1. Imam Al Ghazali is Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad, abu Hamid Hujjat al-Islam al Ghazali al Tusi, The Shafi'i Imam, Proof of Islam, and sufi adept born in Tabiran, near Tus ( just north of the present day Mashhad, Iran), in 450/1058. The imam of his time, nicknamed Shafi'i the second for his legal viruousity, he was a brilliant intellectual who first studied jurisprudence at Tus, and then traveled the Islamic world to Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Alexandria, Mecca and Medina, taking sacred knowledge from its masters, among them the imam of the two sanctuaries Juwayni, with whom he studied until the imams death, becoming at his hands a scholar in Shafi'i law, logic, tenets of faith, debate, and in the rationalistic doctrines of the philosophical schools of his time, which he later was called upon to refute. When Juwayni died, Ghazali debated the Imams and scholars of Baghdad in the presence of the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who was so impressed that he appointed him to a teaching post at the Nizamiyya Academy in Baghdad, where word of his brilliance spread, and scholars journeyed to hear him.
2. He was known as "the Proof of Islam" (Hujja al-Islam), "Ornament of the Faith," "Gatherer of the Multifarious Sciences," "Great Siddîq," absolute mujtahid, a major Shafi'i jurist, heresiographer and debater, expert in the principles of doctrine and those of jurisprudence.
3. Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated that, like 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and al-Shafi'i for their respective times, al-Ghazzali is unanimously considered the Renewer of the Faith in Fifth Islamic Century. Ibn al-Subki writes: "He came at a time when people stood in direr need of replies against the philosophers than the darkest night stands in need of the light of the moon and stars."
4. His worldly success was something of a mixed blessing, and in mid-career, after considerable reflection, he was gripped by and intense fear for his soul and his fate in the afterlife, and resigned from his post, traveling first to Jerusalem and then to Damascus to purify his heart by following the way of Sufism.
5. In Damascus he lived in seclusion for some ten years, engaged in spiritual struggle and the remembrance of Allah, at the end of which he emerged to produce his masterpiece Ihya 'ulum al din (giving life to the religious sciences), a classic among the books of the Muslims about internalizing godfearingness (taqwa) in ones dealings with Allah, illuminating the soul through obedience to Him, and the levels of believers attainments therein.
6. The work shows how deeply Ghazali personally realised what he wrote about, and his masterly treatment of hundreds of questions dealing with the inner life that no one had previously discussed or solved is a performance of sustained excellence that shows its authors well-disciplined legal intellect and profound appreciation of human psychology. He also wrote nearly two hundred other works, on the theory of government, sacred law, refutations of philosophers, tenets of faith, sufism, Quranic exegesis, scholastic theology and bases of Islamic jurisprudence.
7. He died in tabiranin 505/1111. Ibn al-Jawzi narrated in al-Thabat 'Inda al-Mamat ("Firmness at the Time of Death") from al-Ghazzali's brother Ahmad: "On Monday [14 Jumada al-Akhira] at the time of the dawn prayer my brother Abu Hamid made his ablution, prayed, then said: 'Bring me my shroud.' He took it, kissed it and put it on his eyes, saying: 'We hear and obey in readiness to enter the King's presence.' Then he stretched his legs, facing the Qibla, and died before sunrise (may Allah sanctify his soul).
Part 2: The Masterpiece - The Revival of Religious Sciences (Ihya' Ulumuddin)
One of Ghazali's major works is The Revival of Religious Sciences (Arabic: احياء علوم الدين Ihya 'Ulum al-Din or Ihya'ul Ulumuddin). It covers almost all fields of Islamic religious sciences: Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Kalam (Islamic theology) and Sufism.
It contains four major sections:
1. Acts of worship (Rub' al-'ibadat),
2. Norms of Daily Life (Rub' al-'adatat),
3. The ways to Perdition (Rub' al-'muhlikat)
4. and The ways to Salavation (Rub' al-'munjiyat).
Al-Ghazzali's Ihya 'Ulum al-Din ranks as one of the most widely read books in Islam, having earned the praise of the scholars and the general acceptance of the Community. Among those who praised it are:
Ibn al-Subki: 'It ranks among the books which Muslims must look after and spread far and wide so that many people may be guided by reading them. Seldom has someone looked into this book except he woke up on the spot thanks to it. May Allah grant us insight that shows us the way to truth, and protect us from what stands between us and the truth as a veil.'
Al-Safadi: 'It is among the noblest and greatest of books, to the extent that it was said, concerning it, that if all books of Islam were lost except the Ihya, it would suffice for what was lost.'
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi: 'It was as if Allah gathered all sciences under a dome, and showed them to al-Ghazzali.'
