A Moslem seeker after God : $b showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century — Al-Ghazali — John Shaqi
A Moslem seeker after God : $b showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century
Al-Ghazali · en
“On the day of Judgment, when all men are gathered before the throne
of God, their accounts are all cast up, and their good and evil deeds
weighed. During all this time each man believes he is the only one with
whom God is dealing. Though peradventure at the same moment God is taking
account of countless multitudes whose number is known to Him only. Men do
not see each other or hear each other speak.”
In summing up the character of the Mystic Claud Field says: “As St.
Augustine found deliverance from doubt and error in his inward experience
of God, and Descartes in self-consciousness, so Ghazali, unsatisfied with
speculation and troubled by scepticism, surrenders himself to the will of
God. Leaving others to demonstrate the existence of God from the external
world, he finds God revealed in the depths of his own consciousness and
the mystery of his own free will.... He is a unique and lonely figure
in Islam, and has to this day been only partially understood. In the
Middle Ages his fame was eclipsed by that of Averroes, whose commentary
on Aristotle is alluded to by Dante, and was studied by Thomas Aquinas
and the schoolman. Averroes’ system was rounded and complete, but
Ghazali was one of those ‘whose reach exceeds their grasp’; he was always
striking after something he had not attained, and stands in many respects
nearer to modern mind than Averroes. Renan, though far from sympathizing
with his religious earnestness, calls him ‘the most original mind among
Arabian philosophers.’”
The disciple of Al-Ghazali is perhaps of all Moslems the nearest to
the Gospel, and we may hope that when his works are carefully studied
and compared with the teaching of Christianity many may find in him a
schoolmaster to lead them to Christ. Educated Moslems of to-day may
well heed the warning with which Al-Ghazali closes his “Confessions”:
“The knowledge of which we speak is not derived from sources accessible
to human diligence, and that is why progress in mere worldly knowledge
renders the sinner more hardened in his revolt against God. True
knowledge, on the contrary, inspires in him who is initiated in it more
fear and more reverence, and raises a barrier of defense between him
and sin. He may slip and stumble, it is true, as is inevitable with one
encompassed by human infirmity, but these slips and stumbles will not
weaken his faith. The true Moslem succumbs occasionally to temptation
but he repents and will not persevere obstinately in the path of error.
I pray God the Omnipotent to place us in the ranks of His chosen, among
the number of those whom He directs in the path of safety, in whom
He inspires fervour lest they forget Him; whom He cleanses from all
defilement, that nothing may remain in them except Himself; yea of those
whom He indwells completely, that they may adore none beside Him.”