Abu hamid al-ghazali biography examples

This means that the traditional form of Islamic faith was in a very critical condition at the time. This realization is possibly related to his criticism of Islamic philosophy. In fact, his refutation of philosophy is not a mere criticism from a certain orthodox theological viewpoint. First of all, his attitude towards philosophy was ambivalent; it was both an object and criticism and an object of learning for example, logic and the natural sciences.

He mastered philosophy and then criticized it in order to Islamicize it. However, he was also forced to admit that the certainty, of revelatory truth, for which he was so desperately searching, cannot be obtained by reason. Through his own religious experience, he worked to revive the faith of Islam by reconstructing the religious sciences upon the basis of Sufsm, and to give a theoretical foundation to the latter under the influence of philosophy.

Thus Sufism came to be generally recognized in the Islamic community. The eventful life of Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali or al-Ghazzali can be divided into three major periods. The first is the period of learning, first in his home town of Tus in Persia, then in Gurgan and finally in Nishapur. This period was short but significant.

During this time, as well as lecturing on Islamic jurisprudence at the College, he was also busy refuting heresies and responding to questions from all segments of the community. In the political confusion following the assassination of Nizam al-Mulk and the subsequent violent death of Sultan Malikshah, al-Ghazali himself fell into a serious spiritual crisis and finally left Baghdad, renouncing his career and the world.

After leaving Baghdad, he wandered as a Sufi in Syria and Palestine before returning to Tus, abu hamid al-ghazali biography examples he was engaged in writing, Sufi practices and teaching his disciples until his death. The inner development leading to his conversion is explained in his autobiographyal-Munqidh min al-dalal The Deliverer from Errorwritten late in his life.

It was his habit from an early age, he says, to search for the true reality of things. However, he was eventually delivered from this with the aid of the divine light, and thus recovered his trust in reason. As a result of these studies, he came to the realization that there was no way to certain knowledge except through Sufism. In order to reach this ultimate truth of the Sufis, however, it is first necessary to renounce the world and to devote oneself to mystical practice.

Al-Ghazali came to this realization through an agonising process of decision, which led to a nervous breakdown and finally to his departure from Baghdad. The schematic presentation of al-Munqidh has allowed various interpretations, but it is irrelevant to question the main line of the story. Thus when he says that the traditional teachings did not grip him in his adolescence, he means to say that he lost his conviction of their truth, which he only later regained through his Sufi mystical experiences.

The life of al-Ghazali has been thus far examined mostly as the development of his individual personality. However, since the s there have appeared some new attempts to understand his life in its wider political and historical context Watt If we accept his religious confession as sincere, then we should be careful not to reduce his thought and work entirely to non-religious factors.

This may be a reflection of a development in which the former type of faith had lost its relevance and become a mere formality due to the political and social confusion of the community. Al-Ghazali experienced this change during his life, and tried to revive the entire structure of the religious sciences on the basis of Sufism, while at the same time arguing for the official recognition of the latter and providing it with solid philosophical foundations.

The former was composed towards the end of his stay in Baghdad and after his critique of philosophy, the latter soon afterwards in Jerusalem. An atomistic ontology is presupposed here, and yet there are also philosophical arguments to refute the criticism of the philosophers. They also assert that it is obligatory for people to know God through reason even before revelation.

Imam Ghazali was appointed as a teacher in this prestigious institution. Nizamul Mulk was an erudite scholar himself and loved the company of scholars, his court was like a debating society. This provided young scholars with an opportunity not only to show off their debating skills and depth of scholarship but to impress the royals. Imam Ghazali loved the pomp and ceremony of these occasions.

His brilliance in all branches of learning was now well established and Nizamul Mulk recognised this. In CE at the young age of Imam Ghazali was appointed the head of Nizamiyya, this was one of the highest-ranking civil positions and the most coveted place in the capital of the Muslim empire. Imam Ghazali had a lot of influence on the royal family, so much so that they listened to him and heeded his advice.

His fame, riches. He lived a life of luxury and was showered with worldly riches. Imam Ghazali had wide-ranging interests, philosophy and spirituality were his favourite subjects. As his interest in spirituality deepened he became critical of the pomp, wealth and his love of status. A conflict began to brew inside him. He felt like leaving Baghdad and retiring into the wilderness.

Abu hamid al-ghazali biography examples

He wrote. Man must energetically and completely turn to his Lord and this cannot happen without giving up pomp and wealth. When I examined myself, I found myself deeply attached to the world. He served as a professor in Nizamiyya madrasa, where he gained a reputation for his exceptional knowledge and teaching abilities. His expertise encompassed a wide range of subjects, making him a respected authority in Islamic scholarship.

