Koca's Islam, Causality, and Freedom: From the Medieval to the Modern Era takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through the depths of Islamic theological, philosophical, and mystical perspectives on causality and freedom. Relying on a wide-ranging selection of pertinent sources, this volume presents its readership with comparative ‘snapshots’ on occasionalistic and participatory accounts of causation and ‘self-determination’ among both major medieval and modern Muslim scholars. Particularly commendable is the author's skilful ability to simplify difficult concepts, thus effectively contributing to a better understanding of these ever-actual Islamic theological and philosophical discussions.
The book is divided into eleven chapters, preceded by an introduction and followed by a general conclusion. Especially praiseworthy is the author's courtesy of providing brief conclusive summaries for each chapter's findings. One major setback is perhaps the lack of any sufficiently informative historical contextualization which would have helped place all the examined scholars in their rightful chronological and theoretical dimensions.
The first chapter is dedicated to the early period of Islamic thought, and introduces the topic which acts as the theoretical thread linking all the remaining chapters, the topic of Ashʿarite (and to a less extent, Muʿtazilite) occasionalism. Koca clearly explains how, animated by the necessity of safeguarding God's supreme omnipotence, the Ashʿarites articulated a ‘theology of possibility’, rejecting the idea of a causal necessity in the world. By emphasizing the possible – rather than necessary – nature of the causes–effects relationship, Ashʿarite occasionalistic atomism made the idea of ‘preponderance without reason’ (tarjīh bi-lā murajjih) the cornerstone of their theological position, granting divine will the ultimate ‘decisional’ powers. Despite providing clear-cut explanations and key primary resources on the argument, Koca appears to deal too hastily with the Ashʿarite theory of acquisition (kasb), which actually represented the hallmark of their theological stance in the enduring debate between divine predestination and human freedom, or, put differently, in the contentious discussion on the effectiveness between primary and secondary causality.
The second chapter examines the synthesis of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic causality as exemplified in the thought of Ibn Sīnā. This chapter is skilfully crafted: beginning with a survey of Avicenna's understanding of existence (wujūd) and essence (māhiyya), the author successively argues that Ibn Sīnā propounded two distinct categories of causality – physical and metaphysical – centred respectively on the perspective of motion and rest, and on the concept of existence. Conclusively, Koca shows that, for Ibn Sīnā, the notion of creaturely freedom might be established starting from the very fundamental concepts of essence and existence. Again, Koca's merit is that of reducing complex ideas and technical terminology in effortless arguments. Nevertheless, Avicenna's views appear to have been founded with a focus mainly on his al-Shifāʾ (al-Ilāhiyyāt and al-Samāʿal-Ṭabīʿī) and, partially, on his al-Ishārāt wa'l-Tanbīhāt. In fact, the author fails to include additional works of Avicenna which are, in my opinion, essential to a more exhaustive analysis of causality and freedom (e.g. Kitāb al-Hidāya li-Ibn Sīnā, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd, al-Risāla al-aḍḥawīya fī’l-maʿād, Risālat al-Qadar, al-Risāla fī Sirr al-Qadar, al-Risāla fī’l-ʿishq, al-Risāla fī’l-kalām ʿalā al-nafs al-nāṭiqa, etc.).
Similar shortcomings are encountered in the first part of the third chapter dedicated to Ghazālī's response to Ibn Sīnā's views. In particular, Ghazālī's perspective on divine causality and will appears to have been informed exclusively by his most obvious ‘Ashʿarite-oriented’ works, namely, the Tahāfut al-Falāsifa and the al-Iqtiṣād fī’l-Iʿtiqād. But what about the well-known crisis Ghazālī experienced and his consequential spiritual and doctrinal reorientations? What about the reflection of such developments in Ghazālī's other works (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, Mishkāt al-Anwār, al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl)? It is fair to argue that the ‘Proof of Islam’ must have revisited some of his previously elaborated notions on causality and freedom in the light of his newly ‘tasted’ experiential Sufism.
Conversely, Koca's study on al-Rāzī's contribution to earlier occasionalistic concepts and his arguments for atomism, projected against criticism by Ibn Sīnā, is truly well argued and structured. Koca aptly explains how al-Rāzī's use of Euclidian geometry – arguing for both a ‘discrete’ and ‘continuous’ depiction of the physical nature – contributed to the emergence of a proper philosophy of science marked by a scepticism in the exhaustive character of scientific theories.
Chapters 4 and 5 focus, respectively, on Ibn Rushd's integration of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic ideas on causation and Suhrawardī's participatory account on causality. Despite emphasizing entities’ causal efficacy through their participation in the pure act of the First, Ibn Rushd, in Koca's view, held a non-deterministic relation between God and the essence-potentialities. Koca's cases are thoroughly probed, as is his investigation of Suhrawardī's illuminationist ontology. Notwithstanding the very informative nature of both chapters, on occasions, the author's conclusions appear over-simplistic; some discussions would have benefited from more continuative arguments linking, for instance, Suhrawardī's understanding of essences’ freedom as ‘being un-caused causes’ (?) and his concept of life as ‘independence’.
The sixth chapter is devoted to an analysis of Ibn ʿArabī's metaphysics. The lengthy discussions on causal relations are achieved by looking at the Shaykh al-Akbar's metaphysical cosmology and at his treatment of concepts such as the world's constant re-creation (al-khalq al-jadīd), the fixed archetypes (aʿyān thābita) and entities’ essential preparedness (istiʿdād). The author dexterously navigates through such notions, linking them to the idea of freedom. These perfectly valid lines of argument, although not entirely unprecedented, show Ibn ʿArabī's attempt at harmonizing Ashʿarite theology and Sufi spirituality.
Koca's analysis of Sufi metaphysics becomes more innovative when he applies this to the members of the so-called wujūdiyya school, Qūnawī and Qayṣarī, for whom participation in ‘existence’ becomes the ground for any causal efficacy and freedom. Koca acutely highlights how Qūnawī and Qayṣarī did not merely substantiate Ibn ʿArabī's convictions but expanded them by applying carefully adapted occasionalistic and Neoplatonic views.
Theological occasionalistic positions are, again, at the forefront of Koca's investigation in the eighth chapter of this volume focusing on Jurjānī's stance. Receptive of the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic and (ultimately) Avicennan natural philosophy, Jurjānī's perspective is here presented as being ready to embrace simultaneously the findings of such natural philosophy and the Ashʿarite denial of any necessary relation between cause and effect. This result is achieved through what the author defines as ‘a pragmatic attitude’ adopted by Jurjānī towards the limitations of natural philosophy, whose findings, he propounds, must be accepted as mere hypothesis rather than as ultimate truths.
The last three chapters are dedicated to the perception of causality and freedom both in later Islamic philosophy and in the modern context. Once more, the author's tireless endeavours set out sharp and logical examinations. First, he provides an examination of Mulla Sadrā's ontology focused on the idea that the expansion of an all-inclusive reality upon particular entities represents the key to comprehend the concept of agency and freedom. Second, Koca offers a fresh outlook on a little-known, yet intriguing modern scholar: Said Nusri. He guides us through Nusri's unique fusion of Ibn ʿArabī's ‘oneness of being’, modern science, and the Ashʿarite occasionalistic world-view. Finally, fulfilling a long-standing demand, Koca identifies several modern thinkers and magisterially introduces their different approaches to the debates aiming at reconciling religious and scientific claims about causality in the world. It is perhaps through his encompassing survey of the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, chaotic systems, and emergence theories that Koca's contribution is most exemplary.
