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Pre-eternity of the world

In the centuries preceding Averroes, there had been a debate between Muslim thinkers questioning whether the world was created at a specific moment in time or whether it has always existed. Neo-Platonic philosophers such as Al-Farabi and Avicenna argued the world has always existed. This view was criticized by the mutakallimin (philosophers and theologians) of the Ashʾari tradition; in particular, al-Ghazali wrote an extensive refutation of the pre-eternity doctrine in his The Incoherence of the Philosophers and accused the Neoplatonists of unbelief (kufr).

Averroes responded to Al-Ghazali in his Incoherence of the Incoherence. He argued first that the differences between the two positions were not vast enough to warrant the charge of unbelief. He also said the pre-eternity doctrine did not necessarily contradict the Quran and cited verses that mention pre-existing "throne" and "water" in passages related to creation. Averroes argued that a careful reading of the Quran implied only the "form" of the universe was created in time but that its existence has been eternal. Averroes further criticized the mutakallimin for using their interpretations of scripture to answer questions that should have been left to philosophers.