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Biographical Note Works Bibliography

Muhammad al-Ghazali (450AH/1058 505 AH/1111 CE)

Muhammad al-Ghazali remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the history ofIslamic thought. His exceptional life and works continue to be indispensable in thestudy of jurisprudence, theology, philosophy and mysticism. The tens of books thathe left behind were the result of an inquisitive mind that began the quest forknowledge at a very early stage. In the introduction to his autobiographical workDeliverance from Error(Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, p. 81), al-Ghazali said:

The thirst for grasping the real meaning of things was indeed my habit and wantfrom my early years and in the prime of my life. It was an instinctive, naturaldisposition placed in my makeup by Allah Most High, not something due to my ownchoosing and contriving. As a result, the fetters of servile conformism fell away fromme, and inherited beliefs lost their hold on me, when I was quite young.

Al-Ghazalis Life:

Al-Ghazalis full name is Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ahmadal-Tusi. He was born in 450/1058 in Tus, Khurasan near Meshhad in present-dayIran. He bore the title of respect Hujjat al-Islam (Proof of Islam) for the role he

played in defending Islam against the trends of thought that existed at the time. Hisfather was a wool spinner (ghazzal) and thus, relative to this profession, al-Ghazaliacquired this name. (al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyyah al-Kubra, vol. VI, pp. 191-193)Although he was born in Tus, a Persian, non-Arabic land, Al-Ghazali wrote theoverwhelming majority of his works in Arabic, the lingua franca of his world.

Before his death, al-Ghazalis father entrusted him and his brother Ahmad to a Sufifriend. He asked him to spend whatever little money he left behind, to teach themreading and writing. When the money was finished, the Sufi asked them to join aschool so that they might subsist. According to Al-Subki (Tabaqat, vol. VI, p.195),schools used to provide room, board and stipend.

Al-Ghazali began studying at Tus where his teacher was Ahmad Al- Radhakani. Hisnext station was Jurjan where he wrote Al-Ta`liqah from the lectures of AbuAl-Qasim Al-Isma`ili Al-Jurjani. He returned to Tus for three years only to leaveafterwards for Nishapur, where he joined the Nizamiyyah school and studied underImam Al-Haramayn Al-Juwaini for eight years until the death of his teacher in 478 AH

/ 1085 CE. (Al-Subki, Tabaqat, vol. VI, pp. 195-196) During this period al-Ghazaliexcelled in all the Islamic sciences with the exception of the science of the Hadith;he confessed this in the last paragraph of his work Qanun al-Tawil (The Law ofMetaphorical Exegesis). This may have been the reason for the presence of someunsound traditions in his works, such as the famous Ihya `Ulum al-Din(The Revival

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