Al-Ghazali

Life

Al-Ghazali was born in 1058 CE in Tus (modern Iran). He studied at the Nizamiyya madrasa in Nishapur under the great Ash'arite theologian al-Juwayni. His intellectual brilliance brought him to the attention of the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who appointed him professor at the prestigious Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad in 1091, at the age of thirty-three — the most prominent academic position in the Islamic world.

At the height of his fame and influence, al-Ghazali experienced a profound intellectual and spiritual crisis (1095 CE). He became paralyzed by doubt — unable to lecture, unable to eat, his voice failing. He realized that his academic success was motivated by pride and ambition rather than genuine pursuit of truth. He abandoned his position, gave away his wealth, and left Baghdad disguised as a Sufi wanderer.

For the next eleven years, al-Ghazali traveled to Damascus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Mecca, and Medina, practicing Sufi devotion and writing the massive Revival of the Religious Sciences. He returned briefly to teaching in Nishapur before retiring to Tus, where he founded a small Sufi community and continued writing until his death in 1111 CE.

The Incoherence of the Philosophers

Al-Ghazali's most philosophically significant work attacks the Islamic Aristotelians (primarily Avicenna and al-Farabi) on twenty points where, he argues, their conclusions contradict Islamic doctrine. On three of these, he declares them guilty of outright unbelief (kufr):

1. The eternity of the world: The philosophers hold that the world is eternal (having no temporal beginning), contradicting the Quranic doctrine of creation.
2. God's knowledge of particulars: The philosophers hold that God knows only universals, not individual events — which would mean God does not know you or your prayers.
3. Denial of bodily resurrection: The philosophers interpret resurrection as spiritual only, denying the physical resurrection promised in the Quran.

On the remaining seventeen points, al-Ghazali argues that the philosophers' conclusions are heretical innovations (bid'a) but not outright unbelief.

Crucially, al-Ghazali's critique operates on the philosophers' own terms — he uses philosophical argumentation to dismantle philosophical claims. He does not reject reason but insists that the Aristotelians' conclusions go beyond what reason can demonstrate. His attack is on the overconfidence of philosophy, not on rationality itself.

The Revival of the Religious Sciences

The Ihya' Ulum al-Din is al-Ghazali's masterwork — a forty-book synthesis of Islamic law, theology, ethics, and Sufi spirituality. It covers worship, daily life, vices, and virtues, weaving together legal requirements with their spiritual significance. The Ihya' effectively rehabilitated Sufism within mainstream Sunni Islam, showing that mystical experience and orthodox practice are complementary.

Legacy

Al-Ghazali is sometimes called 'the most influential Muslim after Muhammad.' His Incoherence challenged but did not destroy Islamic philosophy — Averroes responded with The Incoherence of the Incoherence, and philosophical activity continued in the Eastern Islamic world. But al-Ghazali did shift the center of gravity of Islamic intellectual life toward theology and mysticism, and his integration of Sufism into mainstream Sunni Islam was permanent and transformative.