النص المفهرس

Abū 'I-Hasan al-Ash'arī
Profound Knowledge and Piety
Ash'arī was not merely an intellectual and knowledgeable scholar. Along with
his excellence in reason and knowledge he was also embellished with moral
and spiritual excellence, piety, and worship, as the pious predecessors were.
One jurist, Ahmad ibn 'Alī, reported that he accompanied Ash arī for twenty
years but did not see anyone more reverent, godly, shy, and modest in his
worldly affairs, while at the same time enthusiastic in the performance of reli-
gious duties." The theologian Abū'l-Husayn al-Harawī related that for years
Ash'arī spent entire nights in vigils and performed his morning prayers with
the ablution he made for night prayer.2 Ash ari's personal attendant, Bundar
ibn al-Husayn, reported that Ash'ari's only source of livelihood consisted
of a property with an income of seventeen dirhams per day, which he had
inherited from his grandfather Bilāl ibn Abī Burda ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ash arī.3
Ash'arī died in 324/936 and was buried in Baghdad. It was announced at
his funeral that the "defender of hadith" had passed away.
Abū Manşūr al-Māturīdī
During the same period, another theologian emerged in Samarkand to defend
the faith against the attacks of heretical sects: Abū Mansur al-Maturīdī (d.
332/944).4 As a result of his constant struggles with the Mu tazilis, Ash arī had
become somewhat extreme in some of his views, which were stretched further
by some of his followers. Maturīdī's thought, on the other hand, is marked
by moderation. He rejected unwarranted additions, which had become part
of the Ash'arī school and had developed through their polemical debates
with the Mu'tazilis. They left many loopholes unfilled and many questions
unanswered. Maturīdī therefore honed and reordered the fundamentals of
orthodox Islamic theology, moderating it and making it more comprehensive.
The differences between the Ash aris and the Maturidis were marginal and
mostly semantic and limited to thirty or forty peripheral issues.5
1 Ibid., 141.
2 Ibid., 141.
3 Ibid., 142; Wafayat al-A'yan, 2:447.
4 This was the period when, in reaction to the Mu'tazili attack on orthodoxy, several scholars
gave attention to the development of Islamic theology ('ilm al-kalam) for the defense of the reli-
gion. Țaņāwī (d. 321/933) in Egypt and Maturīdī (d. 333/944) in Samarkand took up the defense
of religion, but over time the Maturidi school became largely assimilated into the Ash arī school,
while by comparison Tahawi, his short creedal work notwithstanding, did not become as renowned
as a theologian.
5 Shaykh Muhammad 'Abduh, in his marginal gloss on the Aqa'id 'Adudiyya, says that the
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Imam Abū Manșūr al-Māturīdī belonged to the Hanafi school of juris-
prudence. Just as most Shafi'i scholars and theologians followed the Ash arī
school, the majority of Hanafi scholars and theologians were of the Maturīdī
school. Maturīdī was also a man of letters who has left many valuable texts
refuting the doctrines of the Mu'tazilīs, Rafidī Shi'ites, and Qarmatis. One of
his books, Ta'wīlat al-Qur'an, is an outstanding example of his keen intellect
and mastery over rational sciences. However, since Ash'arī confronted the
Mu'tazilīs in the base of their school at the center of Islamic world (Baghdad),
he came to exert a far greater influence in intellectual circles and his name
and works are at the forefront and enjoy greater prominence in the history
of Islamic theology.
Later Ash'arīs
The Ash arī school produced a number of high-ranking and respected theo-
logians and teachers who have left an indelible mark with their profound
knowledge and high intelligence. They exerted immense influence and
regained supremacy for orthodoxy around the Muslim world away from
the Mu'tazilis. In the fourth/tenth century, Ash arī luminaries such as Qādī
Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī (d. 403/1013) and Abū Isņāq al-Isfarāyīnī (d. 418/1027)
were born. After them, in the fifth century, came Abū Ishaq al-Shīrāzī (d.
476/1083) and Imam al-Haramayn (the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries) Abū
'1-Ma'alī 'Abd al-Malik al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085), who were held in high esteem
due to their profound knowledge. Abū Ishaq al-Shirazī was the rector of the
Nizāmiyya College in Baghdad. He was sent by Caliph Muqtadī bi-'Llāh as
his ambassador to the court of the Seljuq sultan Malikshah. He was held in
such a high esteem by the people that in whichever town he happened to
pass during his journey from Baghdad to Nishapur, the entire population
came out to greet him. People showered him whatever valuables they could
afford and saved the dust underneath his feet out of reverence. When Shirazī
arrived at Nishapur, the entire population came out of the city to greet him,
and Imam al-Haramayn himself carried Shirazī's saddlecloth on his shoulder
as a porter's burden while escorting him. He took great pride thereafter that
he had the honor of serving Shirazī.1
Imam al-Haramayn was accorded the highest place of honor by Nizām
al-Mulk, the vizier of the Seljuq sultan Alp Arslan. He held the position of
disputed issues number no more than thirty (Abū Zahra, Ibn Taymiyya, 184).
