Al-Ghazali between occasionalism and causality

Abstract

The way Averroes criticized al-Ghazali generated, in the West in the Middle Ages,  much controversies about Al-Ghazali. One major point of these controversies is that Al- Ghazali dismissed the principle of causation and adopted occasionalism . Al-Ghazali expresses it in the 17^th discussion of his book. As a result of this opinion Al-Ghazali is considered an enemy of reason, science and philosophy. This traditional orientalist position has taken root with attitude of Renan in the 19th century and the attitude of Munk. The discovery of «  michkat al- anwar» «  the niche of lights » in the beginning of the 20th century and what was contained in the last pages of it, imposed the review of the traditional  orientalist position . Thus a new understanding of the texts of Al- Ghazali emerged. Some will adopt that Al –Ghazali calls for causation and occasionalism, as for some others it is believed that Al-Ghazali defends causation and he is thus not an enemy of reason, science and philosophy, as was believed since the Middle Ages.