Al-Ghazali

Al-Ghazali (Persian: الغزّالی, b. 1058 – d. 19 December 1111) was a Persian Sunni Islamic scholar, Sufi mystic and teacher. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential jurists, muftis, philosophers, theologians, logicians and mystics in the history of Islamic thought. He is characterized as the mujaddid (renewer) of the 11th century. Al-Ghazali's works were met with great importance and praise by his contemporaries, and he received the title "Ḥujjat al-Islām," meaning "the Proof of Islam."

He is also known for criticizing philosophy from various angles after mastering the science of philosophy, and for declaring some philosophers of the period unbelievers. He was also referred to with the epithet "Ḥukamāʾ." Al-Ghazali, thought to be of Persian origin, had the epithets "Ḥujjat al-Islām" and "Zayn al-Dīn." He is generally known by the names "al-Ghazali" and "Imam al-Ghazali." He is one of the most famous Islamic scholars who lived during the period of the Great Seljuk Empire.

His life

Al-Ghazali was born in the Hijri year 450 (1058 CE) in the city of Tus in the Khorasan region of Iran. He received his early education in Tus from Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Rāzikānī, then went to the city of Gurgan and studied under Abū Naṣr al-Ismāʿīlī. After that, until the age of 28, he studied at the Nizamiyya Madrasa of Nishapur, being influenced in doctrinal thought by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī and in practical opinion by Imam al-Shafiʿi.

When his teacher, ʿAbd al-Malik al-Juwaynī, known by the epithet "Imam al-Ḥaramayn," died in 1085, al-Ghazali went from Nishapur to Nizam al-Mulk, the vizier of the Great Seljuk State. Proving his superiority over the other scholars with the answers he gave at a gathering held in the presence of Nizam al-Mulk, he was appointed in 1091 as the chief teacher of the Nizamiyya Madrasa in Baghdad. Here, with the knowledge he possessed and the community of students he trained, he quickly gained fame and prestige. He later turned toward Sufism and, with the influence of Abū ʿAlī al-Farmadī, concentrated in this field. With this interest and with the desire to perform the pilgrimage, in 1095 he left his post at the madrasa, departed from Baghdad and went to Damascus.

After staying in Damascus for about two years, he went on pilgrimage in 1097. On his return from the pilgrimage he passed again to Damascus, then returned once more to Tus by way of Baghdad. During his time in Damascus and Tus he lived a life of seclusion and advanced in the field of Sufism. Eleven years after his departure from Baghdad, in 1106, at the request of Fakhr al-Mulk, the son of Nizam al-Mulk, he began teaching again at the Nizamiyya Madrasa of Nishapur. Shortly afterward he returned from there to Tus and, in the lodge he had built, led a Sufi life together with his disciples.

Al-Ghazali died in 1111 (Hijri 505) in the city of Tus in Iran, his birthplace.

His era and the political situation

In the period in which al-Ghazali lived, a great political and intellectual turmoil prevailed in the Islamic world. While the power of the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad was weakening, the borders of the Great Seljuk State were gradually expanding and its influence was increasing. Nizam al-Mulk, the vizier of the Great Seljuk ruler Malik-Shah, was winning victories on the battlefields and opening the debate settings called scholarly assemblies as well as madrasas. In this period, at the head of the Islamic caliphate in Egypt were the Fatimids, adherents of the Shiʿi sect. In Europe, meanwhile, the Umayyad State of al-Andalus had entered a process of decline.

The First Crusade also took place during al-Ghazali's lifetime; when al-Ghazali was 40 years old, Antioch was besieged by the Crusaders, and a year later Jerusalem fell into Crusader hands.

In this period Hasan-i Sabbah, the founder of the Assassin (Hashshashin) order, and the Iranian astronomer Omar Khayyam were also well-known figures who lived in the same age as al-Ghazali. This political turmoil in the Islamic world was accompanied by an intellectual collapse as well.

His intellectual life and influences

Al-Ghazali's curiosity to learn led him to investigate a great many religious and intellectual currents. He saw that in his time people who wished to find the truth were divided into four groups, each of which sought the truth in its own way. These were: the philosophers, the theologians (mutakallimūn), the Sufis and the Bāṭinīs. Examining the views of all of them, he criticized in detail in his books the way of theology, philosophy and Bāṭinism, and, turning toward Sufism — the way of the Sufis — he sought the truth on this path. Al-Ghazali describes this process in his book al-Munqidh min al-Ḍalāl as follows:

"From my youth, up to this moment when I have passed the age of 50, I never held back from plunging into the depths of these vast seas. I plunged not like timid cowards into turbulent seas, but like the plunge of the brave; I leapt upon every problem I saw. I entered abruptly into every difficulty. I examined the beliefs and ideas of every sect, and tried to bring to light the subtleties of the path each group followed. I made no distinction as to whether the sects I investigated were true or false, in accordance with the Sunna or bidʿa (innovation). I tried to learn what every sect that had taken up the way of Bāṭinism aimed at with this thought. I strove to bring to light what those who had taken up the way of Ẓāhirism obtained by it. I took care to learn, with all its principles, the philosophy of those who had taken up the way of philosophy. Leaving out no theologian, I strove to learn his method and struggle in theology.

With all my might, I tried to learn the secrets in Sufism of every Sufi there was, and to investigate what every worshipper gained by his worship. I meticulously investigated the reasons underlying the belief or denial of all the heretics who do not accept the existence and attributes of God. The thirst I felt for learning the reality of everything, and the way I have followed from the beginning, have been a disposition of mine. These dispositions are qualities incorporated by God into my nature and my very substance; they are not my choice or my preference.

Al-Ghazali and Sufism

Tus, where al-Ghazali was born and raised, was referred to in that century as a great center of Sufism. However, in al-Ghazali's student life Sufism remained in the background. After the spiritual crisis he underwent, he turned toward Sufism. Taking lessons from his teacher Abū ʿAlī al-Farmadī, who was of the Silsila-i Saʿādāt, he received the ijaza (authorization) in the field of Sufism.

According to al-Ghazali, Sufism is the most important factor in a person's liberation from their spiritual maladies. In his work titled Kīmiyā-yi Saʿādat he says:

"The body is the country of the heart. In this country the heart has many soldiers. The heart was created for the hereafter. Knowing God comes through knowing His creatures. Some of the attributes within a person's inner self belong to ordinary animals, some to beasts of prey, some to devils, and some to angels. A person must become aware of which of these they belong to. For if a person does not know these, they cannot find the right way. Each of the attributes we have mentioned has a different nourishment. The nourishment of the animals is eating, sleeping and mating. The nourishment of the beasts of prey is tearing apart happiness, attacking and killing. The nourishment of the devils is deceiving, scheming and doing evil. And the nourishment of the angels is beholding the beauty of God. Greed, and the attributes of the animal and the beast of prey, are not the road that ascends to angelhood. If you are in essence of the substance of an angel, strive to know God and bring yourself to a state in which you may behold that beauty. Free yourself from the hand of anger and lust, and try to understand why these animal attributes were created in you."

Sources

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