1 Subkī, Țabagāt al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubrā, 3:91-92.
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Abū 'l-Hasan al-Ash'arī
preacher at the principal mosque of Nishapur, director of the religious trusts,
and rector of the Nizamiyya College there. Ibn Khallikan writes of him:
For thirty years he remained without peer in the fields of learning and piety.
He was the adornment of the pulpit (minbar) and niche (mihrab) and the
chief scholar and preacher on Friday.1
A historian related an incident showing the respect accorded to Imam
al-Haramayn. Once, the Seljuq king Malikshah announced the appearance
of the new moon at the end of Ramadan. Imam al-Haramayn, not satisfied
with the evidence, had another announcement made: "Abü'l-Ma'alī is satisfied
that the month of Ramadan will continue tomorrow. All those who want to
act on his decision should keep fast tomorrow also." When the king ques-
tioned Imam al-Haramayn about his announcement, he said, "I am bound
to obey the king in matters falling in the sphere of the state, but in matters
pertaining to religion, the king ought to have asked for my decision, since
under the Shari'a, a religious decree carries as much authority as the edict
of the king. And the matters pertaining to fast and 'Id are religious issues
that have nothing to do with the king. Consequently, the king had another
declaration made, saying that his earlier announcement was wrong and that
the people should follow the decision of Imam al-Haramayn.2
When Imam al-Haramayn died in 478/1085, the markets of Nishapur were
closed, the pulpit of the principal mosque was dismantled, and four hundred
of his disciples destroyed their pens and inkpots as a gesture of respect to
him. The inhabitants of Nishapur received condolences and expressed their
grief to one another over the death of Imam al-Haramayn for one full year.3
Nizam al-Mulk al-Țūsī, the grand vizier of the Seljuq Empire, the most
powerful of the day, was himself a follower of the Ash'arī school. He gave
great strength to the school by providing it his official backing. The found-
ing of the two renowned educational institutions, the Nizamiyya colleges
in Nishapur and Baghdad that were managed by Ash arī scholars, provided
great scholarly strength and breadth to the Ash'arīs. The Nizamiyya College
in Baghdad was the largest seminary in the Muslim world and was held in
great esteem. Being a student or teacher there was a source of great pride.
Therefore, the influence the Ash arī school had on scholars and the laity was
a divine decree.
1
Wafayat al-A'yan, 2:342.
2 Mullā Jalāl al-Dīn, Akhlāq-i Jalālī, 115-19.
3 Wafayat al-A'yan, 3:243.
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CHAPTER 6
Decline of Theology & Ascendency
of Hellenistic Philosophy
Philosophic and Esoteric Schools
Although the Ash'aris had gained ascendancy over other schools of thought
by dominating the educational institutions and religious and intellectual
circles, they began to lose their grip over time. Ash'arī, a man of dominating
stature and agile mind, had diffused the magic of the Mu'tazili school and
reestablished the supremacy of the Shari'a and the Sunna. His achievement
can be attributed as much to his scholastic principles and maxims as to his
own qualities of mind and heart, his intelligence, and his scholarship. The
Ash'arī's school could have maintained its hold over the people by continu-
ing to produce similarly illuminating personalities. Unfortunately, his fol-
lowers developed a sense of complacency, especially after the fifth/eleventh
century, and were content to simply transmit what they had learned from
their mentors. They lost all originality, causing them to decline over time.
Those few who were not content with treading the beaten path introduced
Hellenistic philosophical concepts and terminology into their dialectic. They
were enamored of the philosophical method of reasoning, though it neither
provided any conclusive evidence to prove the issues they debated, nor did it
employ an approach as natural and direct as that of the Qur'an. The method
employed was, by its very nature, inconclusive and made their doctrines
vulnerable to refutation.1 Thus, the dialecticians who borrowed philosophi-
cal terminology, concepts, and approaches did not render any help to the
orthodox school they claimed to represent, and they failed to gain the respect
of the rationalists and philosophers.
1 As it was refuted by Ibn Taymiyya in some of his works, especially in Al-Radd'ala 'l-Manți-
qiyyīn (Response to the Logicians).
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Popularity of Hellenistic Philosophy
Owing to the patronage and keen interest of the caliph, a large number
of Syriac, Greek, Latin, and Persian works on Hellenistic philosophy had
been translated into Arabic. Several of these were treatises pertaining to the
Aristotelian school, which were proving harmful to intelligent but imprudent
youth. These translations also included works on logic, physics, chemistry,
mathematics, and other sciences which could have been studied to great
benefit. But more interest was shown for metaphysical writings, which were
merely a collection of Greek mythology cleverly presented as an elaborate,
well-argued philosophy. It was a spell of words, ideas, and thoughts based
on certain assumptions and conjectures that were fanciful and unverifiable.
