Al-Ghazali`s concept of causality with reference to his interpretations of reality of knowledge

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine al-Ghazali’s concept of causality from the perspective of his understanding of reality and knowledge. Two important themes around which al-Ghazali’s concept of causality revolves are the concept of the reality of thing and the manner of our understanding of that reality. These concepts are two important elements in the Islamic worldview that require metaphysical and epistemological approach. In the second chapter the discussion traces the conceptual background of causality in Islamic intellectual tradition, from the Qur’anic notion to the discourse in kalÉm and falsafah. This is to explicate the problem of causality inherited by al-Ghazali. The exposition on al-Ghazali’s concept of reality, is presented in chapter three. The fourth chapter elaborates al-Ghazali’s concept of knowledge that covers the meaning, the nature, the method of attainment and the concept of certainty of knowledge. In Chapter five, the explication focuses on the concept of causality with reference to al-Ghazali’s concept of reality, delineated in the chapter three. Causality is viewed as a part of divine acts of continuous creation and annihilation (dawÉm altajaddud wa dawÉm al-in‘idÉm). What he actually denies is the mode of connection (wajh al-iqtirÉn) and not the connection itself (nafs al-iqtirÉn). It is because the mode of connection is empirically unproved. Therefore, the causal nexus is conceded only within the mental reality and not in ontological reality. The issue of knowledge based on such a mode of causal connection is delineated in chapter six. Al-Ghazali admits the demonstrative science of the falÉsifah as the tool for the attainment of knowledge, but in so far as it accords with his principle of causality. Here he distinguishes between knowledge of reasoned fact and that of the fact. The former could be attained through qiyÉs al-‘illah and burhÉn lima, while the latter could be achieved by qiyÉs al-dilÉlah and burhÉn inna. The knowledge attained from those methods could provide certainty. This study arrives at the conclusion that al-Ghazzali’s concept of causality is based on the principle that causation in the natural phenomena is contingent reality related ontologically to Absolute reality, and hence it is not necessary. Causal nexus as a mental reality is certain, but not necessarily so in external reality. The whole breadth of al-Ghazali’s concept causality is an attempt to place philosophical and scientific knowledge within the ambit of revealed knowledge and not an affront to it.