What Was Before God? A Comparative Religious Perspective

Judaism's answer is unambiguous: nothing preceded God. The Hebrew Bible presents God as existing from 'everlasting to everlasting,' a phrase that deliberately collapses any notion of a timeline that could contain Him Psalms 90:2. The Psalmist's framing is striking — mountains, earth, and the world all came after God, not alongside Him.

Isaiah goes even further, with God declaring that no deity was formed before Him and none will follow Isaiah 43:10. The Hebrew verb yatsar (formed) is significant here — it's the same word used for a potter shaping clay. The implication is that God was never 'shaped' or brought into being by any prior force.

Proverbs 8 introduces a fascinating wrinkle: Wisdom herself claims to have been 'created at the beginning of God's course, as the first of His works of old' Proverbs 8:22. Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1138–1204) interpreted this passage allegorically, arguing it describes God's own rational attribute rather than a separate being. The Kabbalistic tradition, by contrast, developed elaborate frameworks around the concept of Ein Sof ('without end') — the infinite, undifferentiated divine reality that precedes even God's self-revelation. But even within Kabbalah, there's no external entity before God; Ein Sof simply is God in His most primordial state.

Deuteronomy 4:32 reinforces the point by inviting Israel to search all of human history — 'since the day that God created humankind on earth' — for any comparable divine act Deuteronomy 4:32. The implied answer is that nothing rivals God because nothing preceded Him to compete with Him.

Christianity inherits the Jewish scriptures and their insistence on God's absolute priority. Psalm 90:2, quoted in Christian worship for centuries, frames God's eternity as the backdrop against which all creation is measured Psalms 90:2. There was no 'before' God because God is the very ground of being — a concept theologian Paul Tillich (1886–1965) developed extensively in his Systematic Theology.

Isaiah 43:10 is particularly important in Christian theology, where it's often read as a defense of monotheism against both polytheism and later heresies Isaiah 43:10. The early church councils — Nicaea (325 CE) in particular — wrestled with questions about whether the Son was 'before' the Father or co-eternal. The orthodox conclusion was that the Trinity is co-eternal: no person of the Godhead precedes another.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) offered perhaps the most enduring Christian response to the question. In his Confessions, he argued that time itself is a created thing — God didn't exist 'in' time before creation; rather, time began with creation. So asking 'what was before God?' is, on this view, grammatically possible but philosophically incoherent. There was no 'before' at all.

It's worth noting that some process theologians, like Alfred North Whitehead and his theological interpreter Charles Hartshorne, have challenged classical Christian eternalism, arguing God exists within time and is genuinely affected by creation. This remains a minority position, but it shows the question isn't entirely settled even within Christianity.

Islam's answer is equally definitive. The Qur'an repeatedly emphasizes that Allah is Al-Awwal — 'the First' — with nothing preceding Him. Surah 57:3 states this directly, though it isn't in our retrieved passages. What we do have is Surah 19:67, which frames human existence itself as a demonstration of God's creative power: man was 'nothing' before God created him Quran 19:67. If humanity was nothing before God's creative act, the implication is clear — only God existed in that prior state.

Classical Islamic theology, particularly the Ash'ari school developed by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936 CE), holds that God is qadim — eternal and without beginning. This is one of the foundational attributes (sifat) in Islamic creedal theology. Nothing is co-eternal with God; the universe was created from nothing (ex nihilo), meaning there was no pre-existing matter, no rival deity, no chaos — nothing.

The Mu'tazilite school, an earlier rationalist tradition, debated whether God's attributes were eternal alongside Him, but even they didn't posit any external reality preceding God. The question 'what was before God?' would be considered in Islamic theology a misunderstanding of God's nature — He is outside time, and time is itself a feature of creation. Scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr has written extensively on how Islamic metaphysics, like its Abrahamic counterparts, treats divine eternity as categorically different from temporal existence.

Jewish scripture affirms God’s eternal existence: “from eternity to eternity You are God,” which leaves no state “before” God’s being Psalms 90:2.

It also declares, “before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Me,” denying any prior or subsequent deity and thus excluding anything “before” God in a divine sense Isaiah 43:10.

Proverbs speaks of Wisdom’s role “at the beginning of God’s course,” indicating an order of creation, but this does not contradict God’s eternity already stated Proverbs 8:22Psalms 90:2.

Christians read the shared scripture to assert God’s eternity: “from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,” which implies that no reality precedes God Psalms 90:2.

They also cite, “before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me,” as ruling out any deity prior to God, answering that nothing divine was “before” Him Isaiah 43:10.

These passages ground the classical Christian view that God’s life doesn’t begin or end, even as creation itself has a beginning in time Psalms 90:2Isaiah 43:10.

The Qur’an passage cited here reminds humans that God created them when they were nothing, emphasizing God’s creative priority over creatures rather than explicitly stating what, if anything, was “before” God Quran 19:67.

The verse’s focus is human origin—“We created him before, while he was nothing”—which underscores God as the source, without detailing a state prior to God’s existence in this text Quran 19:67.