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cit., I, p. he learned from this teacher the courage to forsake the paths the taglidis trod. He proved to be so brilliant and schol- arly in his work that he became one of the three favorite pupils of ImEm al-Haramayn. In deseribing these three pupils the Imam said, "A1-GhazElf is a copious sea,(5)al-KiyE a tear- ing lion, and al-Khawgff a burning fire". On another occasion he is reported to have said of these same pupils, "When they debate together, verification, (taharq)belongs to al-Khawdff, intuitive hypotheses (hadsiyygt) to al-GhazElf, and clear exposition to al-Kiyg. (6) Yet in spite of the high opinion the Imam held of al-Ghazglr's abilities it is reported that he was not completely sincere in the way he outwardly boasted of him, as he was at heart somewhat jealous of him and dis- pleased with the spirit of pride he developed and his con- tempt for others, as a result of his natural gifts and his superiority over others in accomplishments.(7) While still a pupil, al-Ghazali assisted his teacher the Imam in teaching. At the same time he disputed and wrote on every subject with the purpose of refuting the views of innovators and philo- sophers. According to Saliba and cAyyid it was possibly there xviii
that his doubts about science started (4. Sometime after the death of the Imam in 478/1085, al-Ghazalf left Naysgbir to make the acquaintance of Niz5m v•- al-Mulk, the vizier of the Seljuk king Malik Shah. At the court oflizim al-Mulk al-Ghazal! had the opportunity to dis-- pute with learned men and refute his opponents. Nizam al-, • Mulk admired him and appointed him teacher at the Nizamiyyah madrasah at Baghdad (484/1091), where 300 pupils gathered around him. There, due-4e titemetee4-44awees4-01--Ite--ealesote c'• his skill in lecturing and writing and.byAsound legal opinions, (fatw;) lae—extresee4, he gained a great reputation. On completing his writing against scholastic theologians (al-mutakallimiA) and their unsatisfactory methods of argument, along with his teaching in the madrasah, he engaged in the study of philosophy for three years all by himselfP) He gave special attention to the writings of al-PirabI (d.950 A.D.;) and Ibn Sin; (980-1037 A.D.). It was then that he wrote his book Maa;sid al-Fallsifah, in which he gives an exposition of the philosophers'. views. He followed that by his book (Tahafut al-Falasifab),in which he refutes their (8) J. and quid, K., Al4funqitMlbtal-Dalal al-Islam al-Ghazili (Maktab al-Nashr 1-1rabl; Damas- Ous 45S/1959), p,29 - hereafter referred to as Munaidh '(9) Ibid, p. 85; (quoted also in Tabaclit,, IV, p. l26f.) xix
views, e.g, concerning creation, attributes of God, immortal- ity, etc. (10) Later, while he was engaged in the study of the teachings of the Tacirmts, as the IsmgrilIs or Bgtinis were called in Lhurgsiin then, he received orders from the Khalifah, (11) al-Mustazhir, to write against them. So he made a good exposition of their views and claims in his book al-Mustashirro which he later followed by other books, () and refuted their teachings concerning the Infallible Imam (A1-Imam al-Macsam), who, they claimed, should be resorted to for eight guidance. Later, and while still attending to his teaching duties in the madrasah, he started studying safism,c;specially in such • books as Qat al-Qulib by al-Makki (d. 388/996) and bookd by al-Muhisibi (d. 243/857) and others.(13) All his intellectual studies until then had provided him with a belief based on certainty ()Nan yaqini) in God, prophethood and the Last Day (al-Yawm aljakhir). (14) As to bliss in the other world, he was now convinced
r12) Muncadh, p. 119
that it could not be obtained except through piety, orsaking (14) the world and wormy things, d seeking approach to God. As a result he underwent a severe inner struggle which continued for six months. Psychologically and physically its effect was so great that, as he himself states, he could ther teach nor utter a word, and finally he fell hopelessly (15) sick. The struggle ended in ,giving up in 488/1095 or his position is 'professor in Baghdad. Then, forsaking fami ly, wealth and fame he decided to leave for Syria, under the (16) gaise of pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah. In Syria he spent about two years in complete retirement, giving himself to afar exercises and spiritual discipline , •
_ . •••••••••••• Jerusalem,. where he shut hims;iisimilarly in the Dome of the Rock. 'Finally he decided to perform the duty of pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah, visiting on his way first the grave of Abraham at al-Matti (Hebron). From there apparent-(17). ly he went back to Damascus, where he devoted himself to i15) Ibidl p. 128f; of. RifigIII, p. 109.
