Complexity , Contextuality and al Ghazali’s “best of all possible worlds”

1. Zarah dan Daya Meeting , Physics Department , Universiti Malaya 26 Nov. 2017 Complexity , Contextuality and al Ghazali’s “best of all possible worlds” ShahidanRadiman School of Physics and Novel Materials , Fac. Of Science and Technology, UKM Bangi 43600 , Selangor DE. E-mail: shahidan@ukm.edu.my www.ukm.my/fst

2. 0. Some definitions

3. Ontological arguments • Attempt to establish the existence of God a priori (not based on any facts known by experience) • It follows from the very idea of a theistic god that such a being must exist • A theistic god by definition has all perfections • Existence is a perfection • Thus, a theistic god exists

4. Cosmological arguments • Attempt to show that the very existence of the cosmos—any cosmos--must be explained by saying that it was created by a supernatural being • It doesn’t matter what the cosmos is like; it must have a divine origin

5. Design arguments • The world has some special feature that is best explained by supposing that it was designed that way by a rational being. • This feature cannot have been designed by any inhabitant of the cosmos. • It’s reasonable to accept the best explanation for something known to be the case. • So it is reasonable to conclude that there is a supernatural being who designed the cosmos. • Also called ‘teleological arguments’, since they appeal to purposes or goals

6. Content of Talk • On Al Ghazali’s “ best of all possible worlds” and his critiques • 2. Physics view of the Multiverse • 3. Other arguments in support of al-Ghazali’s thesis • 4. Complexity and contextuality in Conclusions

7. A Related Philosophy as Background in Al-Ghazali’s thinking Occasionalism is a philosophical theory about causation which says that created substances cannot be efficient causes of events. Instead, all events are taken to be caused directly by God. (A related theory, which has been called "occasional causation", also denies a link of efficient causation between mundane events, but may differ as to the identity of the true cause that replaces them) The theory states that the illusion of efficient causation between mundane events arises out of God's causing of one event after another. However, there is no necessary connection between the two: it is not that the first event causes God to cause the second event: rather, God first causes one and then causes the other.

8. The doctrine first reached prominence in the Islamic theological schools of Iraq, especially in Basra. The ninth century theologian Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari argued that there is no Secondary Causation in the created order. The world is sustained and governed through direct intervention of a divine primary causation. As such the world is in a constant state of recreation by God. The most famous proponent of the Asharite occasionalist doctrine was Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali, an 11th-century theologian based in Baghdad. In The Incoherence of the Philosophers Al-Ghazali launched a philosophical critique against Neoplatonic-influenced early Islamic philosophers such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina.

9. In response to the philosophers' claim that the created order is governed by secondary efficient causes (God being, as it were, the Primary and Final Cause in an ontological and logical sense), Ghazali argues that what we observe as regularity in nature based presumably upon some natural law is actually a kind of constant and continual regularity. There is no independent necessitation of change and becoming, other than what God has ordained. To posit an independent causality outside of God's knowledge and action is to deprive Him of true agency, and diminish His attribute of power.

10. 1. On al-Ghazali’s best possible world and his critiques supporters

11. The first detailed study of Islamic theodicy, the book points out distinctively Islamic formulations and solutions of the problem of “the best of all possible worlds" and shows where they coincide with Western versions, such as that of Leibniz. Originally published in 1984.

12. 3 Problems in al-Ghazālī’s Perfect World • Author:Stephen R. Ogden • Source:Islam and Rationality, pp 54-89 • Subjects:Middle East and Islamic Studies • Publication Year :2015 • Chapter DOI:10.1163/9789004307490_004 • E-ISBN:9789004307490

13. Statement of Al-Ghazali : “There is not in God’s omnipotence anything more wonderful than this world for its perfection and wisdom. If there are anything more wonderful in the divine omnipotence and He held it back , this would contradicts generosity “ – quoted by Qurtubi in Sharh Asma’ al Husna from Chap 32 of Ihya’ Ulumiddin.

14. Ibn Arabi writing in Futuhat says: The words of Al Ghazali are extremely accurate. They shouldn’t be denied, for there are only two degrees , the degree of eternity (qidam) and the degree of contingency (huduth) . The first degree is for God the Sublime alone, according to ijma’. The second degree is for creation. If God the Sublime were to create whatever He creates , it would never go beyond the degree of contingency. One can’t ask “Is God the Sublime able to create something eternal that’s equal to Himself in eternity”? This question is totally absurd. So, from this we can imply that “best of possible worlds” are with respect to creation. The birds and animals are created with their best environments , so are the plants , and for man , the Earth is the best of all possible worlds . Other “earthly” planets (exo-planets) will not be the best for human kind.

