Al-Ghazali said fire doesn't burn cotton — habit just makes it look that way

Centuries before Hume, Al-Ghazali argued we never actually observe fire causing cotton to burn, only one event following another. He concluded causation is just God's consistent habit, not a necessary law — so nothing guarantees the pattern can't break.

— Al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-Falasifa) — 1095 CE, Discussion 17