Al-Ghazali
Not to be confused with al-Ghazal.
For other uses, see Ghazali.
| Al-Ghazālī | |
|---|---|
| Title | Hujjat al-Islām (honorific) |
| Personal | |
| Born | Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭūsī al-Ġaz(z)ālī
c. 1058 Tus, Greater Khorasan, Seljuq Empire |
| Died | 19 December 1111(1111-12-19) (aged 52–53) |
| Religion | Islam |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Region | Great Seljuq Empire (Nishapur)
Abbasid Caliphate (Baghdad) / (Jerusalem) / (Damascus) |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| School | Shafiʿi |
| Creed | Ashʿari |
| Main interest(s) | Sufism, theology (kalam), philosophy, logic, Islamic jurisprudence |
| Notable work(s) | The Revival of Religious Sciences, The Aims of the Philosophers, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, The Alchemy of Happiness, The Moderation in Belief, On Legal theory of Muslim Jurisprudence |
| Other names | Algazel |
| Muslim leader | |
Al-Ghazali (UK: /ælˈɡɑːzɑːli/, US: /ˌælɡəˈzɑːli, -zæl-/; full name أَبُو حَامِدٍ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ ٱلطُّوسِيُّ ٱلْغَزَالِيُّ or ٱلْغَزَّالِيُّ, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭūsiyy al-Ġaz(z)ālīy; Latinized Algazelus or Algazel; c. 1058 – 19 December 1111) was a Persian philosopher who was one of the most prominent and influential Muslim philosophers, theologians, jurists, and mystics, of Sunni Islam.
Most Muslims consider him to be a Mujaddid, a renewer of the faith who, according to the prophetic hadith, appears once every century to restore the faith of the ummah ("the Islamic Community").
His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of Islam" (Hujjat al-Islām).
Al-Ghazali believed that the Islamic spiritual tradition had become moribund and that the spiritual sciences taught by the first generation of Muslims had been forgotten.
That resulted in his writing his magnum opus entitled Iḥyā’ ‘ulūm ad-dīn ("The Revival of the Religious Sciences").
Among his other works, the Tahāfut al-Falāsifa ("Incoherence of the Philosophers") is a significant landmark in the history of philosophy, as it advances the critique of Aristotelian science developed later in 14th-century Europe.
Life
The believed date of al-Ghazali's birth, as given by Ibn al-Jawzi, is AH 450 (1058/9).
Modern estimates place it at AH 448 (1056/7), on the basis of certain statements in al-Ghazali's correspondence and autobiography.
He was a Muslim scholar, law specialist, rationalist, and spiritualist of Persian descent.
He was born in Tabaran, a town in the district of Tus, Khorasan (now part of Iran), not long after Seljuk captured Baghdad from the Shia Buyid and established Sunni Caliphate under a commission from the Abbasid Dynasty in 1055 AD.
A posthumous tradition, the authenticity of which has been questioned in recent scholarship, is that his father, a man "of Persian descent," died in poverty and left the young al-Ghazali and his brother Ahmad to the care of a Sufi.
Al-Ghazali's contemporary and first biographer, 'Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi, records merely that al-Ghazali began to receive instruction in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) from Ahmad al-Radhakani, a local teacher.
He later studied under al-Juwayni, the distinguished jurist and theologian and "the most outstanding Muslim scholar of his time," in Nishapur, perhaps after a period of study in Gurgan.
After al-Juwayni's death in 1085, al-Ghazali departed from Nishapur and joined the court of Nizam al-Mulk, the powerful vizier of the Seljuq sultans, which was likely centered in Isfahan.
After bestowing upon him the titles of "Brilliance of the Religion" and "Eminence among the Religious Leaders," Nizam al-Mulk advanced al-Ghazali in July 1091 to the "most prestigious and most challenging" professorial at the time: in the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad.
He underwent a spiritual crisis in 1095, abandoned his career and left Baghdad on the pretext of going on pilgrimage to Mecca.
Making arrangements for his family, he disposed of his wealth and adopted an ascetic lifestyle.
According to biographer Duncan B. Macdonald, the purpose of abstaining from scholastic work was to confront the spiritual experience and more ordinary understanding of "the Word and the Traditions."
After some time in Damascus and Jerusalem, with a visit to Medina and Mecca in 1096, he returned to Tus to spend the next several years in 'uzla (seclusion).
The seclusion consisted in abstaining from teaching at state-sponsored institutions, but he continued to publish, receive visitors and teach in the zawiya (private madrasa) and khanqah (Sufi monastery) that he had built.
Fakhr al-Mulk, grand vizier to Ahmad Sanjar, pressed al-Ghazali to return to the Nizamiyya in Nishapur.
Al-Ghazali reluctantly capitulated in 1106, fearing rightly that he and his teachings would meet with resistance and controversy.
He later returned to Tus and declined an invitation in 1110 from the grand vizier of the Seljuq Sultan Muhammad I to return to Baghdad.
He died on 19 December 1111.
According to 'Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi, he had several daughters but no sons.
School affiliations
Al-Ghazali contributed significantly to the development of a systematic view of Sufism and its integration and acceptance in mainstream Islam.
As a scholar of Sunni Islam, he belonged to the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence and to the Asharite school of theology.
Al-Ghazali received many titles such as Sharaf-ul-Aʾimma (شرف الأئمة), Zayn-ud-dīn (زين الدين) and Ḥujjat-ul-Islām (حجة الإسلام).
He is viewed as the key member of the influential Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy and the most important refuter of the Mutazilites.
However, he chose a slightly-different position in comparison with the Asharites.
His beliefs and thoughts differ in some aspects from the orthodox Asharite school.
Credits to the contents of this page go to the authors of the corresponding Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ghazali.