Kennedy school of missions
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THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE Being a Translation, with Introduction and Notes of AL-GHAZZALI' S BOOK OF THE IHYA', KITAB AL-'ILM, A THESIS
Submitted to the Faculty of the
KENNEDY SCHOOL OF MISSIONS Of the
HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY William Alexander McCall May, 1940 VITA William Alexander McCall, the son of Thomas and Emmeline Sangster McCall, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, September the Third, 1897. A graduate of the Providence Technical High School, he entered Lafayette College in the fall of 1919 and received the degree of A. B. in June, 1923. In May, 1926, he completed his course of studies at Princeton Seminary with the degree of Th. B., as well as meeting the requirements for the degree of M. A. in Semitics from Princeton University. Appointed in the spring of 1926 to serve under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in Syria, he arrived at Beirut in September of that year. After two years of language study in Beirut, he was assigned to Tripoli, where, with the exception of a year of furlough study spent at Hartford in 1931-32, he was principal of the Tripoli Boys' School. The present work, begun at Hartford, was continued in Syria and completed during a year of residence at tae Hartford Seminary Foundation in 1939-40 until the summer of 1939. TABLE OF CONTEN TS Page
I INTRODUCTION A. A Biographical Sketch of al-GhazzAli iv B. Al-Ghazzali's Dependence on Abu lib 1-Makkl vii C-. A Partial Analysis of the Kitab al-'Ilm xvii D. A Summary of the Book of Knowledge 1 THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION I His Table of Contents of the Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din 5 His Division of the Seven Parts of the Book of Knowledge 14 Part I. THE EXCELLENCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND TEACHING WITH 16 EVIDENTIAL EXAMPLES FROM~a TRADITION AND REASON A. The Excellence of Knowledge 16 1. Its Evidential examples from the Qur'an 16 2. The traditions (al-akhbar) 18 3. The traditions from the companions of
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B. The Excellence of Learning 29 1. The evidential verses of the Qur'an.. 29 2. The traditions from ?M~uhammad 29 .
The records of the followers 31 ii r - Page C. The Excellence of Teaching D. 1. Evidential verses of the Qur'an 2. The traditions from Muhammad 3. The records of the followers The Rational Evidential Examples Aid EXPOSITION OF PRAISEWORTHY k1,TD 3L0- 33 34 37 41 II.
WORTHY K dOWLEDGE AND THE DIVISIONS AND REGULATIONS OF BOTH 50 A. An Exposition of that Knowledge Which Is a Personal Obligation 50 B. An Exposition of the Knowledge which Is a General Obligation 60 1. The science of fundamental sources... 62 2. The subsidiary principles 63 3. The preliminary sciences 64 4. The supplementary sciences 65 III. PART THREE CONCERNS WHAT THE MASSES CONSIDER TO BE PRAISEWORTHY SCIENCES, THOUGH TEY ARE NOT 116 A. An Exposition of the Cause of Blame in the Blameworthy Sciences 1.16 1. If it leads either its possessor or somebody else into harm 116 iii b.
2. If it is harmful to its possessor in the majority of Page cases
118 3. The third reason is for one to be engrossed in a science of which he is not a master.. 1.22 B. Aft Explanation of those Technical Terms which Were Changed 127 1. al-filth (jurisprudence) 2. al-" ilm (knowledge) 128 132 3. al-tawhld (affirming the oneness of Allah 133 4. dhikr and tadhkir (remembering and caus ing to remember This has been changed to: 138 a). stories 138 b). Poetry 143 c). shath (extravagant utterances).. 144 which is divided into: 1). Extreme pretension of love.. 144 2).. Words not understood 1.46 d). tammat (ecstatic utterances)... 147 5. a1--hikmah (wisdom) C. An Exposition of the Praiseworthy Amount of the Praiseworthy Sciences In this respect knowledge is of three kinds: 1. Little or much is blameworthy 152 153
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2. Praiseworthy to the farthest depth of inquiry into knowledge 155 3. Only a special amount is praised 156 IV. THE CAUSE OF PEOPLE'S GIVING THEIR ATTENTION TO THE SCIENCE OF CONTROVERSY AND AN EXPLANA TION OF THE DEFECTS OF DEBATE AND POLEMICS AND THE CONDITIONS WHICH HAZE THEM LAWFUL 167 A. An Exposition of the Deception of Trying to Make These Debates Resemble the Consultations of the Companions and the Conferences of the Fathers 1.71
is a part of religion, but it has eight conditions, and signs : 1. Since it is a general obligation, one who is not free from personal obligations should not engage in it... 171 2. One should not see another general obligation which is more important than 3. The debater should be an independent scholar (able to) give an opinion 174 4. One should debate an actually occurring debates
172 Fae g problem or one about to occur 1.75 5. Debate in solitude should be preferred to debate in public 6. The debater should make no distinction whether the truth appears by means of him or one who aids him 177 7. :-He should not prevent his opponent from changing from one proof to another 179 8. The debater should debate with one who is engaged in knowledge and from whom he expects some benefits B. An Exposition of the Defects of Debating and Some of the Things Growing; out of it Which Destroy Character These will be discussed in the Quarter on The Things Which Destroy, but the sum total of them is: 1. Envy 183 2. Pride and exalting one's self 184 3. Spite 135 4. Backbiting 186 5. Self-justification 186 6. Prying into private affairs 1.87 7. Joy in what harms people and sorrow over 176
181 1.82
their joy Page 1.88 8. Hypocrisy 189 9. Disdain of the truth and hope of opposing it 190
