Islam, Causality, and Freedom
From the Medieval to the Modern Era

A comprehensive survey of Islamic accounts of causality and freedom from the medieval to the modern era and their contemporary relevance.

Özgür Koca (Author)

9781108791977, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 May 2023

299 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.489 kg

'This volume is a remarkable new survey of the dual themes of causality and human freedom in Islamic intellectual history which are still relevant and important in contemporary philosophical thought … This volume is thus essential reading, not only for scholars with an interest in the literature in this field but also for anyone interested in how Islamic traditions relate to contemporary Muslim philosophical and theological debates.' Seyyed Khalil Toussi, Sophia

In this volume, Ozgur Koca offers a comprehensive survey of Islamic accounts of causality and freedom from the medieval to the modern era, as well as contemporary relevance. His book is an invitation for Muslims and non-Muslims to explore a rich, but largely forgotten, aspect of Islamic intellectual history. Here, he examines how key Muslim thinkers, such as Ibn Sina, Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi, Jurjani, Mulla Sadra and Nursi, among others, conceptualized freedom in the created order as an extension of their perception of causality. Based on this examination, Koca identifies and explores some of the major currents in the debate on causality and freedom. He also discusses the possible implications of Muslim perspectives on causality for contemporary debates over religion and science.

1. Causality in the early period: Mu?tazilites and the birth of Ash?arite occasionalism
2. Towards a synthesis of Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic understandings of causality: the case of Ibn S?n?
3. Occasionalism in the middle period: the cases of Ghaz?l? and R?z?
4. The first as pure act and causality: the case of Ibn Rushd
5. Light, existence, and causality: the Illimunationist School and the case of Suhraward?
6. The world as a theophany and causality: Sufi metaphysics and the case of Ibn ?Arab?
7. Continuities and developments in Sufi metaphysics: the cases of Q?naw? and Qay?ar?
8. Towards an occasionalist philosophy of science: the case of Jurj?n?
9. Causality and freedom in later Islamic philosophy: the case of Mull? ?adr?
10. Occasionalism in the modern context: the case of Said Nursi
11. A discussion on Islamic theories of causality in the modern context.

Subject Areas: Islamic theology [HRHT], Islam [HRH], History of religion [HRAX], Philosophy of religion [HRAB], Philosophy [HP]