If It Were Not For Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Allah Would Not Have Created Creation

The narration in al-Mustadrak

Al-Hakim (d. 405 AH) narrated in al-Mustadrak (3/517) a report from Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH) saying Allah revealed to Isa, “If not for Muhammad ﷺ I would not have created Adam, Paradise, or the Fire, and I created the Throne on the water, it shook, so I wrote on it: la ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah, and it became still.”
Al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) criticised it, saying it is fabricated upon Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah (d. 156 AH), and accused Amr ibn Aws al-Ansari of narrating a munkar report.
Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) agreed with al-Dhahabi in Lisan al-Mizan.
Al-Albani judged the narration to have no origin as marfuʿ and declared it false in Silsilah al-Daʿifah (1/448–449).

Other Hadiths And Chains With Such Claims

“Were it not for you I would not have created the heavens/orbits”: al-Saghani (d. 650 AH) declared it fabricated in al-Ahadith al-Mawduʿah.
Report in al-Daylami’s Musnad al-Firdaws: Ibn Abbas allegedly narrated that Jibril said to the Prophet ﷺ: “Were it not for you, I would not have created Paradise or the Fire.” Its chain contains Abd al-Samad ibn Ali, who was criticised by al-Aqeeli as unreliable. Al-Albani said the hadith is extremely false.
Narrations in Ibn Asakir (d. 571 AH) and Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH) through Salman and Anas رضي الله عنهم are fabricated. Al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH) in al-Lali agreed with Ibn al-Jawzi.

Ibn Taymiyyah

Ibn Taymiyyah said: None of the people of knowledge transmitted this wording from the Prophet ﷺ, neither authentic nor weak, nor is it known from the Sahabah. He affirmed the Prophet’s ﷺ rank as the best of creation and the master of the children of Adam.
He says that the statement can only be understood in a figurative, correct sense: Allah subjected the heavens, earth, sun, and moon for human benefit (Surah al-Jathiyah 13 & Surah Ibrahim 32–34).
Saying creation was “for” Muhammad ﷺ can mean he is the ultimate purpose among humans, but not that creation itself would not exist without him.

Ash-Shawkani

In al-Fawaid al-Majmuah (p. 326), he listed the hadith “Were it not for you I would not have created the heavenly bodies” as fabricated, quoting al-Saghani.He mentioned al-Bayhaqi transmitting related narrations, but agreed that their authenticity is not established.
He also says that al-Hakim authenticated another hadith, “I was a Prophet while Adam was between spirit and body,” but said the claim of “first in creation, last sent” is fabricated according to al-Saghani and Ibn Taymiyyah.

Shayk Bin Baz

Shaykh Ibn Baz said the claim that the universe was created for Muhammad ﷺ is false and has no basis. He quotes the ayah: “I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (al-Dhariyat 56) and “Allah created the heavens and the earth… so that you may know that Allah is capable of all things” (al-Talaq 12).
Muhammad ﷺ himself was created to worship Allah, like the rest of creation. Allah created the dunya for worship, not for the sake of any Prophet.
The claim comes from ignorant people and extremists, not the people of knowledge.

Conclusion from all the evidence

Every narration with the wording “Were it not for you” about creation is either mawquf with an unreliable chain or marfuʿ and fabricated, and many scholars have attested to this.
Ibn Taymiyyah denied any prophetic basis for this claim and explained a correct meaning limited to Allah’s favouring humanity with creation.
Ibn Baz reaffirmed that the Qur’an gives the true purpose of creation: worship of Allah alone, not creation for the sake of Muhammad ﷺ.
Therefore, the statement “If not for Muhammad ﷺ, nothing would have been created” has no authentic basis in hadith, and its literal sense is false. Only a restricted figurative sense may be tolerated, but the clear and true position is that creation exists for Allah’s worship.

In Mustadarak Ala Saheehayn By Al Hakim (3/517) he narrates the following hadith:

4285 – حدثنا علي بن حمشاذ العدل ، إملاء ، ثنا هارون بن العباس الهاشمي ، ثناجندل بن والق ، ثنا عمرو بن أوس الأنصاري ، ثنا سعيد بن أبي عروبة ، عن قتادة ، عن سعيد بن المسيب ، عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال : ” أوحى الله إلى عيسى عليه السلام يا عيسى آمن بمحمد وأمر من أدركه من أمتك أن يؤمنوا به فلولا محمد ما خلقت آدم ولولا محمد ما خلقت الجنة ولا النار ولقد خلقت العرش على الماء فاضطرب فكتبت عليه لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله فسكن ” .

4285 – Ali ibn Hamshadh al-Adl narrated to us by dictation, Harun ibn al-Abbas al-Hashimi narrated to us, Jandal ibn Waqi narrated to us, Amr ibn Aws al-Ansari narrated to us, Sa‘id ibn Abi Arubah (d. 156 AH) (Majhool narrator) from Qatadah (d. 117 AH), from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib (d. 94 AH), from Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH), may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:Allah revealed to Isa, peace be upon him, “O Isa, believe in Muhammad ﷺ, and command those of your nation who reach his time to believe in him. If not for Muhammad, I would not have created Adam.

And if not for Muhammad ﷺ, I would not have created Paradise nor the Fire. And indeed I created the Throne upon the water, and it shook, so I wrote upon it, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,’ and it became still.”

Allah revealed to Isa, peace be upon him, O Isa, believe in Muhammad, and command those of your nation who reach his time to believe in him. If not for Muhammad, I would not have created Adam. And if not for Muhammad ﷺ, I would not have created Paradise nor the Fire. And indeed I created the Throne upon the water, and it shook, so I wrote upon it, There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and it became still.

