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
Doctor Macdonald admirably summarizes his influence on Islam as
four-fold. “First of all he led men back from mere scholastic dogma to
a living contact with the Koran and the Traditions as the true source
of Islam. He might be called a Biblical theologian in our modern use
of the word, understanding by ‘Bible’ always the Moslem bible, namely
the Koran. Nearly every paragraph of his _Ihya_ begins with a Koran
quotation, and his interpretation of the book is not a slavish following
of the earlier commentators but a spiritual interpretation of the text.”
“In the second place he reintroduced into Islam the element of fear. In
the earliest days, as for example in the Koran itself, the terrors of the
day of judgment and the horrors of hell operated in order to lead men to
repentance. Al-Ghazali emphasized this part of the Moslem teaching to the
utmost, witness his little book _Al-Durra al-Fakhira_, which has to this
day great acceptance among pious Moslems.”
In the third place mysticism, already existing in Islam, but looked
upon in many quarters as heretical, received its birthright through
Al-Ghazali’s life and teachings, and from his day on held an assured
position in orthodox Islam.
Lastly, he brought philosophy within the range of the ordinary mind,
warning the people against its dangers as well as showing them its
fundamental principles and above all illustrating through his writings
how true philosophy and true Islam are not contradictory. In this respect
he resembles Raymond Lull who also desired to use philosophy as the
handmaid of Christianity.[65]
Macdonald thinks that of these four phases of his work and influence the
first and the third were undoubtedly the most important. These alone made
him a reformer of the first rank in the history of Islam.
VII
His Ethics
“The religion of Christ contains whole fields of morality and
whole realms of thought which are all but outside the religion
of Mohammed. It opens humility, purity of heart, forgiveness
of injuries, sacrifice of self to man’s moral nature; it
gives scope for toleration, development, boundless progress
to his mind; its motive power is stronger, even as a friend
is better than a king and love higher than obedience. Its
realized ideals in the various paths of human greatness have
been more commanding, more many-sided, more holy, as Averroes
is below Newton, Haroun below Alfred, and ʾAli below St. Paul.
Finally, the ideal life of all is far more elevating, far more
majestic, far more inspiring even as the life of the founder of
Mohammedanism is below the life of the Founder of Christianity.”
—_“Life of Mohammed,” R. Bosworth Smith._
VII
HIS ETHICS