Assalamualikum. I heard a video of a preacher saying that Ibn taymiyyah uttered kufr when he said that there is no beginning of hawadith and he even claimed that Al Albani pointed out this mistake and said it is obligatory to warn people against it in his book silsila ahadith under the hadith that The first thing Allah created was the pen. Are these allegations true and plz mention what is the response in detail ?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu`alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

It is a sheer mistake to claim that Sheikh Al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah has adopted “unbelief,” for he never claimed that creatures had no beginning in the absolute sense of the word. This is evident in his Daru’ Taaʿrud Al-ʿAql Wa An-Naql in which he states, “All creatures have come to existence after their non-existence. All beings other than Allah are created.”

Many of those who criticized Sheikh Al-Islaam for the issue recorded in the questioner’s question did not entirely read the opinion of Ibn Taymiyah or were unable to correctly understand it since they could not differentiate between the point of “proving the existence of creatures with no forefathers” and “proving the existence of creatures, the essence of their objects is not found.” Though the first opinion is true, it does not necessitate that “the ever-existence of the universe” is true; rather the opinion on the possibility of the existence of creatures with no forefathers is evidenced by the Quran and the Sunnah. So, whoever is unable to understand this point, let him understand “the ancient past” in light of eternity. In truth, Allah, the Exalted, is the First, before Him nothing existed, and the Last other than Him none would stay alive. We, for example, believe that the dwellers of Paradise rejoice therein and that Allah, the Exalted, would provide them with countless kinds of pleasure, stressing that this does not contradict the fact that Allah, the Almighty, is the All-Last. So, why should not the same opinion be applied to eternity?!

However, we cannot elaborate further on this issue herein as requested by the questioner since the words to be used in the answer are difficult to understand, which means that it would be difficult to be translated into English. Yet, all we might benefit the questioner within this context is to refer him to two important sources that carefully examined this point. In these two books, the questioner would find that their authors reached a conclusion that "the possibility of the existence of creatures with no forefathers is evidenced by the Quran and the Sunnah" and that it does not necessarily necessitate the claim on the ever-existence of the universe. Besides, these two works provide a full explanation for the Hadith of ʿUmraan ibn Hussayn “First of all, there was nothing but Allah, and (then He created His Throne). His throne was over the water …” But, the questioner would need a translator to translate for him the content of these two books on the condition that he is highly qualified in Sharia knowledge and both Arabic and English languages.

Here are these two sources: -

1- A Ph.D. thesis by Sheikh ʿAbd Allah ibn Saalih Al-Ghussn; entitled Daʿaawaa Al-Munaawe’een Li Shaikh Al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah : ʿArd Wa Nadq, Chapter Three in this thesis highlighted the topic on "the ever-existence of the universe.” In this Chapter, the questioner would also find the topics on the People of the Sunnah’s belief on the possibility of the existence of creatures with no forefathers, the definition and types of sequence, the meaning of the Divine Attributes of Choice, explanation of the Hadith of ʿUmraan ibn Hussayn discussion of the opponents’ claim that Sheikh Al-Islaam’s opinion on the possibility of the existing of creatures with no forefathers necessitates the belief that the universe is ever-existing.

2- Kaamilah Al-Kawwaaree’s book entitled Qidam Al-ʿAlam Wa Tasalsul Al-Hawaadith Bayna Ibn Taymiyah Wa Al-Falaasifah Maʿ Bayaan Akhatta’ Fee Al-Mas’alaten Mena As-Saabeqeen Wa Al-Muʿassireen; this book was revised and edited by Dr. Sifr Al-Hawaalee who made a very useful introduction to this issue.

Allah knows the best.