Thread by @truthunveilled

Where was Allah before the creation Hadith -

Abu Razin (Rh) narrates:

قلت يا رسول الله أين كان ربنا قبل أن يخلق الخقلق قال كان من عما ما تحته هواء وما فوقه هواء ثم خلق عرشه على الماء

"I asked, Ya Rasulullah! Where was our Lord before creating the creation? He said, He was above a cloud, which was neither had

wind above nor below. Thereafter, he created the Arsh above the water.

وقال قال أحمد: قال يزيد العماء، أي ليس معه شيء

Imam Ahmad said: "Yazid (Ibn Harun said (about) 'Amaa (cloud): Meaning, there was nothing with Him."

جمع الفوائد 34/6

More below

Ibn Al Jawzi:

"Amaa" means "cloud". Furthermore, you should know that 'above' and 'below' in the Hadith in related to the cloud and not Allah. The preposition 'Fi' (i.e. in) means Fawqa (i.e. above), meaning "aboveness". Therefore, this Hadith means, Allah is/was above with His

regulation and authority above the clouds. When the human being gets used to the creation, it is natural that they ask themselves these questions. The cloud belongs to Allah's creation. If one asked the Prophet, Where was Allah before creating the cloud, he would have answered...

Allah existed and nothing existed with him, relating to that which was narrated from the Prophet:

كان الله ولا شيئ معه

Allah existed and nothing was with Him.

We are in agreement that there is no creature higher than Allah, or that Allah does not incarnate in any of it...and

that He is not forced by them. Because if Allah was incarnated in creation, then He would be from such thing."

-Daf' Shubah At Tashbih

قال الترمذي: ‌قال ‌يزيد: ‌العماء، ‌أي ‌ليس ‌معه ‌شيء

"

أخرجه الترمذي، وقال: قال أحمد (1) : ‌قال ‌يزيد (2) : «‌العماءُ: ‌أي ‌ليس ‌معه ‌شيء»

جامع الأصول 16/4

وقال الترمذي: " حدثنا أحمد بن منيع، أخبرنا يزيد بن هارون، أخبرنا حماد بن سلمة، عن يعلى بن عطاء، عن وكيع بن حدس (2) ، عن عمه أبي رزين، قال: قلت: يا رسول الله، أين كان ربنا، قبل أن يخلق خلقه؟ قال: كان في عماء، ما تحته هواء،

وما فوقه هواء، وخلق عرشه على الماء"، قال أحمد: " ‌قال ‌يزيد: ‌العماء، ‌أي ‌ليس ‌معه ‌شيء"

Besides the next comments made by Ibn Al Jawzi, this Hadith seemingly was weakened by Albani himself along a few others (according to what I've sighted), but graded Hassan by Imam Tirmidhi.