A finite mind, limited in knowledge and power and distracted by desires other than the will to goodness, may yet have a partial measure of self-determination which is complete only in the infinite. It is incompletely determined by forces external to itself. And if it stand—as it does stand—between the realm of nature and the realm of goodness, conscious of the good and yet beset by many temptations to fall to a lower level, then the relative independence or partial spontaneity of such a mind may be exhibited in the power to direct its own path toward the goal of goodness or to allow it to lapse into evil. Its freedom will be neither complete independence of external determination nor complete agreement with the ideal of goodness; but it will exclude total subordination to the forces beyond itself, and it will give opportunity for choosing and serving the good. In spite of its restrictions human activity will be recognized as possessing a core of spontaneity”. W. R. Sorley: _Moral Values and the Idea of God_. Cambridge 1918 pp. 446-7. [20] Ghazzali here anticipated Hume. “Seven hundred years before Hume, Ghazzali cut the bond of causality with the edge of his dialectic”. _Journal of the American Oriental Society_ vol. XX. 103. [21] _Quran_ XLIV. 38, 39. [22] _Quran_ XXXII. 11. [23] _Quran_ XXXIX. 42. [24] _Quran_ LVI. 63. [25] _Quran_ LXXX. 25-7. [26] _Quran_ IX. 14. [27] _Quran_ VIII. 17. This passage refers to the battle of Badr, the first battle of the Prophet. The Muslims slew the enemy but it is affirmed that really they did not slay, but it was Allah who slew them; the meaning apparently being that Allah’s hand was working in the battle, which is also clear from the fact that three hundred Muslims mostly raw and equipped with neither horses nor sufficient arms, prevailed against a thousand of the most renowned warriors who had come to crush the growing power of Islam. “And Thou didst not smite when thou didst smite”. Ghazzali points out that negation and affirmation for one and the same action throw new light on the nature of causation. Negation affirms God as the efficient and real cause; affirmation establishes man’s free-will faithfully executing divine order. Whose branches are ever shaken by the wind, And whose fruit is showered on the sleeper’s heads. Fatalism means sleeping amidst highwaymen. Can a cock who crows too soon expect peace? If ye cavil at and accept not God’s hints, Though ye count yourselves men, see, ye are women. The quantum of reason ye possessed is lost, And the head whose reason has fled is a till. Inasmuch as the unthankful are despicable, They are at last cast into the fiery pit. If ye really have trust in God, exert yourselves, And strive in constant reliance on the Almighty. (Translation by E. Whinfield. _Masnavi._ 2nd ed. 1898. Bk. I, pp. 19-20.)