15. Abd Karim al Jili ( see Ormsby “Theodicity”) wrote: Every event in existence was preceded by eternal knowledge and it isn’t correct that it rises above its station in eternal knowledge , nor that it descends below it. Thus the words of Imam al-Ghazali are correct : “There is not in possibility anything more wonderful than what is “ In Kitab al Ibriz (chapter 7) al-Lamati wrote: The people of all the religious communities (ijma’) are in agreement that only what’sperfect issues from the perfect . God the Sublime said “ We have built the Heavens with our hands and We extend it wide. And We have spread out the earth. Oh what excellent leveller ! (Quran 51 : 47-48)

16. Imam Abul Baqa Muhammad al Bakri al Shafie ( see Theodicity) said :The answer to this is that creating a world more wonderful than this one is impossible because the Book ( Quran) doesn’t mention it, nor does the clarifying Sunna . If it were possible the Book would have mentioned it. God the Sublime has said “ We have neglected nothing in the Book” ( 6:38). Badr al Din al Zarkashi wrote : “ There is not in possibility anything more wonderful than what is “ refers to the perception of bright minds , not to the world of the secret which is concealed , perfect and absolute , whose rules have no end , whose wonders cant be counted and whose marvel are beyond calculations. Thus , what he (al Ghazali) meant by “ there is not in possibility” is according to what minds require , not according to what is contained in God’s Unseen ( ghaybullah).

17. That’s why God the Sublime said “ He creates what you do not know” ( 16 :8). And the judgement of an arif is commensurate with his perception , not commensurate with the set rules of His Lord – He is Sublime ! For the Lord- He is Exalted – encompasses everything , whereas an individual doesn’t encompass a single one of His subcategories in all its aspects. And every subcategory possesses numerous rules , some of which God has made known to certain of His bondsmen and others which belong to Himself . Sayyidi Ahmad Zarruq in Sharh Qawaid al Aqaid , his commentary on Al-Ghazali’s Qawaid also supported the statement of Al-Ghazali . Sheikh Abul Mawahib al Tunisi (see Theodicy) said “ there is not in possibility (imkan) anything more wonderful that what is “ we take to mean what’s possible for Divine wisdom not what’s possible for Lordly omnipotence.

18. In fact Sheikul Islam Zakariyya al Ansari al Shafie said “ It is known that Hujjatul Islam (al Ghazali) didn’t mean Divine Omnipotence when he said “possibility “ (imkan) If he’d meant that , his words would be attributable to the Muktazilites.

19. 2. Physics view of Multiverse

20. David Lewis (1941-2001), one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century : In On the Plurality of Worlds (1986) Lewis set out his modal realism – the notion that all possible worlds are actually-existing disconnected universes. In ‘Is “The theory of everything” merely the ultimate ensemble theory?’ (Annals of Physics, Vol 270, 1998), Max Tegmark, Professor of Physics at MIT, suggested that “all structures that exist mathematically exist also physically.” Conceptually, the Lewis/Tegmark infinite multiverse idea is extremely appealing. If it’s wrong, and most possible worlds don’t exist, what causes the symmetry between potential existence and actual existence to break down for some possible worlds but not for others?

21. Level 1: Regions Beyond Cosmic Horizon – 1. The universe is infinitely big and contains matter at roughly the same distribution (as we see it) throughout the universe.

22. Level 2: Other Post-Inflation Bubbles 1. Separate universes spring up as bubbles of spacetime undergoing its own form of expansion We can never know if other Universes exist unless one of them collide with ours ( forming scars in CMB pattern)

23. Level 3: The Many Worlds of Quantum 1. Physics - According to this approach to quantum physics, events unfold in every single possible way, just in different universes. Probably the same as Sufi’s understanding of Alam Mithal

24. Level 3: The Many Worlds of Quantum 1. Physics - According to this approach to quantum physics, events unfold in every single possible way, just in different universes. Need to bring “retrocausality” in Quantum Mechanic. Bohmian Mechanics allows this !

25. Level 4: Other Mathematical Structures – • This type of parallel universes is sort of a catch-all for other mathematical structures which we can conceive of, but which we don't observe as physical realities in our universe. • The Level 4 parallel universes are ones which are governed by different equations from those that govern our universe. • Unlike Level 2 universes, it's not just different manifestations of the same fundamental rules, but entirely different sets of rules. Need more research on brane-worlds , topoi and higher dimensional gauge theories to “determined” whether other worlds/Universes exist or not.

