Abstract

Along with the religious doctrines dealing somehow with the issue of temporal creation of the world, some philosophers mystics and theologians have also talked about the issue in proportion of the occasion. As regard to the creation, philosophers have proposed three meanings: essential, supra-temporal, and temporal. Along with these three, two other ones are set forth: the temporal creation of theologians and mystical creation of the mystics. Religious doctrines are more compatible with the temporal creation theory of Molla Sadra as to the material world, and with eternal creation theory of Mir Damad as to the incorporeal world. Peripatetic philosophers, transcendental philosophers, and theologians all have proposed the creation of the world on the basis of hierarchical unity theory and the consideration of dependent beings as independent. In this approach, the world cannot be considered as created, but rather as the expansion of the material word and the development of its potentialities into actuality. Having shed light on the concepts such as will, eternity, everlasting, creation, pre-existing and following the course of discussion based on the relation of dependent beings to the absolutely independent necessary being, we may propose a more coherently philosophical account of the issue. Thus by drawing a more comprehensive account from the Qur’an and the Sunna on the creation of the world, we may illustrate a better picture of the compatibility between religion and philosophy.