A Critical Look at Abu Hamid al-Ghazali - Essay Example

His birth took place in the village of Tabaran nearby Tus in northeast Iran and came from an unassertive family. When he was still in his childhood his father expired and left pint-sized cash in the custody of his Sufi friend. When the money given by his father ran out, he joined a Madrasah which allowed him to get a remuneration plus room and board.

Later on in his life, Al-Ghazali traveled to Nisahapur and studied with the famous scholar of that time Al-Juwayni at the College of Nizamyah. Al-Ghazali was one of his most well-known pupils and Al-Juwayni used to call him an ocean of knowledge. After the demise of his mentor, he then journeyed to the camp of Seljuk Wazir Nizam al-Mulk which was the meeting place of intellectuals. His distinction was noted swiftly in such a well-known gathering and that is why Nizam al-Mulk selected him as an instructor at the famous Nizamyah College of Baghdad.

(Hozien 2001) In 1095 A.D. Al-Ghazali wrote a book called Tahafah al-Falasifah “Incoherence of the Philosophers” in which he attacked the Greek-inspired philosophers. In this book, Al-Ghazali judged the beliefs of these philosophers to be opposing the teachings contained in the Quran and said that they were spreading falsehood. He stated that the philosopher`s teaching was having a bad influence on Islamic thoughts and faith. No one at that time could give a convincing argument against Al-Ghazali (Bergh, 1954) After around eighty years ibn Rushud responded to Al-Ghazali`s attack by publishing a book called Tahafah al-Tahafah (“The Incoherence of the Incoherence”), where he alternately cited Ghazali’s views and his own. One of the topics in which these two intellects debated was cause and effect. Al-Ghazali explained that the necessary existence between cause and effect does not validate that the same effect would take the place of a specific cause. He specifically focused on the relationship between fire and burning, mentioning that the former only happens because Allah as an agent led it to be. He dismissed the belief that the cause and its effect take place naturally but happen because of the willingness of Allah. 

Al-Ghazali referred to the account of Abraham in the Quran who was preternaturally protected from the harm of fire. Al-Ghazali accused the theorists of keeping a view against Islam because he explained that the philosophers rejected the possibility that Abraham could be unharmed by fire as long as it kept its characteristic of burning. Ibn Rushud refuted this allegation by clarifying that if an object does not have a precise characteristic, then the object would lose its distinct term and meaning. He further explained that the disowning of cause and effect would result in the rejection of a person`s assertion. Ibn Rushud wrote in his book that if the motive is impermissible to realize, then there is an obvious association between two succeeding actions. Hence it would not be able to function according to its function and will lose the influence of making obvious thoughts and would not have the chance of achieving an understanding (Bergh 1954)

Although they voiced their differences, they did have some basic common grounds. They both wanted to understand the world in which they lived by incorporating reasoning with Quran. Ibn Rushud once said that “Philosophers are best able to understand properly the allegorical passages in the Quran based on their logical training”. This coincides with the belief of Al-Ghazali that the information contained in scripture must be interpreted allegorically, as it is inconceivable that scripture should contain anything decisive that conflicts with what is known through reason (Bergh 1954).

Al Ghazali swayed the Islamic mind for about nine centuries. He was not only constricted to the Muslim world because Christians were also inspired by his works. He also influenced the Jews of that time. Most of his works were translated by Jewish intellectuals as most of the Jews knew Arabic and hence it was translated into Hebrew by these Jews. Maimonides whose books are considered to be one of the most significant works of that era was influenced by Al-Ghazali (Nofal, 2000).