Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his Companions. To proceed:
It is not permissible to say: “Allah created Himself.” This is a false and unacceptable statement, because Allah Almighty is the Creator, and everything other than Him is created.
Allah, Glorified and Exalted, is not created. He has no beginning, nor was He preceded by nonexistence. Rather, He is the First, and there is nothing before Him. Allah says:
“He is the First and the Last.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“O Allah, You are the First, and there is nothing before You; and You are the Last, and there is nothing after You.”
The statement “He created Himself” is self-contradictory, because a creator must exist before the act of creating, whereas something created is nonexistent and then comes into existence. Therefore, saying “He created Himself” would imply that He was both existent and nonexistent at the same time, which is impossible.
This whispering is similar to the question of Satan that the Prophet ﷺ warned about when he said:
“Satan comes to one of you and says: ‘Who created such and such?’ until he says: ‘Who created your Lord?’ If he reaches that point, let him seek refuge in Allah and stop.”
Therefore, when such whisperings occur, one should seek refuge in Allah, stop thinking about them, and not continue dwelling on them.
As for describing Allah as eternal, without beginning or end, there is no problem with this meaning if what is intended is:
Without beginning: He has no beginning.
Without end: He has no end.
However, it is preferable to use the expressions found in the Quran and Sunnah, so we say:
Allah is the First and the Last.
These expressions are more complete, precise, and excellent.
There is no difficulty in saying that time itself is created. When we say that Allah has no beginning, we mean that He was not preceded by nonexistence. We do not mean that He is subject to time or dependent upon it. Rather, Allah is the Creator of time and space, and He, Glorified and Exalted, is completely free of any need for His creation.
Conclusion
It is not permissible to say: “Allah created Himself.”
Allah is the Creator, and everything other than Him is created.
The statement “He created Himself” is contradictory and false.
The correct expression is: Allah is the First, and there is nothing before Him; and He is the Last, and there is nothing after Him.
It is permissible in meaning to describe Allah as eternal, without beginning or end, but the expressions of the Quran and Sunnah are preferable.
Time and space are created, and Allah, Glorified and Exalted, is their Creator and has no need of them.
And Allah knows best.