Short answer
No. Yin and yang describe how things change, but not why anything exists. In Chinese thought they are two sides of qi, the breath or energy in all things. Yin is the dark, inactive side, and yang the bright, active side. Their turns are said to make the course of things. But a pattern of change is not its cause. The classics themselves put something before yin and yang: the Tao (the Way), or the Supreme Ultimate (taiji). And qi, with its two sides and countless shapes, has parts, so it depends on something else. Islam's answer is the Creator, who needs nothing and has no equal: "there is none like unto Him" (112:4). He made all things "in proportion and measure" (54:49). A pattern does not speak or command. He does: He sends guidance through His messengers (87:3; 42:51).
Full explanation
What yin and yang are
Yin and yang are a very old Chinese way of speaking about change. Yin is the dark, inactive side of things, and yang the bright, active side. The Yijing (Yi King), the Book of Changes, is one of the Confucian classics. One of its appendices says that "the successive movement of the inactive and active operations" makes "the course (of things)". James Legge translated it in 1882. In his note he explains that the two are "really one and the same ether, in a twofold condition". Chinese writers call this ether qi (Legge's khî), a word for breath or vital energy. The Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) speaks of the same idea in chapter 42. There Legge's "the Obscurity", "the Brightness" and "the Breath of Vacancy" render yin, yang and qi.
“The successive movement of the inactive and active operations constitutes what is called the course (of things).”
“He supposes a constant change from rest to movement and from movement to rest, through which all things are formed, now still, now in motion, now expanding, now contracting. It is customary to speak of two forms of an original ether as the two elementary principles, but they are really one and the same ether, in a twofold condition, with a twofold action.”
“All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy.”
The classics themselves look behind yin and yang
The appendix also says: "in (the system of) the Yî there is the Grand Terminus, which produced the two elementary Forms". Here it speaks of the book's figures: the Forms are the whole and broken lines that stand for yang and yin. Legge writes "the Grand Terminus" for taiji; others say the Supreme Ultimate. Later Chinese readers took it as the source of yin and yang themselves. Chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching begins: "The Tao produced One; One produced Two". Legge believed the Two are yin and yang, and the One the first ether they come from. So in this book too, yin and yang are not first: the Tao (the Way) is before them. Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073), a Confucian thinker, later wrote a short essay on the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate. In it the Supreme Ultimate moves and produces yang. At the limit of movement there is rest, and rest produces yin. Yin and yang, he says, are one Supreme Ultimate. Legge also notes that many Chinese scholars read "the course" in the Yi King as a reason that guides yin and yang. Legge himself did not accept that reading. Still, the tradition did not stop at yin and yang. It asked what lies behind them.
“Therefore in (the system of) the Yî there is the Grand Terminus, which produced the two elementary Forms.”
“The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things.”
In his note on chapter 42, Legge says the first paragraph seems to give an account of how the world came to be. He reports several Chinese readings of the One, the Two and the Three, including one in which the One is the first ether and the Two its yin and yang. From the mention of yin and yang that follows, Legge himself believes the Two are these two qualities in the first ether, which would be the One. He does not guess what the Three are.
In Zhou Dunyi's short essay, the Supreme Ultimate (taiji) moves and produces yang. When movement reaches its limit there is rest, and rest produces yin. When rest reaches its limit, movement returns, so each is the root of the other. Yin and yang give rise to the five phases (water, fire, wood, metal and earth), and from them all things are produced, without end. The five phases are one yin and yang, and yin and yang are one Supreme Ultimate. Of all things, man alone receives the finest part and is the most aware. When his nature is stirred, good and evil part. The sage settles human affairs by the mean, correctness, humaneness (ren) and rightness (yi), with stillness as the chief thing, and so sets up the standard for man. The gentleman who cultivates it has good fortune; the petty man who goes against it has misfortune.
“It is attempted, however, by many native scholars and by some sinologists, to give to tao, the last character in that paragraph, the meaning of 'reason,' that which intelligently guides and directs the movements of the two elements.”
Common ground: the world has an order
Chinese thought sees an order in the world. Summer follows winter, and growth follows decay. Islam agrees that the world is not chaos: "all things have We created in proportion and measure". But yin and yang name that order; they do not explain it. A calendar tells us when the rains come. It does not make them fall. To say that things turn from yin to yang tells us how change goes. It does not tell us why there is change at all. Nor does it tell us why change keeps to a pattern rather than none.
“Verily, all things have We created in proportion and measure.”
“The successive movement of the inactive and active operations constitutes what is called the course (of things).”
“He supposes a constant change from rest to movement and from movement to rest, through which all things are formed, now still, now in motion, now expanding, now contracting. It is customary to speak of two forms of an original ether as the two elementary principles, but they are really one and the same ether, in a twofold condition, with a twofold action.”
