mohsen izadi; seyyed mohammad javad seyyd hashemi; Ali Badpa
Abstract
The issue of temporal creation has been a point of divergence among Islamic philosophers and theologians. Adhering to the superficial meaning of sacred texts, Islamic theologians have often argued for temporal creation of the whole universe, including the worlds of angles and nature and on the opposite ...
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The issue of temporal creation has been a point of divergence among Islamic philosophers and theologians. Adhering to the superficial meaning of sacred texts, Islamic theologians have often argued for temporal creation of the whole universe, including the worlds of angles and nature and on the opposite side, Islamic philosophers have insisted on essential creation of the non-materials and the basic material. Mulla Sadra also believes in the eternity of the world, but tries to propose his theory in such a way that it would not be in opposition with the superficial meaning of Quranic verses and Islamic hadith (temporal creation), using especially his own ideas like “substantial motion”. The present article is an attempt to collect Mulla Sadra’s views on the verses and hadith he has cited in his work pertaining to temporal creation and to compare them to the views of theologians. Although the superficial meaning of the verses and hadiths shows that the world starts from inexistence, there is no clear affirmation of the temporal creation of the whole universe or its creation from non-existence. Considering time as existing independent of the world not only creates problems in reasoning, it is also not in consistent with the superficial meaning of the Quranic verses and hadith.
