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Among the chief principles relied upon by these heretical proponents of the identity of Allah and creation, who claim spiritual realization and knowledge, is a saying they attribute to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. According to these heretical proponents of divine identity, he said:

“Allah existed, and nothing was with Him, and He is now as He was then.”

This addition—“and He is now as He was then”—is a lie fabricated against the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Hadith scholars agree that it is fabricated and invented. It appears in none of the hadith collections, large or small, nor has any scholar transmitted it through any chain of transmission, whether sound, weak, or unknown. Rather, this phrase was uttered by some later Jahmī speculative theologians. From them it was taken up by those who carried Jahmī doctrine to its ultimate conclusion—negation and heresy.

Those earlier theologians, however, might say: “Allah existed when there was neither place nor time, and He is now as He was then.” These people instead said: “Allah existed, and nothing was with Him, and He is now as He was then.”

Even Ibn Arabī, the most knowledgeable about Islam among them, acknowledged that this was not a statement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. In his book Mā lā budda lil-murīd minhu (What the Spiritual Aspirant Cannot Do Without), he stated that it is likewise reported in the Sunnah:

“Allah existed, and nothing was with Him.”

He said: “The scholars added: ‘And He is now as He was then.’ Thus there did not accrue to Him