Greek philosophy dealt with the genealogy of the heavens, the active intellect,
and horoscopes representing the movement of the assumed First Cause, logos
and nous. For a people Allah had bestowed with prophecy, and through the
Prophet Muhammad had endowed with true knowledge of His essence
and attributes and of the beginning and end of creation and human existence,
it was hardly necessary to waste time on mythology passed off as philosophy.
Nevertheless, the philosophers, who were great admirers of Greek logic,
physics, and mathematics, accepted this mythology couched in philosophi-
cal terms as though it were a revealed truth. It is rather amusing to see how
these people, who venerated Greek sciences as the fountainhead of classical
wisdom, also accepted their metaphysical pursuits so eagerly. Perhaps they
felt themselves in need of Greek metaphysics and philosophy just as they
needed the Greek empirical sciences.
Arab Philosophers
In the world of Islam, Greek philosophy was destined to win over such
prominent thinkers as were not to be found among the Greeks themselves,
including Ya'qub al-Kindī (d. c. 258/872), Abū Nașr al-Fārābī1 (d. 339/950),
and Abū 'Alī Ibn Sīnā2 (d. 428/1036). These men ascribed to Aristotle such an
infallible status in piety, moral excellence, knowledge, and wisdom as perhaps
cannot be even claimed by the First Cause itself. It was truly a misfortune of
the Islamic world that the major portion of its Hellenistic inheritance com-
prised the works of Aristotle, who, being a freethinker, differed, rather than
agreed, with the Prophetic teachings. It was another misfortune that among
the Arab philosophers, none was conversant with the languages in which these
1 Known as Alpharabius in the Latin West.
2 Called Avicenna in Europe.
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Theology & Hellenistic Philosophy
philosophical works were originally written. They had, therefore, to depend
on translations and commentaries that were either incorrect or colored by
their translators and interpreters. Aristotle had thus come to wield such an
influence over the Arab philosophers that they made his system the basis of
their philosophical speculations without evaluating or critiquing his thought.
The Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Şafa')
By the end of the fourth/tenth century, the speculations of Greek and
Hellenistic philosophers had generally been adopted by Muslim rationalist
schools. It became fashionable among the educated youth who wanted to be
seen as intellectuals and progressive elites. The Ikhwan al-Safa', or Brethren
of Purity, was a kind of secret fraternity similar to Freemasonry. It came
into existence during the second half of the fourth century with its seat in
Basra. It was a school of thought based on Hellenistic philosophy that strove
to formulate ideological and legal doctrines. The charter of their aims and
objectives ran thus:
The Islamic Shari'a has been polluted by ignorance and perversion of the truth,
and it can now be purified only through philosophy; for the latter comprises
religious tenets, knowledge, wisdom, and analogical methods of reasoning.
Now only a synthesis of Greek philosophy and the Shari'a of Muhammad
can provide perfection.1
The members of the society had instructions not to waste their time and
energy on older people who were settled in their views, but to seek sym-
pathizers among the youth, who were more open to accepting new ideas.2
The Brethren summed up the philosophical and scientific learning of the
time in a comprehensive collection of fifty-two epistles, called Rasa'il Ikhwan
al-Safa, that dealt with every branch of science, including physics, mathemat-
ics, metaphysics, and philosophy. The Mu'tazilis and other rationalists who
were sympathetic to their ideas gave widest circulation to these epistles, which
found their way to Andalusia within a hundred years.3
The Mu'tazilis and Philosophers
In their effort to rationalize the tenets of faith and to use human reason,
which they regarded as infallible, to confirm such metaphysical doctrines
1 Lutfi Jumu'a, Tārīkh Falāsifat al-Islam, 253.
2 Ibid., 260-261.
3 Ibid., 254.
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SAVIOURS OF ISLAMIC SPIRIT
as the nature and attributes of Allah Most High and the divine origin of the
Qur'an, the Mu'tazilis had, wittingly or not, done a great disservice to Islam.
Nevertheless, they were people of faith who believed in revelation, feared Allah,
scrupulously followed their religious obligations, enjoined the lawful, and
prohibited the wrong.1 This was so because they took their religion seriously,
and their rationalistic tendencies did not owe their origin to any external
influence.2 In view of these features of Mu'tazilism, it did not produce any
inclination toward apostasy, atheism, or denial of revelation and the Hereafter,
nor did it produce a dangerous tendency toward passivity and inertia, nor
was the vigor and enthusiasm for faith among the Muslims enfeebled by it.
Greek philosophy was, however, quite different from Mu tazilism. Insofar
as philosophy claims to be an infallible source through which one can attain
knowledge of Allah in the fullness of His essence, it is a rival to revelation.
Philosophy builds up a system of thought and approach which is opposed to
the faith and the tenets of a revealed religion. Obviously, therefore, as Greek
philosophy captured the imagination of people, their respect for religion
and the prophets dwindled. Not only was faith in revelation beginning to be
viewed from an entirely different angle, but so were the ethical norms and
injunctions it laid down for the practical conduct of life. Philosophy gave
birth to a faction of Muslims who were openly antagonistic to religion and
took pride in rejecting the tenets of Islam. There were also philosophers who
were not courageous enough to forsake Islam openly. They were content to
pay lip service to it, but they had in fact lost all faith in the religion.
