Wesleyan University Press, 2000); K. C. Kanda, trans.,
Masterpieces of Urdu Ghazal: From the 17th Century
to the 20th Century (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers,
1990); Frances Pritchett, Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry
and Its Critics (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1994).
Ghazali, Abu Hamid al- (also al-Ghazzali;
Latin: Algazel) (1058–1111) one of the most
famous Muslim intellectuals of the Middle Ages, he
wrote important works on Islamic mysticism, theology,
and philosophy that had a lasting effect on medieval
Muslim religious thought
Al-Ghazali was born in the town of Tus, iran,
where he received his early education before mov-
ing to Nishapur, a major Iranian center of Sunni
learning in the 11th and 12th centuries. Among
his most famous teachers in Nishapur was al-
Juwayni (d. 1085), a renowned scholar of Ashari
theology and Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). Al-
Ghazali remained in Nishapur until al-Juwayni
died. Then he joined the circle of scholars patron-
ized by Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092), the powerful
Seljuk Turkish vizier of the Abbasid Empire.
He soon became one of the leading scholars of
baghdad, and in 1091, he was one of the first
teachers appointed to the faculty of the new Niza-
miyya College (madrasa) there, where he taught
Shafii law. It is reported that some of his lectures
attracted up to 300 students, an unusually large
number for a medieval school. Al-Ghazali’s public
success as a scholar and teacher caused him to
question his motives and the sincerity of his faith,
so that in 1095, he found himself unable to speak
or carry on with his work. This spiritual crisis led
to his resigning his position, leaving his family,
and setting out on an 11-year sabbatical in syria.
During this time, his explorations focused on
the ways and teachings of sUFism. In his spiritual
aUtobiography, al-Ghazali wrote about what he
discovered during this lengthy retreat: Of all the
various schools of religion in Islam, “I knew with
certainty that the Sufis are uniquely those who
follow the way to God Most High, their mode of
life is the best of all, their way the most direct of
ways, and their ethic the purist” (Ghazali, 56).
He returned to teaching briefly at the Nishapur
madrasa and founded a Sufi hospice (khanqah) in
his hometown, Tus, where he spent his last days.
Al-Ghazali acquired deep knowledge of many
areas of Islamic religious thought and approached
his subjects in a systematic manner. Scholars
have identified him as the author of about 60
books. His most famous one was The Revival of
the Religious Sciences (ca. 1097), a wide-ranging
work that sought to wed Islamic practice with
theological and mystical truths. Written during
his long retreat, it is organized into four parts:
1) the Five pillars of Islam and their spiritual
significance; 2) how to morally conduct one’s
daily affairs—such as dietary practices, marriage,
work, traveling, and listening to mUsic—so as to
come closer to God; 3) how to discipline the self
to eliminate human weaknesses such as desire,
slander, envy, and greed that lead to damnation;
and 4) how to purify the human soul and pursue
the path toward God and salvation. The last part
also includes vivid descriptions of death and the
aFterliFe, the ultimate destiny of all humans.
Two other well-known books, The Incoherence
of the Philosophers (ca. 1095) and The Deliverer
from Error (ca. 1108), display al-Ghazali’s knowl-
edge both of the theological and philosophical
traditions of his times and of the differing points
of view held by scholars and men of religion. In
these works, he sought to demonstrate logically
what he thought were the fallacies and shortcom-
ings of the philosophers and Ismaili theologians.
Defending the ashari school of theology to which
he belonged, he maintained that religious truths
pertaining to God, creation, and the soul could
not be adequately fathomed by the rational mind
apart from revelation. In al-Ghazali’s opinion, the
arguments of Muslim philosophers such as al-
Farabi (d. 950) and ibn sina (d. 1037) against the
existence of individual souls and belief in a bodily
resurrection were in conflict with quranic truths,Ghazali, Abu Hamid al- 261 J