10. To act the hypocrite and regard people and seek to incline their hearts and turn their faces towards them 191 V. PART FIVE GO CERNS T [:E .W •:NERS OF THE PUPIL AND THE TEACHER 197 A. The Pupil's Outward Manners and Offices Are Many, But Their Different Aspects :lay Be Arranged under Ten Headings 1. To give precedence to purifying the soul from impure character and blameworthy qualities 2. To diminish one's attachment to the oc cupations of the present world and to draw away from one's people and native land 202 3. Not to boast and feign knowledge or to become a ruler over his teacher 203 4. In the beginning of the matter one who is going to plunge into knowledge should avoid listening to people's disagreements.... 207 197 5. Not to forsake any part of the praiseworthy sciences nor any of its various kinds without giving it careful considation by which its purpose and aim are atudied Page
209 6. Not to plunge deeply into any particular sort of knowledge in one swoop, but to observe the gradations and begin with what concerns one most 210 7. ,got to go deeply into an art before com pleting the prerequisite art 213 8. To know the means by which one apprehends the noblest of sciences 9. The pupils present purpose should be to adorn and beautify his inner life with virtue and in the time to come, to draw nigh to Allah and ascend to the proximity of the archangels and those who draw near 215 10. To know the relation of the sciences to what is purposed 214
B. An Exposition of the Duties of a Teacher 217
Who Guides 226
to treat them as sons 228 Page
2. To emulate the giver of divine law (',uhammad) and not seek, recompense for giving benefit of knowledge 229 3. Not to reserve anything of his advice 4. To prevent the pupil from bad character by way of implication as much as possible, and not to speak explicitly, and by way of compassion, not by way of censure... 234 5. Not to vilify, in the presence of the pupil, the sciences which are beyond him 235 6. To limit the pupil to the measure of his understanding and not give him something which his intellect has not reached 236. 7. To give a weak pupil only the clear knowl edge which is suitable for him, and not to mention the fact that beyond that there are fine points which are kept from him... 238 8. The teacher should practice what he inows and his deeds should not belie his words.. 240 Vi. PART SIX CONCERNS THE PERILS OF KNOWLEDGE A -D AN EXPOSITION OF THE SIGNS OF TIC: OTHER WORLDLY AND THE CORRUPT D IV I EE S 242 to the pupil 232
Page Some of the sip;ns that distinguish the other-worldly divines from others are: 1. They do not seek the present world by their knowledge 248 2. Their deeds do not contradict their speech 3. Their concern is to obtain knowledge which 260 is useful for the next abode and which requires obedience, and they shun the sciences the benefit of which decreases, and about which disputation and talk increase 208 4. They are not inclined to lead_an easy life (in respect to) luxury in food and drink, soft clothing, and ornamented furnishings and dwellings 5. They try to be remote from the sultans ana not to visit them at all as long as there is a way of escape from. them 6. They are not precipitate in giving legal opinions 7. Most of their concern should be about mystic knowledge and watchfulness of the heart and knowledge of the way and their journey to the next abode 295 8. They should have a strong concern to 273 282 288
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strengthen certain belief 300 al-yagin is used by two groups in a particular sense for different ideas. They are the speculative and scholas tic theologians 302 They use it to express absence of doubt. There are four degrees in the soul's inclination to believe anything: a). When belief. and disbelief are evenly balanced " b). When the soul inclines toward one of two matters in spite of a perception that its contradic tion is possible 303 c). When something overcomes the soul and no other possibility occurs to the mind 304 d). True knowledge obtained by way of demonstration so that doubt is excluded The second technical usage for al--yag3n is the special usage of the juriscon suits and Sufis and most of the learned, which concerns ruling and dominating the mind 303 303 304
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9. They should be sad, contrite, downcast, silent, and give the appearance of piety on their countenance, and by their clothing, conduct, motion, quiesence, speech, and silence 10. Most of their discussion should be about practical knowledge and about what corrupts it and confounds hearts and incites satanic thoughts and stirs up evil Page
314 322
11. In regard to their knowledge, their dependence should be on their intelligence arid on their understanding with purity of heart, not on pamphlets and books and not on imi tation of what they hear from others 327 12. They should be strictly on their guard against new things, even if a great many should agree on them; and (not be deceived by) people's agreement on what has happened after the time of the Companions VII. PART SEVEN CONCERNS I ?TELLIGE:i' CE , ITS N03ILITY, ITS VERACITY, AND ITS DIVISIONS 346 A. An Exposition of the Nobility of Intelligence 346 x3. An Exposition of the Veracity and Divisions 332
of Intelligence 0. 353
iii k. The name al-'aql is ascribed to four ideas: 1). That quality by which roan is differentiated from the rest of the animals and by which he is prepared to receive the speculative sciences and to manage the hidden reflective arts 2. The knowledge which comes into existence In the essence of a child (dhat al-tifl) which distinguishes between the possibility of the possible and the impossibility of the impossible 3. Knowledge acquired from the experience of Page 354
356 passing circumstances 356 4. The power of this natural disposition leads one to know the issue of affairs and to tame and conquer his appetite which tempts him to follow fleeting delight 357 C. An Exposition of People's Disparity in Intelligence a_ 363 _NOT'ES TO THE Kitab al-' Ilm :, . Bibliography 372 420 PART I
INTRODUCTION iv.