Qi in two states cannot be the first
In Chinese thought yin and yang are not two things but one qi in two states. Legge explains that the writer of the appendix supposes "a constant change from rest to movement and from movement to rest". So qi, as the classics describe it, divides into two sides and gathers into countless things. It has parts, and a thing made of parts depends on its parts. Qi also comes in certain kinds and keeps to a certain order. Each of these could have been different, and nothing in qi shows that it must exist. So qi holds its existence on loan, however long it has lasted. The page "Why is there something rather than nothing?" sets out this argument in full. The One who is first needs nothing, has no parts, and is one. Qi in two states is not that. The Qur'an asks: "Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators?" Elsewhere it says: "It is ye that have need of Allah: but Allah is the One Free of all wants".
“He supposes a constant change from rest to movement and from movement to rest, through which all things are formed, now still, now in motion, now expanding, now contracting. It is customary to speak of two forms of an original ether as the two elementary principles, but they are really one and the same ether, in a twofold condition, with a twofold action.”
Divides all that exists into what is only possible in itself (mumkin al-wujud), which needs a cause, and what is necessary in itself (wajib al-wujud), which needs none. Argues that a chain of possible things, however long, needs a necessary being outside it, and that this being is one and has no parts.
“Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, they have no firm belief.”
“O ye men! It is ye that have need of Allah: but Allah is the One Free of all wants, worthy of all praise.”
A pattern points beyond itself, but it does not speak
Yin and yang tell us what happens. On their own they do not give us a law to live by. Confucian thinkers did draw a moral path from them. The Yi King's appendix says that goodness follows from their movement. Zhou Dunyi says the sage set up humaneness and rightness as the standard for people. But the pattern did not say this; a sage did, reading the pattern. Whose reading binds us, and who will judge us by it? A pattern can be followed. It cannot speak, give a command, make a promise, or answer anyone who calls on it. The Qur'an treats the order of the world as a sign that points to its Maker. It even points from the rain that revives dead earth to the Resurrection: "even so (will be) the Resurrection!" And the Lord who gave order also gave guidance. He "hath created, and further, given order and proportion; Who hath ordained laws. And granted guidance". He sends that guidance in words, through His messengers.
“That which ensues as the result (of their movement) is goodness; that which shows it in its completeness is the natures (of men and things).”
In Zhou Dunyi's short essay, the Supreme Ultimate (taiji) moves and produces yang. When movement reaches its limit there is rest, and rest produces yin. When rest reaches its limit, movement returns, so each is the root of the other. Yin and yang give rise to the five phases (water, fire, wood, metal and earth), and from them all things are produced, without end. The five phases are one yin and yang, and yin and yang are one Supreme Ultimate. Of all things, man alone receives the finest part and is the most aware. When his nature is stirred, good and evil part. The sage settles human affairs by the mean, correctness, humaneness (ren) and rightness (yi), with stillness as the chief thing, and so sets up the standard for man. The gentleman who cultivates it has good fortune; the petty man who goes against it has misfortune.
“It is Allah Who sends forth the Winds, so that they raise up the Clouds, and We drive them to a land that is dead, and revive the earth therewith after its death: even so (will be) the Resurrection!”
“Glorify the name of thy Guardian-Lord Most High, Who hath created, and further, given order and proportion; Who hath ordained laws. And granted guidance;”
“It is not fitting for a man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by the sending of a messenger to reveal, with Allah's permission, what Allah wills: for He is Most High, Most Wise.”
The Maker of every order, and none like Him
Islam does not say that God (﷾) is the bright side, or the strong side, of anything. He is not one of two forces, and not a force inside the world. "Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs." He "created all things, and ordered them in due proportions". He holds the heavens and the earth, so that they do not fail. He is the One and Only, who does not beget and was not begotten, "And there is none like unto Him". He is the First and the Last.
“Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs.”
“He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.”
“It is Allah Who sustains the heavens and the earth, lest they cease (to function): and if they should fail, there is none - not one - can sustain them thereafter: Verily He is Most Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving.”
“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
“He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things.”
The One who speaks, and a whole way of life
God (﷾) does not leave people to guess His law from the seasons. He speaks to people by inspiration, from behind a veil, or through a messenger. The Qur'an is His speech, and it invites a test. Muhammad (ﷺ) was sent to all people, and he is the last of the prophets. Islam is not only a belief about how the world began. It is a complete way of life (deen), with belief, worship, law, family and character together. The page "What is Islam?" shows it whole. Read the Qur'an, test it, and ask whether Muhammad (ﷺ) is the last messenger God (﷾) sent.
“It is not fitting for a man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by the sending of a messenger to reveal, with Allah's permission, what Allah wills: for He is Most High, Most Wise.”
