A Historical Analysis of the Issue of the Temporal Coming into Being and Eternity of Universe in the History of Islamic Theology

he issue of temporal eternity and coming into being of the universe deals with the question whether the universe existed from the pre-eternity or has had a temporal beginning, which have long discussed by Muslim and non-Muslim. The present paper conducts a historical analysis of the issue in the history of theology with emphasis on views of the most famous theologians from different schools. It seems that the history of this issue dates back to ancient Greece and it has been discussed in the history of theology since its beginning. Although it is thought that theologians have unanimously emphasized on the temporal coming into being of the universe, the historical reanalysis of the issue shows theologian's different approaches in this regard.