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
All this and what he says in his “Alchemy of Happiness” about the love of
God leaves no doubt in my mind that he had read the New Testament. It is
a sort of Moslem Version of St. John’s Epistles and St. John’s Gospel.
The great Mystic gives seven signs of love to God. The first is not to be
afraid of death. The second is to prefer the love of God to any worldly
object. The third sign of a man’s love to God is that the remembrance
of God is always fresh in his heart. He never ceases to meditate upon
God. Every man thinks and calls to mind an object in proportion to his
love to it. The fourth is love and respect for the Koran. The fifth,
secret prayer. The sixth, to find the worship of God delightful. And the
seventh sign of love to God is, “That a man loves the sincere friends
and obedient servants of God, and regards them all as his friends. He
regards all the enemies of God as his enemies and abhors them. And God
thus speaks in his eternal word: ‘His companions are terrible towards
the infidels, and tender towards each other.’ A Sheikh was once asked,
‘Who are the friends of the exalted and blessed God?’ He replied: ‘The
friends of God are those who are more compassionate to the friends of God
themselves, than a father or a mother to their children.’”[88] (Compare
Psalm 103.)
There seems a great difference between Al-Ghazali as dogmatic theologian,
always compelled to agree with the Koran, and Al-Ghazali as the Mystic,
when he begins to speculate and lift the veil. We are constantly reminded
of the words of Anselm in his great work on the existence of God: “I do
not attempt, O Lord, to penetrate Thy depths, for I by no means think
my intellect equal to them; but I long to understand in some degree
Thy truth, which my heart believes and loves, _for I do not seek to
understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand_.”
Whenever Al-Ghazali speaks of God’s nearness to us and of the soul’s
desire for human fellowship with the creator, he comes very close to the
Christian idea of the Incarnation, and yet always stops short of it.
In his “Alchemy of Happiness,” for example, he mentions as the fourth
cause of love to God the affinity that exists between man and his Maker,
referring to the saying of the Prophet: “Verily God created man in
his own likeness.” Immediately afterwards, however, he goes on to say:
“This is a somewhat dangerous topic to dwell upon, as it is beyond the
understanding of common people, and even intelligent men have stumbled
in treating of it, and come to _believe in incarnation_ and union with
God. Still the affinity which does exist between man and God disposes of
the objection of those theologians mentioned above, who maintain that
man cannot love a Being who is not of his own species. However great a
distance between them, man can love God because of the affinity indicated
in the saying, ‘God created man in His own likeness.’”