The Bāținīs (Esoterics)
Philosophy also gave birth to a new schism in Islam which was even more
deleterious to the spirit of religion and the teachings of the Messenger
than philosophy itself. These were the Batinis, the adherents of a theological
school whose name comes from the word batin, meaning "inner, esoteric." Its
adherents and exponents were mostly drawn from people who had lost their
national kingdoms under the irresistible sway of Islam. These people could
not hope to regain their lost power and prestige in any open contest with
the strength of the Muslims. They also included self-indulgent people and
those who sought positions of power and influence but viewed the injunc-
tions laid down by Islam for the practical conduct of life as obstacles in their
1 Duļā 'l-Islam, 3:64.
2
They held that is was a duty of every Muslim to enjoin the lawful and prohibit the wrong.
They also maintained that anyone guilty of major sin would be eternally damned.
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Theology & Hellenistic Philosophy
way. All these categories of people gathered under the banner of the Batinīs,
knowing that they could neither gain victory over Islam in the battlefield nor
invite Muslims to renounce their faith. They were aware that any attempt to
follow either of these courses would ignite a frenzy of enthusiasm among the
Muslims in defense of Islam. They therefore chose an entirely novel approach
to undermining Islam.
Esoteric and Exoteric Interpretations of the Scripture
Scripture has clearly laid out the tenets of belief and code of conduct because
these are meant to be understood and acted upon by every human being:
"And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he
might make (the message) clear for them" (Q 14:4).
The meaning of this verse is manifestly clear. The Prophet of Islam
had also explained the importance of divine revelation and lived up to its
precepts so that his followers would not remain in any doubt. The vocabulary
of the Qur'an and its meanings have thus been handed down directly from
the Messenger
without interruption, and have ever after been recognized
and accepted by everyone as authentic and genuine knowledge, to which no
one has raised any objection. The terms prophecy (nubuwwa), messengership
(risāla), angels (malā'ika), resurrection (ma'ād), Paradise (Janna), Hellfire
(Jahannam), law (Shari'a), obligatory (fard), necessary (wajib), lawful (halal),
unlawful (harām), poor-due (zakāt), prayer (salāt), fast (sawm), pilgrimage
(hajj) and others convey a concise and exact statement of the doctrines, rites,
ceremonies, and teachings of Islam. In reality, these teachings and articles of
faith have been handed down without any divergence whatsoever, as have
the vocabulary and terminology developed to represent them. The two have
become so interdependent that one cannot be altered without a deviation
in the other.
Whenever the words "prophet," "apostle," "messenger," "prayer," or "poor-
due" are used, they denote the same descriptions taught by the Messenger₡
and understood by his Companions , and successors, all of whom acted
on them in a particular manner and transmitted the meaning of these words,
which have been handed down by one generation to another. The Batinīs
knew that the interdependence of Qur'anic vocabulary and its meanings form
the key to illuminating the doctrines of Muslim faith. These constitute the
moorings of intellectual and devotional life, connecting the later generations
to the fountainhead of divine guidance that lay in the past. If the Batinīs
could only drive a wedge between the past and the present-sever the con-
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SAVIOURS OF ISLAMIC SPIRIT
necting link by rendering the meaning of Qur'anic vocabulary ambiguous,
undefined, and obscure-the Umma could be forced to give credibility to
any innovation or deviation, including agnosticism or disbelief.
The Băținīs therefore began a vigorous campaign to popularize a new
type of Qur'anic exegesis and interpretation of the Sunna that endowed the
vocabulary used therein with a hidden or mystic meaning separate from its
open or manifest meanings. It was claimed that these allegorical or enig-
matic meanings, which were beyond the range of ordinary understanding
and accessible only to the initiate, led to a purer knowledge than the overt
meanings of the Qur'anic terms as they were commonly understood by the
scholars. The laity, clinging to the literal meanings, could never attain the true
hidden content of the revelation. The Batinis maintained that the detailed
ritual enjoined by the Shari'a was a cold formality meant to safeguard the
spiritual existence of the masses. In other words, the Qur'anic terminology,
like a veil, hides its deep, secret meaning, but when an initiate attains pure,
sublime knowledge, he is set free from the legal obligations of the Shari'a.1
They based their claim on the following verse of the Qur'an: "And he will
relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear" (Q 7:157).
