مَا زَالَ بِصِفَاتِهِ قَدِيمًا قَبْلَ خَلْقِهِ
Before creating anything, Allah was eternally possessed of His attributes.
لَيْسَ مُنْذُ خَلَقَ الْخَلْقَ اسْتَفَادَ اسْمَ الْخَالِقِ
Allah did not first acquire the name “Creator” when He created creatures.
The apparent difficulty: If creatures did not yet exist, how can divine creatorship be eternal?
Resolution: The Creator’s attribute must not be confused with the created thing’s temporal existence. Divine perfection does not begin when creatures appear; creatures themselves begin in time.
Inference to avoid: Eternal attributes do not imply an eternal universe.
Application: The created order’s beginning does not show that God previously lacked creatorship.