المعنى الاصطلاحي

Something that does not exist and has no beginning.

الشرح المختصر

"Al-A‘dām azaliyyah" (non-beings are timeless) is an expression that means that there is no beginning for the non-existence of all the things that were previously non-existent – which is everything but Allah – just as the existence of Allah's absolutely Perfect Essence is eternal without a beginning. This expression was never mentioned in the words of Allah, the Almighty, or the words of His Messenger, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him; rather, it was introduced by the late philosophers and was then used by the advocates of scholastic theology, like the Mu‘tazilah and others. This expression springs from their firm belief that non-existence is a thing in itself. This ideology is unacceptable to the mind that complies with the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the scholars. Non-existence is the opposite of existence, so how could the non-existent be eternal in non-existence? "A‘dām" is the plural of "‘adam"; means that which does not exist. In fact, non-existent is something in mind, not in reality (intangible or invisible).