Sayeed Siddiqui
The problem of causality has vexed thinkers for millenia, but Islam has a simple solution: it relegates true causation to Allah alone, as an aspect of the core doctrine of tawhid, specifically tawhid al-af’al [the unity of God’s acts]. Later Sunni theologians propounded the doctrine of occasionalism, which clarifies the appearance of causality to humans while maintaining the world’s utter dependence on Allah, and some went even further in this vein, proposing the theory of tajaddud al-amthal [continuous re-creation of matter].
It serves to briefly examine the competing worldviews. Aristotle famously described the theory of the Four Causes which explained natural phenomena. The Islamic falasifa, most notable among them Ibn Sina, followed them in this. In this theory, causation is necessary; everything acts according to its intrinsic nature. The modern scientific worldview also holds a variation of this: although it does not subscribe to the Four Causes, it maintains necessary causation. This is called naturalism. Deism sought to reconcile belief in a God (though a stripped-down conception bereft of power, agency, and other attributes) with advancing knowledge of science through positing a “divine watchmaker” who merely designs and winds up the watch, which thereby proceeds on its own.
Christian theology historically accommodated much of Aristotle’s thought, but it also needed to accommodate miracles. The solution was the theory of supernaturalism, which is that although nature has intrinsic causation, God is more powerful than nature and can thus break the rules. Alternatively, they say God imbued nature with secondary causation in line with the essences of things, which is then necessary.
The Sunni doctrine is that of occasionalism, which is that Allah is the true cause of everything, and natural causation is an illusion. Ghazali famously illustrates with the example of fire burning cotton. We always observe that when cotton is brought to a flame, it burns, so we conclude that the fire causes burning. However, this is an unjustified inference, because we only observe the immediate occurrence of burning after the touching, but we can never observe the causation itself. This conclusion was echoed by the Scottish philosopher David Hume, centuries later. In reality, causation is not necessary but completely contingent and dependent on Allah.
The Quran is filled with verses which attribute true causation to Allah alone. Regarding birds, he says “None holds them up save Allah” (Nahl 79). Even regarding human action, he says “Nor was it you who threw when you threw, rather it was Allah who threw.” (Anfal 17). What we observe as causation is the Habit of Allah, in that He usually follows the touching with burning out of His Free Will. He does this in His Wisdom, to fashion an intelligible universe for human beings to demonstrate their free will. Even burning at one moment does not necessarily cause burning in the next; rather, each moment of burning is created directly by Allah. In this way, accidents (such as the burning in this case) never persist more than an instantaneous moment; they are continuously re-created by Allah at every moment.
The Sufis took this doctrine one step further with the theory of tajaddud al-amthal: the continuous re-creation of substances. According to them, it is not just accidents which have no persistence, but atoms, bodies, and substances as well. This is taken from the plain meaning of “Everything perishes save His countenance” (Qasas 88). Although most interpret this to mean in the future, the literal meaning is the active participle, which gives a meaning in the continuous present. This theory emphasizes everything’s complete and utter dependence on Allah. If He were to withdraw His creativity (takwin) for just a moment, the whole universe would perish. Not only are all creations continuously re-created, but they are never created in the same way twice, just as no two snowflakes are the same. The tajalliyat (manifestations) of Allah never repeat. In Paradise, this manifests as continuously increasing and changing blessings, of all kinds. This is described in the Quran: “Whenever provided with fruit, they will say, “This is what we were given before,” for they will be served fruit that looks similar (but tastes different)” (Baqara 25).
