The Creator can only be one. It is not possible for there to be two creators then for there to be stability in the universe, because one of them would dominate the other, and thus become the only lord, as Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Allah has not taken any son, nor has there ever been with Him any deity. [If there had been], then each deity would have taken what it created, and some of them would have sought to overcome others. Exalted is Allah above what they describe [concerning Him]”
[al-Mu’minoon 23:91].
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his Tafseer:
That is, if we assume that there were a number of gods, each of them would keep control of what he had created, so there would be no order in the universe. But what we see is that the universe is in perfect order and harmony; both the upper and lower realms are connected to one another in the most perfect manner. “You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency” [al-Mulk 67:3].
Moreover, each of them would seek to suppress the others and oppose them, and thus some of them would overcome others. End quote.
Perhaps another ignorant person might say: If Allah is a thing, then He is included in his words (interpretation of the meaning): “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is, over all things, Disposer of affairs” [az-Zumar 39:62].
We say in response: Allah is the Creator of every created thing; as for Allah, He is the Creator, and the Creator cannot be created, for if He were created and made, and controlled, then the one who created and made Him would be the Creator instead of Him, and that one would be “God”!
If we assume that this second one were himself created, then he would not be a Creator either – and so on and so forth, until the matter – according to common sense, proper reasoning and logic – would lead to one Creator who is the necessary being, the thing-in-itself, who is not preceded by nonexistence and will never cease to be. He alone is the Creator, and everything besides Him is created by Him and controlled by His might. Such is the only Creator. This is what is known by people of faith, that he is “God”, the One, the Only, the Eternal.
Similarly, if someone were to say that Allah exists and everything that exists was created by Allah,
we say: everything that exists is created; Allah created it and it is impossible that the Creator could be created, as mentioned above.
To sum up, the words “thing” (shay’) and “being” (mawjood) are common descriptions that may refer to the Eternal (Allah) and that which is brought into being, to the Creator and that which is created.
When these words are used in general terms, no wise person would understand them as meaning that the Creator created Himself on the grounds that He is a “thing” and a “being” (something that exists) because it is impossible that the Creator would create Himself; that would be combining two contradictory things, combining a Creator who never did not exist and a created thing that once did not exist.