because i'm lazy...

      Here are some notes I made for a post that never made it to a coherent form. They are, for all that, worth saving it seems to me. I don't remember why al-Ghazali was at the point of departure. By no means does he represent the typical Islamic theologian or philosopher; I'm just interested in him.
     Anyway, without any ado at all, make of this what you will.
*****
     It's not at all clear to me that al-Ghazali was an 'occasionalist' in any irrational sense, unless one wishes to assert that all that is, seen and unseen, can somehow remain in being apart from the sustaining act of God. Of course, I'm wading into waters that are too deep for me inasmuch as what little I know of him comes at second hand [Ormsby, etc]. I can say for sure, though, that I am not convinced by the argument [see Regensberg etc] that the 'Christian God' is rational by nature while the 'God of Islam' is a voluntarist abyss of irrational contingency. One can find much in the letters of Paul that would give the lie to such a line. Perhaps this has to do with the spin one puts on assertions of 'rationality', assertions which themselves are not innocent.
     No, the differences are much more profound than the Regensberg argument would allow - I must proclaim and assert much that is offensive: that God is Triune; that Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity born a fully human man, that as such the Second Person of the Trinity suffered and died and was raised from the grave; that there is no list of works that show adequate submission, that in fact submission to the will of God in and of itself is useless; that Bread and Wine consecrated are in fact Jesus's Body and Blood, while not ceasing to be bread and wine, and that being offended by this is a sign of trouble to come...those are among the irreconcilable differences. There are other matters - like, for instance, the fact that Christians cannot be said to 'practice their religion' where they do not evangelize; that in fact we don't have a religion to practice, or at least, we shouldn't.
     Yes, dear reader, it's far from clear that the Holy Trinity isn't more than a little whimsical - make sense of all of that if you dare.