Indeed, everything else besides Allah is false

أصدق كلمة قالها الشاعر ، كلمة لبيد : ألا كل شيء ما خلا الله باطل ، وكاد أمية بن أبي الصلت أن يسلم

Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said,”The most truthful word spoken by a poet was the word of Labeed (رضي الله عنه):

Indeed, everything else besides Allah is false;…

Sahih Bukhari

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyya said that this hadith illustrates the point that Allah is the ultimate truth and needs to be known above all things.

Labeed (رضي الله عنه) was a pagan at the time of writing of this poem but later on accepted islam. His couplets are as follows:

ألا كل شيء ما خلا الله باطل

Indeed, everything else besides Allah is false;

وكل نعيم لا محالة زائل

And every pleasure without exception will end.

In Makkah, when Quraysh were at their worst in inflicting suffering on muslims, ‘Uthman Ibn Maz’oon (رضي الله عنه) had just returned from first hijrah of the muslims… While he was in the company of Qurayshite leaders, Labeed (رضي الله عنه) came to them and began to recite some of his poetry.

When Labeed (رضي الله عنه) recited,” Indeed, everything else besides Allah is false.” ‘Uthman (رضي الله عنه) said,”You have spoken the truth.” But when he recited,”And every pleasure without exception will end.” ‘Uthman said,” You have lied. The pleasures of Paradise do not end.”…

Imam Ibn Hajar Al Asqlani states that if the term baatil is taken to mean haalik (perish), then the pleasures of paradise are included. And everything else besides Allah can perish even if Allah created it for eternity afterwards.

[Fath al Bari]