worship in the zawiyah at the Umawl mosque, known then: as al-Nisriyyah (after Shaykh Nair al-MaqdisI),known today as 
al-Ziwiyat al-Ghaziliyyah (after al-Ghazal!). It was during this period that he started writing his Ihya° PUlim alzDln,(18) (18) and perhaps taught it in that same Zawiyah. Prom Damas(19) (20) cus he went to Cairo and Alexandria. After having spent .(17) about ten years outside 'Iraq, the prayers of his children, his concern about his family affairs, and his own personal aspirations drew him back home. He visited Baghdad, but not as a regular teacher at (21) the madrasah. Instead he held meetings (majilis) for (22) preaching and for teaching his Igil At home in TEs he lived in seclusion giving himself to meditation and the observance of the appointed times of worship, and to writing, until his writings became known everywhere and met no contra (23) diction. .-- The decline of faith and the corruption of life*among
Ar ll planned to go to Ydsuf ibn lishfin, sultan of Maghrib, who was known for his justice. But on hearing of his death he changed his direction - TabagettIV,p. 105; Biagi, I, p. 124. (211 Instead of ma all& SabkI has mains (in the singular) Tabaoat,IV, p. 100.
(24) Muslims, including learned men and sufis1 grieved his heart. A call from within, and strong advice by concerned sifi lead 
ers compelled him to leave his retirnment and accept the repeated invitation by Fakhr al-Mulk125)vizier of Sanjay, ruler • ( of Khurisgn,26) to teach in the Nizimiyyah madrasah at Naysgbar. Al-Ghazglns sole and sincere purpose was to bring about a reform(27)under the patronage of Fakhr al-hulk and the ruler. Thus after about ten years and a half of retirement from active life(28)he became professor in that madrasah in the eleventh month Ithill-Qacdah) of the year 499/1106. The time he enjoyed that patronage, however, was very short, as Eakhr al. MUlk was assassinated in 500/1106f29) Al-Ghazgli was now exposed to the slander and attacks of his opponents, which he bore patiently and silently. Sometime later he retired to Tas; where, close, to his residence, he opened a madrasah for those who sought learning in the law (fuctahg3) and a khgnqgh for those who sought instruction in the way of the safis. At the same time, •
i26) Zettersteen, K.V., "Fakhr Ul-Mulk" (Encyclopaedia of Islam) (Leyden, E.J. Brill Itd.4. 1913-1934), Vol. III, P. 45- M-eater referred to as E. Islam. Cf also.Qumayr, Y. Op. cit. p. 11. MUnclidh, p. 153f. 28 Eleven lunar years (one lunar:year=354 days)-Ibid, p. 350' 153. (29) According to Macdonald, asquoted by Gardner, his assassination was in Muharram, the first month of that year.. Ibid, p. 19, n. 3. (30) Rifill, p. 131; Zwemer, S.M., a Moslem Seeker after God. (New York, Fleming H., Revell Company, 1920), p. 136. while continuing writing, he gate himself to careful study of had!th, which he had thus far freely used and carelessly quo. ted. He studied the two Sahrhs, that of Muslim and that of al-Bukhara, as well.as the S an of Abl Dead and thousands of various traditions. Thus he made full use of his time, teaching, preaching, writing and studying, without.neglecting his devotions and acts of worship, until he passed away in Tas on the fourteenth of Jamadr II, 505 A.H.(December 18th, 1111 A.D.). (30) xxiv
CHAPTER II THEOLOGICAL DOCTRINES AND OTHER FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED AL-4HAZILI The growth and development of al-Ghazili as thinker and writer, including that stage in his life termed "spiritual journey", or "conversion", was the outcome of the interaction of internal and external forces. His innate capacities and natural tendencies frommithin and the diverse intellectual, 1 spiritual, and at times political factors had their bearings ' upon his mode of thinking and often conditioned his writing, as will be see*. It was the third century of the Abbasid Caliphate, / Politically L-ty-ftwia a period of weakness and decline, when the Saljuk Turks, in 1055 A.D. (three years before al-Ghazali's birth), had Baghdad and all ‘Iraq in their grape. At the same time the 2atimid propaganda (e.g, through the Bitinis) was threatening not only the Clbasid Caliphate but the Sunni madhhd5 and rule as a whole. This Shiq danger was respon; dibln for the establishment of the Nizimiyyah schools by the Saljuk Turks.(1).0n the other hand it was perhaps the greatest (1) One evidence of that and of the motivating factors for al.G.hazall's attack on the Batinis(or Taclimis) is the Ruler's desire from him to write against them= ungidh, p. 109.
among the different schools of thought and sects in Islam. This was due to the invasion of the Muslim world by Greek philosophy, together with some Indian and even Persian elements. At the same time polemical writings between Christians and Muslims were not laoking.(2) It was at this juncture that al-Ghazgli appeared, and from those various fountains he drank his .fill and quenched his thirst. He made a thorough study of the religious sciences of the day and all aspects of philosophy,whidhlhitAilviditite ,:i put to thorough examination, sifted, in some cases synthesized, and finally converted its choice of things to noble purposes and ends. Prom his adolescent years, before he was twenty, as he himself states, his inquisitive mind was never satisfied with \\things taken for granted, or accepted on mere human authority. The first evidence of this appears in connection with reli* gious beliefs. Realizing that each individual acquired by
mical work).
inheritance the religion of the family in which he was born, he began to question the truthfulness of the beliefs he him (4) self had acquired from childhood. It was not the truthful ness of Islam as a religion that he questioned, but belies about it and those related to it It, was an intellectual turning point in his life, which, in time, culminated in his spiritual conversion. (5) As has already been indicated, it was this yearning for the knowledge of realities beyond the limitations of human traditional authority that motivated his trip to Imam al-Hara- wAct. t this at Naysabur. The subjects. he studied 24 this celebrated Shifigi sifr scholar, and the way they were transmitted to him had a strong impression on his thinking and writing;; Bow sides freedom from the method of taclid, he acquired the logical or rational evaluation of religious matters. But, as-ca . ) be evidenced from such things as his doctrine of faith(3Iman), (7) qadia, and oadar, belief concetning life after death (Hell tkk, (8) en as a temporary residence for believers), he was an or 4 p. 69f.
10 180-188 Ma~arii, p. 192f, 197, (esp. 184). 11 Mungit, p. 93f; cf.Tabaqat, IV, p. 123, 126.12 Rifd5 , I, P. 74f; Manoidh. p. 93f. thodox (i.e., Ash°ari) Muslim. As such he submitted every thing he tackled, including evaluation of religious beliefs and conclusions, to the authority of the Qur'an and the support of the sannah, both of which sources he quoted (9 extensively.) His orthodoxy, further,exhibits itself in his attack on such innovators as the Anthropomorphists (Mishabbi.. hah and Muiassimah) and the Muctazilah on such subjects as the attributes of God and beatific vision of Himin the hereafter, both of which he bases on the doctrine of al-mukhiliifah (10 So in fighting. innovators and philosophers, al-Ghazill was actually taking his own post in the Ashgari defensivelitie of orthodoxy, following the same method they followed of attacking the opponent by his own weapons, a method he admits as authentic but attributes to the theologians themselves and not to the philosophers.(11) Among other things which al-Ghazgli acquired and made use of are the Ash saris' attempt at a mutual submission of religion and scientific theories to each other with the pur pose of defending their views, and the use of such theories • in theological studies and disputesf12) He himself states eeld.Or.
•
—order of creation in the system of causati41/111‘the theory c-4"0-44- ' 1.1#4 of causations71.attece -"His is a sequence theory of causation, and;ay' be considered in a way an orthodox Muslim version of the Neoplatonic system, possibly borrowed mostly by way of Sufism, with one essential difference : In al-Ghazili's system the sole Cause and the moving force in 5 the universe is God1) -7 , the First Real One. By way of command He first created the First Intelligence, the noblest of all created things, before any matter or time, then the Soul, and then primary matter (hayili);(16) With the excellence of the First (or universal) Intelligence and Soul is contrasted the excellence of the prophetic mind and soul as compared with Munqidh, p. 103; of Tabaqgt, IT, p. 123. 14 RifEgi, 19 p. 74; of:M"1E11i p. 30; Al-Risilat al- Ladunimah (muhyr'd-prn $abri11-111.rdisal-Sacadah Press, Cairo, 154757i.H.)1_p..28, 29, 30, 31, 37.
Outside Darkness (4ulmah KhdriJiYyah). Cf.theAdaLarr color. ing on p. 201-20g (particularly the last paragraph); of also Ma_ dnin; p. 15 and 3. the other human intelligences and souls.(17) He is not• only the Creator, but also permanent. Sustainer, Supervisor and Guidef15) Atthe same time he admits as correct certain views of his opponents, such as the view held by some philosophers, as well as19.j the MUttazilah,thaf God's knowledge of Himself is A not something additional to Himself (or being)c18) He also Os accepts the ethical teachings o philosophers, but claims that they have borrowed them from mystics.(19) In the field of 11 psychology al-Ghazni accepted and made use, of theories of knowledge, its solace, grades of intelligence, external and intetnal faculties, etc.(20) In spite of all the learning he had acquired from all religious sciences,philosophy and other sciences, he felt a vacancy in his heart and a lack in his knowledge; a sense of dissatisfaction with his status quo invaded him. His quest ter realities culminated in safism, whose influence marks the climax in the moulding of his character as a religious think. er That was not, however, a sudden occurrence, but rather a gradual process beginning with his childhood, and leading
14it - MawErii, p. 193f- His view is s:e- tie sameconcerning ali the Divine attributes ibid, p. 71
xxx up to the final decision he made at Baghdad, as has already been mentioned, to quit fame, wealth and family and give himself to an ascetic disciplining of the soul.(21) He was born in a pious and probably a safi home. After his father's death he was left to the care of a pifi friend. His teachers al-Nassij and Imam al-liaramayn were both Vars. So before his work in Bagheid,he was already well acquainted and to some extent imbued with pifl teachings, even though be was not aware of it before he made his thorough study of it later, when he arrived at. the conviction that salvation from perdition was possible only by piety and turning away from the passionate desires of the soul, which conviction culminated in his above-mentioned decision. Yüklə 2,62 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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