but is possible and will not come into being, examples include sending believers into the Fire, bringing about the Resurrection before its appointed time, turning mountains into rubies, and similar things. Such a nonexistent thing is possible and, according to those who say that the nonexistent is a thing, it subsists in nonexistence. Nevertheless, its coming into being has not been decreed. Allah knows it as it is: He knows that it is possible and that it will not come into being.
The same applies to impossibilities, such as the Creator having a partner or a child. Allah knows that:
“He neither begets nor is born,”
“And there is none comparable to Him.”
He knows that He has no partner in His dominion and no protector on account of weakness. He knows that He is the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all:
“Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him.”
And He knows that:
“Not an atom’s weight in the heavens or on earth escapes Him.”
These impossible, nonexistent things are not things at all, as all rational people agree, although they are established in knowledge. It is thus clear that knowledge encompasses what does not exist and what cannot possibly exist, for knowledge is vast. If someone uses language more broadly and says that the nonexistent is a thing in knowledge, exists in knowledge, or is established in knowledge, this is correct. But to say that it is a thing in itself is false. This resolves the confusion surrounding this question.
The position of the people of the Sunnah and the Community, and of rational people generally among all categories of humanity, is that the nonexistent is not a thing in itself, and that its subsistence, existence, and actuality are one and the same. This is established by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations. Allah Most High said to Zechariah:
“I created you before, when you were nothing.”
He thus stated that Zechariah had been nothing. Allah Most High also said:
“Does man not remember that We created him before, when he was nothing?”
And Allah Most High said:
“Were they created by nothing, or were they themselves the creators?”