26. The word “rabbil alamin” is mentioned 42 times in the Quran . Of course all worlds/Universes incl. those in the context of physics i.e physical worlds are created by God , and for this reason He is Rabb of the Worlds . However, the word “rahmatan lil alamin” which refers to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w only occur once in the Quran. Perhaps this is showing that there is only ONE Universe/World for the human , even though WITHIN this single BEST Universe there are many worlds e.g the world of Jinn , animals , Gog-Magogs and their genera.

27. 3. Other Arguments that support Al-Ghazali’s thesis

28. The measure problem in cosmology concerns how to compute fractions of universes of different types within a multiverse. It typically arises in the context of eternal inflation but can apply even with non-eternal inflation and a finite universe.The problem arises because different approaches to calculating these fractions yield different results, and it's not clear which approach (if any) is correct. • There will be NO measure problem if there is ONLY ONE (best) Universe

29. 2. Contextuality argument / Uniqueness argument This says that ALL the physical constants that God has provided us in this Universe ( i.e all physical , chemical and biological laws) are already “fine-tuned” for our BEST living conditions. Also , using the Anthropic Principle , the Universe is created in such a way that the time of the existence of humans is the BEST time window for observing all the interesting phenomena occurring in the Universe ( this means many more Nobel Prize in Cosmology in the future !)

30. 3. The Complexity Argument The BEST Universe/worlds simply means that it is BEAUTIFULLY COMPLEX ( it reminds us of fractals!) but also BEAUTIFULLY MYSTERIOUS ( like Quantum Mechanics !) It is “obvious” why the universe has many unknowns- because the Creator is “super clever” – both from mathematics and physics viewpoint ! But at times BEAUTY are fully appreciated from simplicity as well as elegance e.g E=mc**2 or ER=EPR.

31. The complexity argument also imply that human knowledge can never ever encompass the total understanding of the physical world . This means there is no such thing as The Final Theory . Reality is something out of human grasps and that include undertanding his own brain. Apart from the limited brain size of human to grasps all the Universe’s complexity , Science and its understanding through experiments are is many ways technology limited – which again reflects our brain inability to innovate and invent further.

32. Conclusions • Based on previous discussion we can conclude that : • Levels of Reality : “The best of all possible worlds” is only within a certain level of Reality i.e the reality which is the Universe we are living in. Of course, if you can transcend other levels of Realities , you can see other worlds and they are “best” ( optimized) within their own context of living. It is said that the famous Sufi, Junaid al Baghdadi has traversed 18,000 worlds. • The proof of this is the fact that Jannah (Heaven) is better than this world /universe but it is in another level of reality.

33. 2.Using Contextual argument , we can conclude that this Universe of ours is the “best” as regards to being objects/physics which we can understand . Hadith says “ Study creation and do not study God” i.e God is beyond understanding but this Universe is a garden of ilm ! Even Jannah (Heaven) in another level of reality is something one cannot imagine (unthinkable) for in it are things/objects which “ no eyes have seen , nor ears have heard” . So, the Universe that we are living in is the best within our context of existence.

34. 3. Within the Complexity argument we say that the world/universe is complex yet simple (once you understand it) , difficult but easy (once you master it) , symmetrical but chaotic …..these opposing pairs comes from God’s Opposing Names e.g The First –The Last , The Manifest- The Hidden etc and His names are manifested (tajalli) in the creations. So, it would be unimaginable if His (Beautiful) Names are “written/ manifested” not in the best of His creation. That interplay (complexity) called the tajalli-takhalli-tahalli context through His Names are already detailed out in Sufi discourses.

35. 4. One can now see the Occasionalist connection in al-Ghazali’s thinking. As the whole Universe is being “created and destroyed” every moment i.e a dynamic creation and annihilation operators at work ( “ He is at every moment , busy” ( ArRahman: 29 ) ) , the “best” can ONLY refer to the Creator ( and thus whatever He created), for to maintain causality the recreated Universe must be an exact copy of the previous one , and to “maintain” its existence , the physical constants ( there are at least 23 in the Standard Model) need to be really fine-tuned !! Q: Does the Universe wave function collapse because God observe it?

36. So its difficult to grasps the reality of this world since it is itself a shadow The world is the BEST place for His remembrance

37. In seeking knowledge you achieve Iman (faith) because first , you establish patience in seeking and researching it , and then when you achieved it (understand and write paper on it) you praise Allah.

38. Thank you for listening. Terima kasih , syukran ! والله أعلمُ بالـصـواب