IMAM GHAZALI (1058–1111)

Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭūsiyy al-Ghazali was a Persian polymath.

He is known as one of the most prominent and influential philosophers, theologians, jurists, logicians and mystics.

He is considered to be the 5th century’s Mujaddid, a renewer of the faith, who, according to the prophetic hadith, appears once every 100 years to restore the faith of the Islamic Community.His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title “Proof of Islam” (Ḥujjat al-Islām).

One of his distinguishwd teacher was al-juwayni. After al-Juwayni’s death in 1085, al-Ghazali departed from Nishapur and joined the court of Nizam al-Mulk, the powerful vizier of the Seljuq empire, which was likely centered in Isfahan. After bestowing upon him the titles of “Brilliance of the Religion” and “Eminence among the Religious Leaders,” Nizam al-Mulk advanced al-Ghazali in July 1091 to the “most prestigious and most challenging” professorial position at the time: the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad. He achieved what aristotle and others could not dream of. He defeated the evil forces which the sword was not able to destroy.

He was also the first to present a formal description of Sufism in his works. His works also strengthened the status of Sunni Islam against other schools. The Batinite (Ismailism) had emerged in Persian territories and were gaining more and more power during al-Ghazali’s period, as Nizam al-Mulk was assassinated by the members of Ismailis. In his Fada’ih al-Batiniyya (The Infamies of the Esotericists) Al-Ghazali declared them unbelievers whose blood may be spilled, and wrote several books on criticism of Baatinyas which significantly weakened their status.

He went to pilgriamge in 1096 and retuerned to Tus to lead an ascetic life in seclusion. The seclusion consisted in abstaining from teaching at state-sponsored institutions, but he continued to publish, receive visitors and teach in the zawiya (private madrasa) and khanqah (Sufi lodge) that he had built.

He declined the invite of the Seljuk Grand vizier to come and serve in Bagdad. He died in 1111CE with no son but with several daughters.