Tahafut_al-Tahafut-transl-Engl-van-den-Bergh

movements which precede the present one are ended, their answer is
negative, for their assumption that they have no beginning implies their
endlessness. The opinion of the theologians that the philosophers admit
their end is erroneous, for they do not admit an end for what has no
beginning.’ It will be clear to you that neither the arguments of the
theologians for the temporal creation of the world of which Ghazali
speaks, nor the arguments of the philosophers which he includes and
describes in his book, suffice to reach absolute evidence or afford
stringent proof. And this is what we have tried to show in this book. The
best answer one can give to him who asks where in the past is the
starting-point of His acts, is: The starting-point of His acts is at the startingpoint
of His existence; for neither of them has a beginning.
And here is the passage of Ghazali in which he sets forth the defence of
the philosophers against the argument built on the difference in speed of
the celestial spheres, and his refutation of their argument.
Ghazali says:
If one says, ‘The error in your argument consists in your
considering those circular movements as an aggregate of
units, but those movements have no real existence, for the
past is no more and the future not yet; “aggregate” means
units existing in the present, but in this case there is no
existence.’
Then he says to refute this:
We answer: Number can be divided into even and
uneven; there is no third possibility, whether for the
numbered permanent reality, or for the numbered passing
event. Therefore whatever number we imagine, we must
believe it to be even or uneven, whether we regard it as
existent or non-existent; and if the thing numbered vanishes
from existence, our judgement of its being even or uneven
does not vanish or change.
I say:
This is the end of his argument. But this argument-that the numbered
thing must be judged as even or uneven, whether it exists or not-is only
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