THE NATURE OF AL- GHAZALI’S ETHICS

THE NATUREOF AL- GHAZALI’S ETHICS:

1. The stages in al-Ghazali’s intellectual evolution.

2. The character of al- Ghazali’s ethics.

1. The stages in al-Ghazali’s intellectual evolution

The earliest spiritual training of al-Ghazali was under the guardianship of a Sufi friend of his father.

He studied Quran and tradition followed by other studies mainly in jurisprudence (fiqh).

3 year studied Islamic mysticism(Sufism) under Yusuf al-Nassaj.

Studied in Nishapur about theology, dialectics, natural sciences, philosophy and logic under al-Juwayni.

He abandoned taqlid, doubted the means of knowledge including sense perception and intellectual truths in his quest for certain knowledge.

He divided the seekers after the truth into four groups:

(1) He began with the science of dogmatic theology.

(2) Then turned to philosophy and divided philosophers into 3 groups, namely Materialist(dahriyyun), Naturalists(tabi’iyyun) and Theists (ilahiyyun).

(3) Being dissatisfied with philosophy he studied the teachings of the ta‘limiyyah.

(4) Then he turned to the way of mysticism (tasawwuf) or know as ilm al-akhlaq.