the theory of temporal finitism was inspired by the doctrine of creation shared by the three abrahamic religions: judaism, christianity and islam. the christian philosopher, john philoponus, presented the philosophical arguments against the ancient greek notion of an infinite past. philoponus' arguments against an infinite past were used by the early muslim philosopher, al-kindi (alkindus); the jewish philosopher, saadia gaon (saadia ben joseph); and the muslim theologian, al-ghazali (algazel). they employed two logical arguments against an infinite past, the first being the "argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite", which states: