After the publication of William Lane Craig, ‘The Kalam Cosmological Argument’ in 2000, the discussion of classical Muslims scholars’ arguments on the existence of God has attracted many contemporary students. In his book Craig discusses Al-Kindi’s cosmological argument on the existence of God. He suggests that Kalam cosmological argument also survives the objections of Hume and Kant. In this paper, however, I would like to introduce another type of cosmological argument based on the concept of …
Read moreAfter the publication of William Lane Craig, ‘The Kalam Cosmological Argument’ in 2000, the discussion of classical Muslims scholars’ arguments on the existence of God has attracted many contemporary students. In his book Craig discusses Al-Kindi’s cosmological argument on the existence of God. He suggests that Kalam cosmological argument also survives the objections of Hume and Kant. In this paper, however, I would like to introduce another type of cosmological argument based on the concept of analogy by another Muslim rationalist scholar, Al-Qadi ‘Abd Al-Jabbar. In his arguments ‘Abd Al-Jabbar rejects the philosophers’ view that God is the cause of the universe, since that will imply the eternity of the world, one of the justifications used by al-Ghazali to discredit Muslim philosophers in his Tahafut Al-Falasifah. Hence, ‘Abd Al-Jabbar in his arguments mainly depends on the concept of action.