After accepting the doctrine of obvious and hidden meanings in principle,
it presented no difficulty to explain the meaning of terms like "prophet,"
"revelation," "angels," or "hereafter" in whatever manner one desired. Here
is an example:
A nabī (prophet) is a person illuminated by the Holy Spirit of the Divine
Being. Jibril (Gabriel) is not an angel, but an allegorical name for divine
outpouring. Ma'ad (resurrection) signifies the returning of a thing toward
its origin. Janāba (ritually impurity) refers to divulging a secret; ghusl (ritual
bath) means the renewal of a covenant; zinā (fornication), the transmission
of the secret and occult knowledge to the uninitiated; tahara (purity), the
disavowal of all tenets save the Batini cult; tayammum (dry ablution), the
acquisition of knowledge from an illuminated teacher; salat (prayer), a call
to obey the leader of the time; zakat (poor-due), the spreading of knowledge
among the capable and pure; sawm (fasting), taking precaution to guard the
secret; and hajj (pilgrimage), seeking the knowledge of true wisdom, which
1 The Baținis also believed in the suspension of the obligations enjoined by the Shari'a. One
Bāținī imam, known as Sayyid Idrīs, says, "Allah conferred prophecy on Muhammad ibn Ismā'il
[a grandson of Ja'far al-Sadiq whom the Isma'ilis consider their seventh imam], who abrogated
the Shari'a of the Prophet Muhammad" (Idrīs, 'Āsimat Nufus al-Muhtadin). Similar views held by
Mu'izz li-Dīni 'Llāh al-Fāțimī have also been reported.
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Theology & Hellenistic Philosophy
is the objective of reason. The knowledge of the esoteric is Janna (Paradise);
the literal interpretation is Jahannam (Hellfire). The Ka'ba refers to the person
of the prophet while 'Ali is its gate. Nuh's # flood described in the Qur'an
refers to a deluge of knowledge in which the unilluminated were drowned.
The bonfire of Nimrod alludes to his wrath, not a literal fire; Ibrahim was asked
not to offer his son for sacrifice, but to obtain a pledge from him. Gog and
Magog refer to the literalists, the staff of Mūsa actually means the argument
and proofs that were furnished by him, etc.1
The Traitors of Islam
The Batinis' approach regarding the hidden, deeper application of Allah's
word or the Messenger's teachings, and their repudiation of the manifest
meanings, have always been conveniently adopted by traitors and hypocrites.
The so-called deeper sense, interwoven with mystical and philosophical ideas,
borrowed from a variety of sources, can be equally shaped to fit the require-
ment of either a learned scholar or an uncritical mind in order to undermine
the intellectual, moral, social, and religious structure of Muslim society. It
can be employed to secure a split within the body of Islam; indeed, all the
later rebels against the prophecy of Muhammad
have taken advantage of
this heretical approach. All those impostors who have subsequently elevated
themselves to the position of a false prophet have first rendered ambiguous
the terminology employed by the Qur'an and the Sunna. Two cases in point
are Baha'ism in Iran and Qadianism in India.2
1 Daylamī, Qawa id Aqā'id Āli Muhammad (Bāținite), 16-18.
2 The Qadianis too, like the Batinis, have denied the commonly understood meanings of such
terms as "the seal of prophecy," Masih and his second coming, miracles, Dajjal, etc. The Qur'anic
vocabulary has been retained but the meaning of these terms has been drastically changed, as
can be seen from the writings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and the commentary of the Qur'an by
Muhammad Ali.
Baha'is, on the other hand, have even produced a new sacred law on the basis of their esoteric
interpretation. Their law enjoins fast for one month in a year, but the month is only nineteen
days. Instead of beginning the fast from early morning, they begin it from sunrise. The faithful
are required to follow the dictates of the law from the age of 11 to 42 and are thereafter freed from
its obligations. Ablution is not obligatory but simply recommended. Intergender veiling rules
(hijab) do not apply. It is obligatory to visit the house in which the Bab, the founder of the sect,
was born. Congregational prayer is to be offered only for a funeral. Nothing remains polluted after
one accepts the faith of Baha'ism, and everything attains purity at the moment a faithful touches
it. Water is never polluted. The law of inheritance differs from that of Islam (Shakib Arsalan, 4:355,
reproduced from the French Encyclopedia of Islam).
M. Huart has rightly written in his article on Baha'ism in The Encyclopedia of Islam that in the
garb of Islamic reformation, the Bab founded an entirely new religion whose fundamentals and
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The so-called hidden or mystic interpretation of Qur'anic vocabulary,
an example of which has been given above, could hardly have been accept-
able to a person of common sense. But dialectical quibbling had already
produced an atmosphere of intellectual anarchy in the world of Islam,
wherein people unnecessarily longed for hairsplitting and sophistry. The
Bāținīs were therefore successful in misleading those sections of the people
who, under the influence of Greek philosophy and mythology, were freely
applying terminology like nous and logos, Universal Spirit, and First Cause
to Islamic doctrines and rites. They also gathered around them people who
were dissatisfied with the extremism of the orthodox school, while others,
in the hope of helping the Ahl al-Bayt (the house of the Messenger
or
opposing the ruling dynasty, lent them a helping hand. With the help of an
elaborate occult initiation ritual for their adherents, the Bāținīs created a
secret yet highly efficient instrument of power that was a cause for concern.