This extensive work discusses various aspects of spirituality, ethics, and Islamic law. It has been widely studied and translated into numerous languages, continuing to inspire readers around the world. Spiritual Journey and Crisis: Despite his scholarly success, Ghazali experienced a profound spiritual crisis, which led him to question the purpose and meaning of his scholarly pursuits.

J The Islamic Text Society. Freedom and fulfillment: "al-Munqidh min al-Dalal" and other relevant works. Boston: Twayne. Bradley, Matthew ed. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Mujahid, Tehran,2nd ed. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society : 65— Retrieved 25 December — via Google Books. New York: Paulist. Quarterly Review of Comparative Education.

Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. This period has tentatively been called the Golden Age of Arabic philosophy Gutas It is in this period, and especially in the thirteenth century, that the major changes in the coverage and structure of Avicennan logic were introduced; these changes were mainly introduced in free-standing treatises on logic. It has been observed that the thirteenth century was the time that "doing logic in Arabic was thoroughly disconnected from textual exegesis, perhaps more so than at any time before or since" El-Rouayheb b: 48— Many of the major textbooks for teaching logic in later centuries come from this period.

Badawi, Mu'allafat al-Ghazali2 vols. Cairo, Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization. Before their diaspora : a photographic history of the Palestinians, — Washington, D. Khalidi, Walid Before their diaspora: a photographic history of the Palestinians, — Also see Tabaqat al-Shafiyya, subki, 4, IV, p. Siyar A'laam al-Nubala'. Lebanon: Dar al-Hadith.

Little, Brown. Archived from the original on 30 June Retrieved 27 May Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance. MIT Press. Deliverance from errorp. Sources [ edit ]. Haque, Amber Savage-Smith, Emilie Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. PMID Saritoprak, Zeki Parrott, Justin Smith, Margaret Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1 : 65— Further reading [ edit ].

Macdonald, Duncan B. Fitzpatrick and A. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences. Archived from the original PDF on Watt, W. Montgomery The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. External links [ edit ]. Wikisource has original works by or about: Al-Ghazali. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al-Ghazali.

Links to related articles. Early Islamic scholars. Ash'ari school of Sunni theology. Islam portal Category. Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani d. Ibn Hibban d. Ibn 'Aqil d. Ibn Tumart d. Nizam al-Mulk d. Islamic philosophy. Philosophers by century CE. Medieval philosophers. See also Renaissance philosophy. Political philosophy. Balance of power Bellum omnium contra omnes Body politic Clash of civilizations Common good Consent of the governed Divine right of kings Family as a model for the state Monopoly on violence Natural law Negative and positive rights Night-watchman state Noble lie Noblesse oblige Open society Ordered liberty Original position Overton window Separation of powers Social contract State of nature Statolatry Tyranny of the majority.

Republic c. Authoritarianism Collectivism and individualism Conflict theories Contractualism Critique of abu hamid al-ghazali biography examples economy Egalitarianism Elite theory Elitism History of political thought Institutional discrimination Jurisprudence Justification for the state Machiavellianism Political ethics Political spectrum Left-wing politics Centrism Right-wing politics Political theology Political violence Separation of church and state Separatism Social justice Statism Totalitarianism Index.

Category:Political philosophy. Islamic theology. Fields Theologians Books. Eschatology Ethics Kalam. Astronomy Cosmology Physics. Cosmology Metaphysics Philosophy. Aboobacker Musliyar Rumi. Early Muslim scholars List of contemporary Muslim scholars of Islam. Islamic schools and branches. Shafi'i school. Al-Humaydi d. Al-Daraqutni — Abu Talib al-Makki d.

Al-Tha'labi d. Ibn Abil-Hadid d. Safi al-Din al-Hindi d. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani — Al-Mahalli d. Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad — Abu Bakr Musliyar b. Ali Kutty Musliyar b. People of Khorasan. Authority control databases. Hidden categories: All articles with bare URLs for citations Articles with bare URLs for citations from August CS1 errors: missing title CS1 maint: location missing publisher Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata No local image but image on Wikidata Articles containing Arabic-language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June Articles with unsourced statements from December Articles needing additional references from April All articles needing additional references Articles with unsourced statements from December Commons category link is on Wikidata Articles with LibriVox links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with French-language sources fr Articles containing Latin-language text Articles containing French-language text.