According to Shaykh Hafiz al-Iraqi,
* the first volume of the Ihya' on 'Ibaadaat (worship) is a must for those dedicated to aakhirah (the afterlife),
* the second volume on 'Aadaat (the proprieties of daily life) is a must for those who want to live according to the religion of Islam,
* the third volume on Muhlikaat (the ways to perdition) is a must for those who want to achieve tazkiyatun nafs (purification of the ego/self), and tat'hirul qalb (purification of the heart) while
* the fourth volume on Munjiyaat (the ways to salvation) is a must for those who want to be among the muqarrabeen (those drawn near to Allah) and siddiqeen (the sincerely truthful).
According to him, the Ihya' is medicine for the heart, medicine for the soul and a means to achieve everlasting bliss in paradise.
According to al-Habib 'Abdallah al-'Attas in The Way of Bani 'Alawi, the Ihya' is totally concerned about the realisation of 'ubudiyyah (worship of Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala). He quotes Shaykh 'Abdallah bin Ahmad Baa-Sudan Naf'anAllahu bih from his kitab Al-Futuhaat al-'Arshiyyah(The Openings of the Divine Throne): "Swim in the sea of the Ihya' and you shall be counted among the living".
In his sharh (explanation), al-Habib 'AbdulQadir al-'Aydaroos Naf'anAllahu bih gives a neat little summary about the contents of the Ihya'. According to him,
* the first volume on 'Ibaadaat (worship) is about Huququllah (rights of Allah),
* the second volume on 'Aadaat (the proprieties of daily life) is about huquq u'l 'ibaad (the rights of Allah's servants on you),
* the third volume on Muhlikaat (the ways to perdition) is about tazkiyat u'l qalb min sifat i'l madhmumah (purification of the heart of condemnable qualities), while
* the fourth volume on Munjiyaat (the ways to salvation) is about tahliyatul qalb min sifaat i'l mahmudah (the embellishment of the heart with praiseworthy qualities).
Shaykh 'Ali bin Abubakr bin Shaykh 'AbdulRahman al-Saqqaf said that if a non-believer opened the Ihya', he would become a Muslim because it is a hidden secret and a magnet for the heart.
Part 3: What Some Awliya (saints) And Saleheen (pious men) Say about Imam al-Ghazali's Works
'Abdallah bin 'Alawi al-Haddad has said:
"Al-Ghazali is a graceful favour bestowed by Allah upon this nation (ummah). He has investigated the sciences and weaved them. No 'alim can have his rank".
"The books of al-Ghazali quench thirst for they are a cure of the heart's sicknesses".
"To love al-Ghazali is an incomparable gift, and you will see this in akhira. Only the believer whose heart is enlightened and who deals justly with his self loves the books of al-Ghazali, he has guided us with his books and the barakat of his secrets.
"Never have the people of truth agreed about the perfection of anyone as they have about that of Imam al-Ghazali. A traveller's journey is not complete until he has read the books of al-Ghazali, for they help him in his journey and protect him from the evil of his self".
"The one who engages in reading the Ihya' is gaining firmly established knowledge, for the reading of it may suffice as a teacher and a shaykh. Nothing is more beneficial to the people of this time than to read the Ihya', for it is life and happiness in akhira".
"The Ihya' is a miracle"
Ibn al-Subki cited the following opinions from al-Ghazzali's contemporaries:
Imam al-Haramayn: 'Al-Ghazzali is a quenching sea.'
Al-Ghazzali's student Imam Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Mansur al-Naysaburi al-Shahid: 'He is the second al-Shafi'i.'
As'ad al-Mûhani: 'None attains the knowledge of al-Ghazzali's science nor his merit except one who has attained or almost attained perfection in his intelligence.'
Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad, University of Cambridge, believes that Imam al-Ghazali's books must play a central role in the current campaign to revivify Islam:
"Imam al-Ghazali's significance is manifold. He not only understood philosophy, but he showed the dangerously speculative nature of its basic premises in a way which anticipates much modern positivism. This awareness led him to develop a Muslim epistemology rooted in 'tasting' (dhawq), i.e. the illuminative fruits of systematic and divinely-assisted introspection, as the only sure path to knowledge. This makes him a figure of profound and immediate relevance to Westerners of my generation who often feel that post-modernism and the notion of the 'equality of all discourse' have thrown humanity into what is in effect, despite all the information cascading from the universities and science laboratories, a state of ideologically rigorous ignorance. We are now grasping what Ghazali and his school were explaining nine hundred years ago: no universal statements about the world or the human condition can be reached by purely ratiocinative or inductive methods, because these cannot transcend the material context of the world in which they are framed. Ghazali, in short, through his manifesto the Ihya, offers the only intellectually rigorous escape from the trap of postmodernity." (masud.co.uk)Conclusion
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali has made major contributions to the refinement of speculative and metaphysical thought. He was also instrumental in transforming the relevance of the traditional religious sciences for rational, scientific and spiritual disciplines. His legacy is especially fruitful in providing creative insights into the dynamics between faith and reason. Many of al-Ghazali’s teachings and ideas have served to inspire the spiritual and intellectual lives of successive generations of Muslims. His works continue to provide guidance for humanity today in creatively meeting the challenges of modernity and development.
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