Powerful minds like Nizām al-Mulk al-Țūsī and Fakhr al-Mulk fell to the
terrorism and murderous assaults of the Bāținīs.1
Destruction of the Baținīs' religious and political opponents through ter-
rorism and murder became such a common practice that nobody, not even
kings or the highest officials, could be sure that they would remain alive till
the next day. Ibn al-Jawzī reported that in Isfahan, if anyone did not return to
his house before the nightfall, it was presumed that he had been killed by the
Bāținīs. Apart from the lawlessness, the Bāținīs had, as explained earlier, also
fostered the growth of occult and heretical interpretations of the Qur'anic
text and the perversion of the accepted tenets of faith.
In an atmosphere supercharged with the anti-Islamic influences of the
Bāținīs and philosophical ideas borrowed from varied sources, a richly
endowed mind was needed to save the situation. It would require a person
of outstanding knowledge and intellectual gifts, well-versed in philosophy
as well as religious knowledge and capable of drawing upon the findings of
his predecessors with a greater clarity and discernment. In order to bring
about a synthesis of philosophical objectivity and religious faith, he must
also be a man of unequalled piety and moral excellence, endowed with an
unflinching faith and backed by a mystical insight into the Supreme Reality;
beliefs are quite different from those of Islam, and have in fact been presented as such in order
to create a new social order. The same is the case with Qadianis. Each has a prophet and a new
religious order like their Bāținī predecessors.
1 For a detailed list of people killed at the hands of Bāținīs, see Abd al-Razzaq, Nizām al-
Mulk Țūsī, 560-563.
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one who possessed a burning zeal for the renewal of the faith, who could
give a call to uphold the tenets of the Shari'a and the Sunna. Such a man
appeared on the scene in the middle of the fifth/eleventh century. He was
Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī.
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CHAPTER 7
Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī
IMĀM ABŪ HĀMID MUHAMMAD ibn Muhammad al-Țūsī al-Ghazālī was
born in Țūs at Țabaran (in present-day Iran) in 450/1058.1 He lost his father
while still very young. Although his father had entrusted him to the care of a
mystic friend, he got himself admitted in a seminary for receiving education.
Ghazalī first studied the Shafi'ī school of jurisprudence from Shaykh Ahmad
al-Rādhakānī in his hometown and then moved on to Jurjān to continue his
studies with Abū 'l-Nasr al-Isma'īlī.
Thereafter Ghazali went to Nishapur, where he became a disciple of Imam
al-Haramayn al-Juwaynī. His outstanding intellectual gifts were soon rec-
ognized, and he was appointed an assistant to his reputed teacher, who used
to say that Ghazali possessed encyclopedic knowledge.
Although only twenty-eight when he left Nishapur after the death of his
mentor in 478/1085, he was held in greater respect than many senior scholars
of the time. He went to Nizam al-Mulk, the prime minister of Malikshah,
who awarded Ghazali a coveted place in his court. Himself an erudite scholar,
Nizām al-Mulk fostered arts and literature through lavish patronage. Scholars
in different branches of learning gathered round him, and discussions on
literary and other academic topics had become an everyday affair. Ghazalī
found no match to his genius and his polemical brilliance in these debates.
Impressed by his outstanding intellectual gifts, Nizam al-Mulk selected
Ghazālī in 484/1091 for appointment as professor at the famous Nizāmiyya
College at Baghdad. This was the most coveted academic position of the time,
though Ghazali was then not more than thirty-four years old. His renown as
a scholar, teacher, and an eloquent speaker spread so rapidly that his lectures
began to be overcrowded by an ever-larger number of students and scholars.
1 Țūs lies near present-day Mashhad in northeastern Iran.
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Sometimes, in addition to as many as three hundred students, hundreds of
nobles and chiefs attended his lectures. Ghazalī soon came to occupy, on
account of his scholarship, intelligence, and forceful personality, such a posi-
tion of eminence in Baghdad that he was regarded a compeer to the chiefs of
state. According to a contemporary, Shaykh 'Abd al-Ghafir al-Fārisī, Ghazāli
surpassed in prestige and solemnity the nobility of Baghdad, including even
the caliph.1 In 485/1092, the Abbasid caliph Muqtadī bi-'Llah appointed him
his ambassador to the court of Turkan Khatün (wife of Malikshah), who
was then regent over the Seljuq Empire. Another Abbasid caliph, Mustazhir
bi-'Llah, held Ghazalī in high esteem, and it was at his behest that he wrote
a treatise to refute the cult of Batinism. He named the book Al-Mustazhirī
after the caliph.
Ghazāli's Intellectual Crisis
During this period of prosperity, fame, and accomplishment, to which most
others could only aspire, it would have been natural for Ghazalī to have lived
contentedly, as others might have done. But for such a man of lofty ideals,
creative genius, and intellectual grit as Ghazāli, it was unthinkable to rest
satisfied merely with position and prestige.
There can be no denying the fact that this very internal conflict and
disquietude, the Promethean quest, made him a renewer (mujaddid) of the
faith. However, history can offer but few such striking examples where one
abandoned a brilliant career, fame, and position for satisfaction of the soul.
Ghazalī has himself described the deep inner struggle which forced him to
abandon all worldly possessions, including his teaching position, and to
withdraw into a life of asceticism and solitary contemplation.
