Ahmad ibn Yahyā, the speculative theologian, related to me:
“One night we gathered at the home of a scholar, and the subject of Allah’s speech arose: is it eternal, having always existed, or is it established when He, exalted is He, reports that He has spoken it? We entered into a discussion of this.
“Some of us said, ‘The Creator’s speech is eternal and has always existed.’ Others said, ‘His speech is eternal, but it is established only through His reporting His speech.’