A Comparative Study of Proving the Creation or Antiquity of the World from the Viewpoint of Ghazali and Ibn Sina

The main objective of this study was to investigate the theory of Imam Mohammad Ghazali and Abu Ali Sina on one of the most ancient theological and philosophical issues in the field of Islamic thought, which is the creation and antiquity of the world, and also explaining how these scholars’ ideas have developed from time creation of the universe to the intrinsic and substantial creation of the natural world. Since Ibn Sina considered natural possibility as the criteria for cause and effect, the creation of the world in his view was intrinsic and did not contradict the antiquity of the universe. He believed the world was not its own cause, and needed a creator; therefore, it would occur, and as it did not have a beginning time, it was old. Contrary to Ghazali who believed there was a certain starting point for the universe and before that moment there had been nothing. He stated time and the universe were limited and it meant there would have been no infinity if we had gone either into the past or forward into the future. In his view God decided to create the world at a definite time and we do not need to ask about it.