The Nexus of Causation

I first came upon this question in a second year University Philosophy course. David Hume one of the Triumvirate of Empiricist philosophers in the U.K. which included John Locke and George Berkeley began questioning “the necessary link” between cause and effect. This is not the place to go into the intricacy of his argument on this subject but his logic did seem compelling at the time(before I discovered how pathetic logic itself was lol). What he basically claimed was that the connections we observed between cause and effect were observed habitual connections ,what we might call “association” in modern terminology rather than necessary causation. Got me thinking…

Then there was the physics of Stephen Hawking about the Big Bang Theory. There was an original explosion of some gaseous material that caused the creation of the universe. I questioned that hypothesis well before becoming a believer. ”So who caused the Big Bang in the first place?!” I thought. The scientific answer is usually: ” That question is not in the domain of science”. Really?! So science is not concerned with the deeper causes, I see!

Now some ma y see this question of causation as pure speculation. But it is much more than that! Because the causal analysis will often determine our behaviour-our approach to the solution of the problem. Let’s take a medical example for now. Headaches-the second most common presenting symptom in medicine-after fatigue which presents an even more complex series of possible causation!  So for headaches, if the cause is one virus or another we treat it like the flu. If it is meningitis that is a whole other approach often involving hospitalization and I.V. antibiotics.A  migraine is something else again ( now we have the tryptans to deal with them). And of course a brain tumour is a whole other approach. So knowing the cause is vitally important-possibly a matter of life and death.

Now, this article was probably triggered by the war going on with Iran. For the “progressives” in the U.S., this is an unprovoked, unnecessary war. For the Muslims this is obviously due to the Zionists lobbying-of course. Isn’t everything lol?! For the Quebecois separatists all their problems are “la faute du federale” (i.e. the English) And for the Jews its all because of anti-Semitism. This is where our ethnic echo-chambers take over and the villain is always the same- depending on our allegiances. Very poor causal analysis, no doubt!

Now before we go any further, let us look at the various forms of causation.There is “the proximate cause” as in the fraudulent article about Covid in the Lancet that tried to call out the lab leak theorists as conspiracy theorists .The evidence is suggesting more and more that these conspiracists were right! Dr, Luc Montaignier, the famous French virologist who discovered HIV said it in  Jan.2020 right after the gene sequence of the Covid was released. But who needs to hear from geniuses when we can listen to the mediocrities of bureaucratized scientists. So scientists look for “proximate causes”.

In Islam, on the other hand, we are taught the difference between intermediary (read worldly) causes (“asbab”) and original causers (The Divine will). And that is probably the most relevant distinction for our purposes here.

Before we go further in this exposition, let me go to another form of causation-again a moral one. I have noticed over the years a certain group of people attached to corrupt spiritual teachers. I will not name them for now, but suffice it to say they can be from any tradition! I have seen this amongst Buddhists and Hindus and Sufi Muslims. These people are following a leader who is known to be corrupt and/or have bad character with people. Yet, these disciples refuse to acknowledge it. Even after the teacher dies, they maintain their heart connection. They tell me he is deceased but that makes no difference. Until they cut the attachment they can still suffer the consequences.

During the time I was treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, most of my patients were getting slowly better(a tough disease to doubt to treat, no doubt. One of them seemed to be completely stagnant in his clinical process. When I confronted him with the possible link,he completely denied it:” That was just crazy wisdom” he said. ”No, that was vice” I retorted. To no avail. And his sad, personal saga continued. May Allah protect us from these forms of ignorance!

Let us take some other examples

1-The Tsunami of 2004 in South-East Asia. It caused 227.000 deaths according to the most reliable of statistics! Now the scientists explained that this was due to the movement of tectonic plates in the area (the proximate cause!). A Muslim scholar, may his scholarly head hang in shame, proclaimed on public television that “this was a geological event, not a theological one’?! Where did he study his Islam?! Confronted with a great tragedy, he forgot all the Islamic teachings about God being in charge of the Universe! The tectonic plates trumped the Divine will! Estagfirullah.

Since a couple of decades now, I have made a practice of researching these tragedies to see if there are any other possible explanations. In the case of the tsunami, the two places it hit the worst were in Aceh province of Indonesia and the Tamil part of Sri Lanka. They both had one thing in common! A Civil War between two different ethnic populations was going on! Looks like Allah doesn’t like that! Tectonic plates are His intermediary causes.

2- The Pakistani Earthquake in Belokot 2005. 70,000 people killed and immense destruction1 Anything going on there?! Well research indicates that al Qaida was organizing in the area! You can draw your own conclusions.

A couple of clarifying Sufi quotes:

1-Ali Jemal of Fes “Everything to you is from you and everything from you comes back to you. This is the sunnat of Allah” The second part many people know as “the law of karma’ but the first part is even more subtle. It says that whatever is happening to you is already from you. It t comes from the Divine will. It could be a punishment( more common actually) or a test for you. In either case it is a teaching.

2-Sheikh Hashimi of Damascus “Fi kuli shay hayran”( in everything is goodness) Surprising for most analytic minds lol  There is always a positive side and that positive is not secondary. It is preponderant!

3- Mulay Ad-Darqawi author of the Darqawi Letters said that he never saw a problem that his murids brought to him without there being a defect in their nafs(ego) which accounted for it. H-m-m. Intriguing. So whenever we experience a problem we should look within rather than looking to blame others!

This applies as much to collectivities as to individuals. So when Iran gets attacked, it is easy to say it is the fault of the unbelievers- of America or Israel! Couldn’t possibly be those sweet, pious, loving leaders of Iran, right?! Instead, we need to be accountable-both as individuals and as nations. Otherwise, we are not truly God-fearing. Instead we are defensive, calculating and manipulating! And that is not healthy.

So what am I saying here “Bottom Line”?!

The real causation is not logical /scientific! The real causation is Moral.

That’s why I advise myself and others: ”Do the right thing and the right consequences will follow’!”” Do the calculated, self-interested thing and bad consequences will follow-no matter how precise the calculation”. If you don’t believe me, observe. In both your life and the life of your nation or religious group. May Allah be my witness! Sufi Ibrahim