Member-only story
Academic Essays
To Infinity and Beyond? Exploring the Kalām Cosmological Argument
Dating back over a millennium, the Kalām Cosmological Argument is a foundational proof for God used across all Abrahamic faiths. Here, we deep-dive into its main argument of temporal generation, and whether infinity actually exists.
The existence of God has been widely discussed amongst philosophers and theologians since the times of Plato and Aristotle in an attempt to answer the universal question — “Why do we exist?” For those of faith, proof of God’s existence cements and validates their belief. Whilst there are many theories for the necessity of a Creator, arguably the most significant is that of the Kalām Cosmological Argument. Divided into two categories: huduth (temporal generation) and imkan (contingency), the imkan argument began to fall out of favour following the publication of al-Ghazali’s “Incoherence of the Philosophers” in 1095, despite the efforts and refutation of Ibn Rushd. The huduth arguments, which rest upon the finitude of time, and the question of the universe having a beginning, therefore came to the fore. Over the past fifty years there has been increased interest in the huduth arguments, and following…