He writes in Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (Deliverance from Error):
From the days of my early youth, I had a critical disposition. I met the people
belonging to every cult and creed, inquired about their faith and tenets, which
in due course made me disregard the beaten path. The faith I had inculcated
in me from my childhood was shaken; for I thought the children born to Jews
and Christians too develop a similar conviction in their own religions. Indeed,
knowledge should not admit of any doubt in regard to its veracity, in the same
way, for instance, that I know that ten is more than three.
If anybody puts forward a claim that three exceeds ten and turns a staff into
a snake to support his claim, I would be amazed by his feat, but my conviction
1 Țabagāt al-Shafi'iyya, 4:107.
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that ten exceeds three would remain unchanged. When I contemplated the
matter, I found that true cognition was possible only in the realm of sense
perception and the conceptual faculty of grasping those rational principles
that are more or less self-evident. But on further reflection, I realized that
these too are not beyond doubt. Perception by the sense seated in the eye, of
all human senses, is the strongest, but it too commits mistakes.
Thereafter, the dubiousness of the senses grew in me to such an extent
that I lost all faith in the infallibility of the senses. I then turned to intellect
but found it even more dubious and weaker than the senses. For about two
months, my scepticism led me to doubt the possibility of any true cognition,
but then Allah helped me to retrace my steps. In returning to peace and reas-
surance, I acquired a sense of satisfaction over conceptual cognition. It was
not, however, owing to any ordering of reasons or arguments, but simply on
account of the light which Allah caused to penetrate my heart.
After emerging from the earlier staleness of doubt, I had four groups before
me who seemed to be engaged in the search for truth. These were the theolo-
gians, who claimed to possess insight and wisdom; the Bāținīs, who insisted
on a hidden, true, and deeper knowledge vouchsafed to them through infal-
lible imāms; the philosophers, who claimed for themselves mastery of logic
and reason; and the mystics, who claimed to be illuminated and favored with
inspired knowledge. I proceeded to explore the ideas, thoughts, and writings
of each of these groups but was not satisfied with any of them. I studied the
writings of the reputed dialecticians and authorities on this science and wrote
a few treatises myself. I reached the conclusion that although this branch of
learning fulfilled its own objective, it was not sufficient for my purpose, as
it argued on the premises put forth by its opponents. The dialecticians have
to rely upon a number of premises and propositions which they accept in
common with the philosophers, or they are obliged to accept the authority
of the Qur'an or Sunna, or the consensus. But these could not really avail one
who, like me, has no faith in anything but the necessary principles of reason.
In regard to philosophy, I though it necessary to make a detailed and
critical study of the science before forming my own opinion on it. My teach-
ing and writing commitments left me little time, having as I did as many as
three hundred students who attended my lectures. I somehow managed to
find time for it, however, and, having finished the complete literature on the
subject within two years, I devoted one year to reflection on the premises of
philosophy, I reached the conclusion that the sciences can be divided into six
branches: mathematics, logic, physics, politics, ethics, and metaphysics. Of
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these the first five do not either deny or affirm religion, nor is it necessary to
reject them in order to affirm religion. The precepts of physics sometimes do
come into conflict with religious doctrine, but such instances are few. In this
regard one ought to believe that the natural phenomenon is not self-propelled
but dependent on Allah Almighty. It is generally true that those who encounter
the intellectual agility and incisiveness of the philosophers in these sciences
are overawed by them and are led to conclude that they would possess the
same in every branch of learning. It is, however, not necessarily so that anyone
skilled in one branch be as adept in another science as well. In any case, when
people see the philosophers denying faith and conviction, they follow in their
footsteps. On the other hand, some senseless exponents of Islam consider it
their bounden duty to refute whatever the philosophers say and sometimes
even go to the extent of denying their findings in the field of physics as well. A
harmful effect of this is that all those who accept the veracity of the intellect's
search for truth and uphold the necessary principles of reason begin to have
doubts in Islam itself and become sceptics.
The only branch of knowledge that comes into conflict with religion is
metaphysics, and it is in this science that the philosophers have generally been
misled. In fact, the philosophers have themselves in this branch of science
not been able to satisfactorily follow the laws of rigorous argumentation they
had evolved for logical reasoning, and that is why they have wide differences
on it. I therefore arrived at the conclusion that philosophy would not be able
to satisfy me, for the intellect cannot by itself cover the entire field of objects
and events nor unravel all mysteries.
As for the Batinis, I had an opportunity to make a detailed study of their
cult while writing the Mustazhiri. I found that the veracity of their tenets and
doctrines ultimately depends on the teachings of an infallible and illuminated
teacher, the Imam. But the existence of such a teacher stands to be verified,
and, in truth and reality, both are extremely dubious.
