Why God must be eternal?
Before everything began..He was.
The First (Al-Awwal): The One Before Everything
In Islam, one of the beautiful names of God is Al-Awwal (The First).
It is paired in the Qur’an with Al-Akhir (The Last)
“He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden.” (Qur’an 57:3)
This short verse carries a profound message: before anything existed, before matter, time, space, stars, angels, or human beings God already was.
What Does “The First” Mean?
When Muslims say God is The First (Al-Awwal), they do not simply mean “first in a sequence.”
They mean:
God has no beginning.
Nothing existed before Him.
He was not created.
He did not come from anything.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) expressed this clearly in a prayer: “O Allah, You are the First there is nothing before You. You are the Last there is nothing after You.”
Everything we know has a starting point. The universe began. Stars are born and die. Human beings come into existence and pass away. Even time itself, according to modern cosmology, has a beginning.
Islam teaches that God is not part of this chain of beginnings.
He is not within time rather, time is within His creation.
A Common Question: “Who Created God?”
This question naturally arises when someone hears that Muslims believe God created everything.
If everything has a cause, then what caused God?
Islam’s answer is rooted in the meaning of Al-Awwal:
God is not “a thing” within the universe requiring a cause.
He is the necessary, uncaused origin of everything else.
The Qur’an summarizes this in another short chapter
“He neither begets nor is born.” (Qur’an 112:3)
In other words:
God does not come from anything.
God is not descended from anything.
God does not have parents.
God does not have offspring in a biological sense.
The chain of causes must stop somewhere. Islam teaches that it stops with The First (Al-Awwal).
Everything Ends Except Him
The Qur’an repeatedly reminds readers that all created things are temporary
“Everything upon it will perish.” (Qur’an 55:26)
The sun will burn out.
Galaxies will fade.
Human civilization will end.
Even angels who are unseen beings in Islamic belief are created and therefore finite.
But God alone remains.
This shifts how a person sees reality.
Power fades. Wealth disappears. Influence dies. Fame vanishes.
History itself erases its heroes.
Yet the One who was before all things will still be there when all things are gone.
The Humbling Effect of Al-Awwal
Understanding Al-Awwal is intellectually powerful — but it is also emotionally humbling.
Human beings are limited:
Our vision can only perceive a narrow range of light.
Our hearing captures only certain frequencies.
Our minds struggle to imagine infinity.
Even depth perception fades beyond a few miles of distance.
If we cannot fully grasp the physical universe, how can we fully comprehend the One who brought it into existence?
Recognizing God as The First invites intellectual humility. It acknowledges that human reasoning has limits and that those limits are not weaknesses, but realities.
What Does This Mean for Our Lives?
Believing that God is Al-Awwal has practical implications:
1. It reframes mortality.
Every person has two possible futures:
To die young.
Or to live longer and still die.
No one escapes that outcome.
When a person becomes deeply aware of their mortality, priorities shift. Petty pursuits lose importance. Meaning becomes urgent.
2. It redirects sincerity.
If everything temporary eventually disappears, then anchoring one’s purpose in temporary approval, fame, applause, reputation becomes fragile.
But directing one’s actions toward the One who never ends transforms them into something lasting.
In Islamic spirituality, actions done sincerely for God gain eternal significance because they are connected to The Eternal.
A Reflection for the Seeker
If God truly is The First:
What does that say about the origin of existence?
What does that say about purpose?
What does that say about accountability?
What does that say about how we should use our time?
Islam presents Al-Awwal not as an abstract theological concept, but as a lens through which to
understand reality
You began.
The universe began.
Time began.
God did not.
And when everything else concludes
He will remain.
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