living islam _ Islamic tradition

Majid Fakhry

Is the demonstration of God's existence possible at all?
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Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) raises this question in a systematic way.
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In Fasl al-Maqal and al-Kashf 'an Manahij al-Adillah he asserts that philosophy can concord with the teaching of revelation, he says,
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"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, revelation (al-shar') definitely enjoins the consideration of existing things and commends it"[4] ­ a thesis which he supports by a wealth of Quranic quotations.
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Al-Ghazali's major contribution to the discussion of the problem at issue was twofold. In the first place, he brought out in a very forcible way the radical opposition between the teaching of Islam and the Aristotelian conception of a universe developing itself eternally and everlastingly; and in the second place, he gave added point to the arguments already advanced by the Mutakallims, by amplifying and perfecting them. Wensinck's stress on the bipolarity in the thought of Al-Ghazali, the mystic, and Al-Ghazali, the theologian,[37] is perfectly justified.
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