INTRODUCTION A. A Biographical Sketch of al-Ghazzall When directly in front of me lie approximately ten 1
Though reputed to have been of a critical and sceptical turn of mind even in his youth, he must have absorbed much of the spirit of Sufiism from his early surroundings which prepared him to receive it in his later life, when he was dissatisfied with the results of theology and speculation. So his experience resembles that of a youth, nurtured under the sweet influence of a simple homely relig,iou faith, who goes off to school where more critical ideas disturb his heart and leave him dissatisfied, until he returns again to the shelter of his earlier religious experiences. In one sense he was not a thorough-going Sflft, because he could never sever himself from his years of study and 2 the influence of theological speculation. He was a mystic v who emphasized the importance of knowledge and learning, having zealously sought it himself. This is illustrated by one of the traditions which he uses in this book. About al-Junaid, al-Sari said, "May Allah make you a possessor of tradition as a Sufi, and not make you a Sufi who is a possessor of tradition", thus indicatin that one who first acquires tradition and learning and then becomes a Sufi will succeed, while whoever beco.7es a Sufi before obtaining knowl 3 edge exposes himself to danger. He himself became a Sufi after having acquired a solid foundation of learning which undoubtedly prevented him from indulging in many excesses of the Sufis and contributed much to his ability to mediate between unsympathetic orthodox Muslims and the mystical Sufis and finally set ~ufiism on an accredited basis in Islam. He speaks thus about his zeal for learning, "Accept this advice from one who spent his whole life in it and out stripped his predecessors in respect to writing, investigating, disputing, and proving. Then, inspiring him to ,think 4 aright, Allah made him see his fault and forsake it." In his spiritual crisis and inner struggle about re linquishing his position at Baghdad many of the Sufi pre5 cepts mentioned in this book were undoubtedly before his mind: "The learned should avoid mingling with sultans and vi not visit them at all as long as there is a way of escape 6 from them"; "The learned are the messengers' trustees for the people, as long as they do not mingle with the sultans. 7 When they do that, they are unfaithful to the messengers':; and "If you see a learned person who likes the present world, consider him to be against your religion."
the divine law", but more than the praise of man was his fear of his Lord, and he wanted to draw nigh to Him. So the only thing for him to do was to follow his conscience. Yet for him to be a Sufi did not mean the neglect of study which he continued to the end as de Boer points out: "His closing years were chiefly devoted to pious contemplation and the study of the traditions, which as a youth he could never remember. A beautifully complete and rounded 10 life, in which the end comes back to the beginning.'= And what is more beautiful than the account of his death which I quote from Macdonald's Life of al-shazzali, "On aonday, at dawn, my brother performed the ablution and prayed. Then he said, 'Bring me my grave-clothes', and he took them and kissed them, and laid them on his eyes and Vii
said, 'I hear and obey to go in to the King.' And he stretched out his feet and went to meet Him, and was taken 11 to the good will of God Most High." B. Al-GhazzAli's Dependence on Abu Talib al-4akki Al-Ghazzd1i's Position in Islam is indicated by the tradition quoted by both Scherer and Zwemer: "If there had been a prophet after Mohammed, it surely would have been al12 Ghazali."
