The Classical Islamic Arguments for the Existence of God (original) (raw)

Abstract

After Wensinck's brilliant study, 1 a fresh examination of the argument for the existence of God in Islam might appear impertinent. Some justification for the present discussion, however, may be found in the fact that some of the material on which this study is based was not available to Wensinck, when his monograph appeared in 1936, and in the slightly different interpretation of certain relevant data here attempted. The systematic examination of the proofs of the existence of God should be preceded by a legitimate enquiry: Is the demonstration of God's existence possible at all? In the Latin scholastic treatises of the Middle Ages, as for example in the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) this enquiry figures as the prelude to the demonstration of God's existence proper. Although Wensinck has discussed some aspects of the problem of knowledge (erkenntnislehre) in his celebrated Muslim Creed, 2 he does not touch upon this particular aspect of the problem in his monograph, except incidentally, as, for example, in connection with Al-*KD]OL ¶V DWWLWXGH WR WKH TXHVWLRQ RI *RG ¶V H[LVWHQFH 3 But this question, it would seem, requires a fuller treatment than is accorded it in that parenthesis. In his two little tracts; Fasl al-0DTO and al-Kashf 'an Manahij al-Adillah, Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) raises this question in a systematic way. In the former tract, he is concerned with a wider problem: viz. Whether the philosophical method tallies with the teaching of revelation or not-to which he replies in the affirmative. "for if the aim of philosophy," he writes, "is nothing other than the consideration of existing things and their examination, in so far as they manifest the Creator-viz. in so far as they created objects… revelation (al-shar') definitely enjoins the

Figures (1)

3. Let us imagine a portion of the series of effects extending from the last effect (L) to infinity and consisting of five segments. Let us next imagine another portion extending from the fifth segment to infinity.

3. Let us imagine a portion of the series of effects extending from the last effect (L) to infinity and consisting of five segments. Let us next imagine another portion extending from the fifth segment to infinity.

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References (1)

  1. Cf. on this question a discussion by the author on the eternity of the world in Maimonides, Averroes and Aquinas, in Les Museon, 1953, LXVI, pp. 139 f. Usul, p. 33. Cf. 7DPK¯G, Cairo, 1947, p. 42, Cp. 0DTOW S ZKHUH YHUVHV DQG RI WKH 4XU ¶Q DUH quoted in support of the thesis that accidents are perishable by nature. Cf. 8VÌO, p. 56 and 7DKIXW, p. 88. For a full discussion on this subject see my article in Al-Mashriq, 47, 1953, pp. 151-172, and Pines, Isalmische Atomanlehere, Berlin, 1936. Bk. I, Cairo, 1317 A. H., pp. 3 f. Some of Ibn Hazm's arguments figure in a treatise by the philosopher Al-.LQG¯G " HQWLWOHG ³2Q the Unity of God and the Finitude of the Body of the Universe". Cf. 5DV ¶LO DO.LQG¯DO Falsafiyyah, Cairo, 1950, pp. 201 ff. 7DE\¯Q .GKLE DO0XIDWDU¯, Damascus, 1347 A.H., p. 128.