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.”
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
“Say: "O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who believeth in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided."”
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
“This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”
“O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowed enemy.”
Reply by reply
James Legge, The Yi King (SBE 16), 1882, note on Appendix III, Section I, ch. V — p. 357
“He supposes a constant change from rest to movement and from movement to rest, through which all things are formed, now still, now in motion, now expanding, now contracting. It is customary to speak of two forms of an original ether as the two elementary principles, but they are really one and the same ether, in a twofold condition, with a twofold action.”
Cited for
Yin and yang are one qi in two states, and all things are formed by its movement and rest. Qi has always been, so it needs no maker.
The response
Qi, as the classics describe it, divides into two sides and gathers into every thing, so it has parts. It keeps to certain kinds and a certain order, and each could have been different. So it holds its existence on loan, however long it has lasted. Chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching also puts the Tao before the One and the Two. Only One who needs nothing can stand first: "Allah is the One Free of all wants" (35:15).
Where it lands — Qi has parts and holds its existence on loan. The first must need nothing, and the Qur'an names Him.
Commentary on the Zhuangzi (Zhuangzi zhu), on chapter 2
Guo Xiang, the standard early commentator on the Zhuangzi, explains the "piping of Heaven" in chapter 2. What does not exist cannot produce what exists, and what has not yet come into being cannot produce anything. So who produces things? They simply come about of themselves. Things are so of themselves (ziran), and "Heaven" is only a name for this. At the end of the chapter he asks whether the maker of things exists. If it does not, it cannot make things; if it does, it is not enough to give form to them all. So the maker of things has no master: each thing makes itself, and depends on nothing outside.
Cited for
Guo Xiang said things are so of themselves. Nothing makes them; each thing comes about of itself. If a maker existed, it would be one more thing, and not enough to shape them all.
The response
Guo Xiang himself says that what has not yet come into being cannot produce anything. So a thing cannot make itself. To come about "of itself" then means to come about with no cause at all. Yet each thing comes in a certain kind and shape, which could have been different, so its existence is on loan. The Qur'an puts that very choice: "Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators?" (52:35). And the Maker is not one more thing among things, needing help to shape them: "there is none like unto Him" (112:4).
Where it lands — Nothing makes itself, and nothing comes from no cause. The Maker is not one more thing among things.
Tao Te Ching 2 — Daodejing, chapter 2, paragraph 2
“So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one (the idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the one the figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another; and that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.”
Cited for
The Tao Te Ching says existence and non-existence give birth to each other. Every thing has its opposite. So a God with no opposite and no equal cannot be.
The response
Wang Bi says beauty and ugliness are what the human heart likes and dislikes. In each pair of chapter 2, he says, neither side can be held up alone. Legge's brackets add that each gives rise to "(the idea of)" the other. These are ideas of things within the world, each known beside its opposite. The same book says the Tao was "standing alone, and undergoing no change" (25). God (﷾) is not one of those things: "there is none like unto Him" (112:4).
Where it lands — Opposites belong to things in the world. The Tao Te Ching itself has the Tao stand alone, and the Creator is not one side of a contrast.
Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate (Taijitu shuo)
In Zhou Dunyi's short essay, the Supreme Ultimate (taiji) moves and produces yang. When movement reaches its limit there is rest, and rest produces yin. When rest reaches its limit, movement returns, so each is the root of the other. Yin and yang give rise to the five phases (water, fire, wood, metal and earth), and from them all things are produced, without end. The five phases are one yin and yang, and yin and yang are one Supreme Ultimate. Of all things, man alone receives the finest part and is the most aware. When his nature is stirred, good and evil part. The sage settles human affairs by the mean, correctness, humaneness (ren) and rightness (yi), with stillness as the chief thing, and so sets up the standard for man. The gentleman who cultivates it has good fortune; the petty man who goes against it has misfortune.
Cited for
Zhou Dunyi already answered the question. The Supreme Ultimate gives rise to yang and yin, and through them to all things. A Confucian needs nothing more, least of all a God who speaks.
The response
Then the tradition itself says yin and yang are not everything. Zhu Xi, Zhou's standard reader, says the Supreme Ultimate is principle (li), riding on movement and rest. He also says principle makes nothing. In the essay, the standard for people is set by the sage, a human being. The Supreme Ultimate itself gives no command. The Qur'an speaks of the Lord who created, gave order, "ordained laws. And granted guidance" (87:1-3).
Where it lands — In the essay the measure of right is set by a sage. The Qur'an names the Maker who gives both the order and the law.
Perspectives
What the classics say about yin and yang
The classics describe yin and yang as two states of one qi, whose turns make the course of things. They also look behind them, to the Tao or to the Supreme Ultimate.