honor. This was the book which earned him the honorary title 'Proof of Islam' and which was in such vogue among the faithful that, according to the testimony of one of his biographers, the Muslims were wont to say, 'If all Islam should come to be lost, the loss will be of small import, provided that this work remains. 'U 13 That his works were well known goes without saying. Even today his books are in great vogue in Arabic speaking countries, while some of them have been translated into various tongues such as Spanish, Italian, German, French, and -English; and Schmolders notes Logica et philosophia viii
Algazelis Arabic, a poorly done Latin translation of ,i'Y ru '1-'llm which appeared as early as 1506, the year 4. 1 of Columbus' death, but which had become so rare that nei14 them Tiedemann nor Tennemann knew it Al-Ghazzall has enjoyed and continues to enjoy great renown, as has been indicated; yet there are some who would diminish his fame somewhat by pointing out that he was not such an original scholar as had been supposed. Writing in 1.842 Auguste Schmolders pointed out that much of his Tahafutu '1-Falasifa was a compilation and re arrangement of other works. Paraphrased, the passage reads thus: "In this book---he does not seek to oppose them with arguments drawn from his own philosophy: gathering various criticisms made by others, he simply arranges them in such a way as to show that the opinion of one philosopher contradicts that of another, that such and such a system over turns another; in short, that among the philosophers dissent' reigns perpetually. Such was his aim; so the author himself declares at the close of the first chapter of his book; and, the remarkable thing is that no modern writer whom I know has noticed this passage; otherwise one should have re frained from showering on Ghazzali titles which absolutely do not belong to him and his reputation of philosopher would have been less elevated. The book, Tahafutu 'Z-Fala- ix sifa, even as a compilation would not be able to give its author celebrity, for nearly all that is gathered together in it is borrowed from the scholastic theologians who, long before Ghazza.ll, had hurled the same arguments at the i•°ius lim philosophers; Ghazzali has simply brought them togeth er in an orderly manner and given them a kind of methodical arrangement. " 15 Orientalists of the West have realized for some time that the great "Proof of Islam" had drawn from various earlier sources in compiling his own voluminous writings. In her article, The Forerunner of al-Ghazztll, "Mar garet Smith begins with this statement: "In his al-Munkidh rein al-Dalal al-Ghazall states that he studied the works of a1-14uhasibi, together with those of Abu Ta1ib al-JMakki, alJunayd, Shibli, and Abu Yazid al-Biatami, and of these Harith b. Asad al-Muhasibi (ob. 243/857) was the earliest and the most prolific writer, and to him al-Ghazali owes more of his teaching than has been generally realized, and much that, hasbeen attributed to al-Ghazall as representing his original ideas, is in fact based upon the earlier teaching:: of a1-Muhasibl and, in many instances, is directly borrowed from him." "This seems to have been the case witha good deal of al-Ghazdli's eschat4logical teaching, for passa~;e after x passage in, e.g. the Durrat al-Fakhira shows a close resemblance to the contents of al-Muhasibi's al-Ba'th wa 'l-Nushur (MS. Paris, 1913) and the Kitab al-Tawahhum (MS. Oxford Hunt. 611). But it is in his ascetical and mystical teaching that al-Ghazali has built most obviously upon the foundations laid by al-Muhasibi, with an occasional acknowledgment of his indebtedness, but more often by the simple appropriation of al-vIuhasibl's definitions, doctrines, and illustrations, to serve his own purposes. In the account which al-Ghazali gives of his own religious experience, culminating in his conversion, he has very obviously taken al Muhzsibl's account of his spiritual difficulties and experi16 ences as his model.' In the Encyclopaedia of Islam Masignon, writing a biographical sketch of Abu Talib Muhammad Bin 'All al-HArithi al-Makki, states, "His principal work is Qt a1-Qulub (Cairo 1310, 2 vols.) whole pages of which have been copied by alGhazall into his Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din." 17 Again in the same work Brockelmann, writing a notice on al-Raghib al-IsfahRni, said, "As a quotation in the preface shows, he had already written his principal work on Ethics, Kitab al-Dhari'a ila Makarim al-Shari'a before the Kitab Mufradat; al-Ghazzali is said to have always had a copy 18 of this by him." xi "Without attempting a complete review", Nicholson says in apeaking of the Kitab al-Luma'., "I would mention as especially novel or noteworthy the chapters on 6uf:istic inter - preiation (istinbQ) of the Koran and the Hadith; those on audition and ecstasy, which embody excerpts from the lost KitRb al-ward of Abu Said b. al-A'rabi and (which) have 19 been utilized by Ghazzali in the Ihya; ---." In his Essai, commenting on a1-Ruhasibi's Ri'ayah, 4assignon states in a footnote, "A comparison with Makkl (lat al-qulub) and Ghazzall (Ihya'_) is highly instructive. Nakki gives only a feeble reproduction of Chap. iv (i,75), Yüklə 1,95 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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