This has no origin as a hadith marfu to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him

. Rather al-Hakim (d. 405 AH) narrated it in al-Mustadrak (2/614–615) through the chain of Amr ibn Aws al-Ansari: Sa‘id ibn Abi Arubah (d. 156 AH) narrated to us, from Qatadah (d. 117 AH), from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib (d. 94 AH), from Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH), who said it as mawquf.

Al-Hakim said, its chain is authentic.

Al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) critiqued it saying, I think it is fabricated upon Sa‘id. I say, he means Sa‘id ibn Abi Arubah, and the one accused of it is his narrator, Amr ibn Aws al-Ansari.

Al-Dhahabi said in al-Mizan: his state is unknown, and he brought a munkar report. Then he cited this hadith for him and said, I think it is fabricated. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) in al-Lisan agreed with him and affirmed it.

Silsilah Ad Daeefa By Albani (1/448-449)

“Were it not for you (Muhammad ﷺ) I would not have created the heavens/orbits”

Fabricated, as al Saghani (d. 650 AH) said in al Ahadith al Mawduah (p. 7).

As for the words of al Shaykh al Qari (d. 1014 AH) (p. 67–68): “But its meaning is sound, for al Daylami (d. 509 AH) narrated from Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH) with marfu wording: Jibril came to me and said: O Muhammad, were it not for you I would not have created Paradise, and were it not for you I would not have created the Fire.

And in the narration of Ibn Asakir (d. 571 AH): Were it not for you I would not have created the dunya.”

Albani says: To affirm the soundness of its meaning is not proper except after confirming what he transmitted from al Daylami. And this is something I have not seen anyone clarify.

Even though I have not come across its chain, I have no doubt it is weak. It is enough as proof of this that al Daylami alone transmitted it.

Then my certainty of its weakness, rather its extreme falseness, increased when I found its chain in his Musnad (4/41/2): from the route of Ubaydullah ibn Musa al Qurashi, who said: narrated to us al Fudayl ibn Jaʿfar ibn Sulayman, from Abd al Samad ibn Ali ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas, from his father, from Ibn Abbas with it.

I said: Its flaw is Abd al Samad.

Al Aqeeli (d. 322 AH) said: “His hadith is not preserved and is not known except through him.” Then he cited for him another narration regarding honouring witnesses, which will come under number 2898. Those beneath him I did not know.

As for the narration of Ibn Asakir, Ibn al Jawzi (d. 597 AH) also transmitted it in al Mawduat (1/288–289) in a long hadith from Salman (d. 35 AH) with marfu wording, and he said: “It is fabricated.” Al Suyuti (d. 911 AH) agreed with him in al Lali (1/272).

Then I found it also from the narration of Anas (d. 93 AH), and we will speak about it if Allah wills.

Ibn Taymiyyah also weakens the hadiths that say if it were not for The Prophet ﷺ, Allah would not have created, the throne, heavens, kursi, heavens, sun and the moon.

Ibn Taymiyyah said: Muhammad ﷺ is the master of the children of Adam, the best of creation, and the most honoured of them before Allah. From this came the saying of some who said that Allah created the universe for his sake, or that if not for him, Allah would not have created a Throne, nor a Kursi, nor a heaven, nor an earth, nor a sun, nor a moon.

But this is not a hadith from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, neither authentic nor weak, and none of the people of knowledge of hadith have transmitted it from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, nor is it known from the Sahabah, but rather it is speech whose author is not known.

It can, however, be explained with a correct meaning, like the saying of Allah, “He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth” (al-Jathiya 13),

and His saying, “And He subjected to you the ships that they may sail through the sea by His command, and He subjected to you the rivers.

And He subjected to you the sun and the moon, constant in their courses. And He subjected to you the night and the day. And He gave you from all you asked of Him.

And if you count the favour of Allah you will not be able to enumerate it” (Ibrahim 32–34),

and similar verses in which He makes clear that He created the created things for the children of Adam.

It is known that Allah has great wisdoms in them beyond that, and greater than that. But He makes clear to the children of Adam what benefits they have in them, and what blessings He has showered upon them.

So if it is said, He did such and such for such and such, that does not mean there is no other wisdom in it. Likewise, when someone says, If not for such and such, He would not have created such and such, that does not mean there are no other great wisdoms in it.

Rather, it means that since Muhammad ﷺ, the best of the righteous of the children of Adam, and his creation was an ultimate purpose, and a complete wisdom intended greater than others, then the completion of creation and the perfection of completion was achieved through Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

Majmu Fatawa (11/96-97)

Ash Shawkani says: It was also narrated by al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 AH) in his book Hayat al-Anbiya, and it was transmitted by Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211 AH) in his Musannaf from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib (d. 94 AH) as his own saying.

Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) said: al-Bayhaqi authored a separate treatise on the life of the Prophets, and in it he mentioned a number of hadiths supporting this, so it should be referred to.

Hadith 18: The hadith, If not for you I would not have created the heavenly bodies.
Al-Saghani (d. 650 AH) said: it is fabricated.

Hadith 19: The hadith, I was the first of the Prophets in creation, and the last of them in being sent.
It has a supporting narration that al-Hakim (d. 405 AH) declared authentic with the wording, I was a Prophet while Adam was between spirit and body.

Al-Saghani said: it is fabricated.

And the same was said by Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH).

Al Fawaid al Majmuah fi al Ahadith al Mawduah By Ash-Shawkani Page 326

Shayk Bin Baz was asked: It has become commonly known and widespread on people’s tongues, especially perhaps in Iraq, as if it were something obvious, that the dunya and all that is in it was created for the sake of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and that if not for him, it would not have existed, nor been created, nor come into being.

We ask the noble Shaykh, who answers the questions of the listeners, to respond to my question with clear evidences if what has been said is true, and may you be rewarded with goodness.