Now only mysticism remained to be examined, and so I turned my
attention to it. Mysticism is of two kinds, intellectual and intuitional. It was
easy for me to look into the first, and I went through Abū Talib al-Makki's
Qut al-Qulub and the tracts of Harith al-Muhāsibī, Junayd, Shiblī, Bayazīd
al-Bistāmī, and other mystics. I gathered whatever knowledge of mysticism
could be had from the books, but I found that the knowledge of the essence of
reality could be obtained not through study or mysticism but through intuition,
transport, and ecstasy brought about by purification of the heart. Through the
speculative branches of knowledge and the sacred and secular sciences I had
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mastered, I had already attained an unflinching faith in the existence of the
Supreme Reality, in prophecy, and in resurrection. This conviction was not,
however, attained through an experience or argument that could be analyzed.
It had been firmly implanted in my heart that eternal bliss could be had only
through inculcating the awe of Allah, renouncing the material world, and
turning one's attention wholly to the eternal life in the Hereafter and to an
earnest devotion to Allah. None of this was possible, however, so long as one
did not sever the attachments of position and riches, fame and worldly life.
I pondered over my own condition. I realized that I was wholly immersed
in worldly temptations, its ties and attachments. The vocation of teaching
appeared to be a noble pursuit, but further reflection revealed that I was paying
my entire attention to sciences that were neither important nor beneficial for
the Hereafter. I probed into the motives of my work as a teacher and found
that instead of any sincere desire to win Allah's favor, I was after honor and
fame. I was convinced that I was on the edge of an abyss, and if I did not take
immediate steps to retrieve the situation, I would be doomed to eternal fire.
Still undecided, I resolved one day to abandon everything and leave
Baghdad; the next day I gave up my resolution. Six months passed by in this
state of uncertainty. On the one hand, temptation's sway bade me remain
where I was; on the other, faith gave the call to get up. It cried to me, "Up! Up!
Your life is short and you have a long journey to make. All your pretended
knowledge is nought but falsehood and fantasy." Often my carnal thoughts
whispered to me, "This is a temporary yearning. Allah has favored you with
respect and honor. If you give it up and then try to retrace your steps and
come back, you will not be able to get it back again. For about six months I
remained thus, torn asunder by earthly passions and religious aspirations, until
it became impossible to postpone my decision any longer. Then, Allah Himself
caused an impediment. He chained my tongue and prevented me from lectur-
ing. Vainly I desired to teach my pupils who came to me, but my mouth went
dumb. The silence to which I was condemned cast me into a violent despair.
I lost all appetite. I could neither swallow a morsel of bread nor drink a drop
of water. Gradually I became too weak, and at last the physicians who were
treating me gave up all hope of my recovery. They said that my heart was so
severely afflicted that no treatment would be of any avail till this affliction was
removed. Finally, conscious of my weakness and of the prostration of my soul,
I took refuge in Allah like a man who has exhausted himself and is denied
all means. I prayed to Him "Who answers the wronged one when he cries
unto Him," and He made easy for me to sacrifice honor, wealth, and family.
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I intended to go to Syria but told the people that I would go to Makka.
When the people around me learned of my decision, they deprecated it deeply,
for they could think of no laudable reason behind my resolve. In their opinion,
I enjoyed a coveted place that enabled me to preach and disseminate knowl-
edge. People also began to spread numerous rumors about me. Those who
were far away thought that I was quitting my profession at the insistence of
the administration. On the other hand, those who knew how much govern-
ment was keen on retaining me considered it a misfortune that I was leaving
the premier academy of Islamic learning.
At last I left Baghdad, having given away all my fortune and preserving
only as much as was necessary for my support and that of my children. I went
to Syria from Baghdad and remained there for two years. During this period
I engaged myself in meditation and self-struggle. I practiced whatever I had
learned of the ways of mystics and endeavored to purify my soul and rectify
my morals and occupied myself with Allah's remembrance. For a time I retired
to the principal mosque of Damascus. I often went into one of the mosque's
minarets and remained there in seclusion for days on end. From Damascus
I went to Jerusalem. There too I would to retire into the Dome of the Rock.
After having visited the tomb of Ibrahim , I felt a desire to go for the
hajj and visit the Prophet's Mosque. So I embarked on my journey to the
Hijaz. After the hajj was over, I went to my hometown, though I had no long-
ing to visit my family. I took care to spend my time in secluded meditation,
purification of the heart, and remembrance of Allah at my house, but events
and happenings, such as care for the needs of my dependants, constantly
interfered with securing a perfect state of peace and bliss. I was not denied
it entirely, however, and from time to time I was favored with illumination
and ecstatic transports.
I spent ten years in this manner. What inspirations came to me during this
period of meditation cannot be described, but I must say for the benefit of
my readers that I came to know that the mystics were most truly godly, their
life truly beautiful, their rules of conducts most perfect, and their morality
most pure. It would not be possible to bring forth a more perfect and godly
person even if the intellect of the rationalist, wisdom of the philosophers, and
knowledge of the religious made a combined effort to do so. In their actions
and practices, whether overt or secret, the mystics drew inspiration from
the Prophetic light, beside which there is no other foundation of guidance.1
1 Ghazālī, Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, 55-101 (summarized).
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