The Yi King's appendix says the successive movement of the inactive and active operations makes the course of things. Legge explains that the two are one ether in a twofold condition.
In chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching, the Tao produced the One, and the One the Two. Legge takes the Two to be yin and yang.
The Yi King's appendix describes its own system. In it, the Grand Terminus (taiji) produced the two elementary Forms, the lines for yang and yin. Zhou Dunyi later wrote that the Supreme Ultimate moves and rests, and so produces yang and yin.
Taoist: yin, yang and qi are enough
Many readers of the Tao Te Ching hold that the world moves by yin and yang within one qi. It comes from the Tao, with no Maker who wills. Opposites give rise to each other, and a life in balance with them is enough.
Yin and yang are one qi in two states, and all things are formed by its movement and rest. Qi has always been, and needs no maker.
Rebuttal
Qi, as the classics describe it, divides into two sides and gathers into countless things, so it has parts. It keeps to certain kinds and a certain order, which could have been different. So it holds its existence on loan, however long it has lasted. Only One who needs nothing can be first: "Allah is the One Free of all wants" (35:15).
The Tao is the source of yin and yang. The book says it stands alone and undergoes no change. So it borrows nothing, and needs no maker.
Rebuttal
Then yin and yang are not everything, and the search has led past them to a First. The question is who that First is. The book says, "I do not know its name" (25), and it never has the Tao speak or command. Yet beings who know came from that First. The Qur'an asks: "Should He not know,- He that created?" (67:14). God (﷾) knows what He made, and He speaks to His messengers (42:51).
Guo Xiang said nothing makes things. What does not exist cannot produce anything, so each thing comes about of itself. Things are so of themselves (ziran), and the maker of things has no master.
Rebuttal
Guo Xiang himself says that what has not yet come into being cannot produce anything. So nothing makes itself, and "of itself" can only mean with no cause at all. Yet each thing comes in a certain kind and shape, which could have been different, so its existence is on loan. The Qur'an puts that very choice: "Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators?" (52:35). The Maker is not one more thing among things: "there is none like unto Him" (112:4).
Each thing comes with its opposite. Chapter 2 says existence and non-existence give birth to each other. So nothing stands alone, not even God.
Rebuttal
Wang Bi says beauty and ugliness are what the human heart likes and dislikes. In each of the six pairs, he says, neither side can be held up alone. These are ideas of things within the world, each known beside its opposite. The same book says the Tao was "standing alone, and undergoing no change" (25). And God (﷾) is not one thing set against another: "there is none like unto Him" (112:4).
Balance is all we need. A life in harmony with yin and yang is a good life, and nothing more is required.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that God (﷾) made all things "in proportion and measure" (54:49). But balance by whose measure? The Lord who gave order also "granted guidance" (87:3). He speaks to people through His messengers (42:51).
Confucian: the Supreme Ultimate is behind yin and yang
Since the Song period, many Confucian thinkers have held that the Supreme Ultimate stands behind yin and yang. A Confucian reader may say this is enough, with no need for a God who wills and speaks.
Zhou Dunyi taught that the Supreme Ultimate moves and rests, and so gives rise to yang and yin. Through them it gives rise to all things. A Confucian may say that this explains the world, with no need for a God who wills and speaks.
Rebuttal
Then yin and yang are not everything; Zhou Dunyi himself looked behind them. Zhu Xi, his standard reader, said the Supreme Ultimate is principle (li), riding on movement and rest. He also said that principle has no intentions, makes no plans, and makes nothing. A principle that makes nothing cannot be what brings the world into being. The Qur'an names the One who does: He "created all things, and ordered them in due proportions" (25:2).
The course in the Yi King is a reason that guides yin and yang. Many Chinese scholars read it so, and that reason is enough.
Rebuttal
Then something stands behind yin and yang, as you say. If that reason knows and wills, it is a Maker, not a pattern. If it does not know, it cannot be the source of beings that know. "Should He not know,- He that created?" (67:14).
The Islamic perspective
Yin and yang describe how things change, not why they exist. Allah (﷾) created all things in measure, holds them in being, needs nothing, and has no equal. He gave the world its order and gave people guidance.
A pattern of change describes how things go. It does not explain why there is change, or why it keeps an order.
Whatever is made of parts, or limited, holds its existence on loan. Only One who needs nothing, and has no parts, can be first.
Allah (﷾) is the Creator of all things. He ordered them in due proportions and holds the heavens and the earth.
Allah (﷾) is One, does not beget and was not begotten, and there is none like Him. He is the First and the Last.
The order of the world is a sign that points to its Maker. The Lord who gave all things their order also gave guidance, and He speaks to people through His messengers.
Islam is a complete way of life. Muhammad (ﷺ) was sent to all people, and the Qur'an invites everyone to test it.