Al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s Philosophical


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¯d  ).  Al-Juwaynı¯ uses both concepts 

in his comprehensive  summa  of Ash ¶arite theology 

82

  as well as in his more con-



cise directory. 

83

  In one of his last works, a small textbook of Ash ¶arite theology 



written to honor his mentor Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, al-Juwaynı¯ expounds a proof for 

the existence of God that is infl uenced by that of Avicenna. “This is a method,” 

al-Juwaynı¯ writes, “that is more useful and nobler than those gathered in many 

volumes.” 

84

  He starts his proof by introducing the distinction of objects of 



knowledge into necessary, contingent, and impossible. Nothing in the created 

world is necessary by virtue of itself. In fact, everything can be different, and 

this illustrates that everything that exists in this world is contingent ( mujaw-

waz ). If all things can be different from what they are, there must be a “deter-

mining agent” ( muqtad.ı¯  ) who chooses the state of things. This “determining 

agent” must be continuously active and sustaining the world, which is not able 

to sustain itself. 

85

  

 The  Niz.a¯miyya madrasa in Nishapur became the cradle of Avicenna’s last-



ing infl uence on Ash ¶arite theology. For the young al-Ghaza¯lı¯, plunging into 

this sea of knowledge must have been an unforgettable moment, one he still 

vividly remembered forty years later in his conversation with Sanjar. In 2003, 

Jules Janssens suggested that there was a period in the life of the young al-

Ghaza¯lı¯ when he was an adept of the philosophical school and a follower of 

Avicenna. Janssens suggested that  The Intentions of the Philosophers   ( Maqa¯s.id 



al-fala¯sifa ) was written during that period and that the brief preface and the 

short conclusion ( kha¯tima ) of the book were added later after the appeal of 

 falsafa  had waned. 

86

  None of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s biographers mentions such a period. 



However, in at least one passage of his works, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ himself seems to 

indicate his past attraction to philosophy. In the  Incoherence of the Philosophers , 

he portrays the Muslim followers of the  fala¯sifa  as a group that “is convinced 

to be distinct from the companions and peers by virtue of a special clever-

ness (   fi t.na ) and quick wit ( dhaka¯ 7  ).” He describes the followers of  falsafa   as 

rejecting the duties of Islam, namely, the acts of worship and ritual purity, and 



 

a   l ife   b e t w e e n   p ubl ic   a nd   p r i vat e   ins t r uc t ion  

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belittling the devotions and ordinances prescribed by the divine law. 



87

   They 


do so because they look down on religious people, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ claims; they see 

their own intelligence and methods of inquiry as making them superior to 

pious people who rely on revelation. In his later book,  The Jewels of the Qur 7an  

(   Jawa¯hir al-Qur 7a¯n ),  al-Ghaza¯lı¯ seems to admit that he himself was once part 

of such a group: 

 We saw among the groups of those who have a high opinion of them-

selves ( mutaka¯bisu

¯n ) some that were deceived by the literal meaning 

(z. a¯hir ) of revelation. They became engaged in quarrels among them, 

opposing each other, and pompously presenting to one another what 

the groups disagreed upon. Subsequently this destroyed their belief 

in religion and led them to the inner denial of bodily resurrection, 

heaven and hell, and the return ( ruju



¯   ) to God the Exalted after death. 

They profess this in their innermost soul (   f



ı¯ sara¯ 7irihim ). They are 

loose from the reins of fear of God ( taqwa¯ ) and the bounds of piety. 

They are free from restraint in their pursuit of the vanities of this 

world. They eat what is forbidden, follow their passions, and are 

eager for fame, wealth, and worldly success. When they meet pious 

people they look down on them with pride and contempt. When 

they witness piety in someone whom they cannot beat intellectually 

because of his abundant knowledge, perfect intelligence, and pen-

etrating mind, they bring him to a point where his goal becomes de-

ception ( talbı¯s ), to win over the hearts [of these people], and to change 

[their] attitude towards him. When they witness piety in other people 

it only increases their error in the long run; while when people of 

religion witness piety it is one of the strongest confi rmations for the 

convictions of the believers. (. . .) And because they do not believe 

in the unknown ( ghayb ) the way ordinary people believe in it, their 

smartness is their perdition. Ignorance is closer to salvation than the 

faulty cleverness and defective smartness [of these people]. 

 We were ourselves not far from this, for we had stumbled upon 

the tails of these errors for a while due to the calamity of bad com-

pany and our association with them until God has distanced our-

selves from their errors and until He had protected us from their 

predicaments. 

88

  

 Becoming a Famous Jurist and Theologian 



 There is a scarcity of information about the years between al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s entry 

into the Niz.a¯miyya madrasa in Nishapur and his own appointment to the 

Niz.a¯miyya in Baghdad more than twenty years later.  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r al-Fa¯risı¯ 

covers this period with a single sentence, saying that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ stayed with 

al-Juwaynı¯ until the latter’s death, that he left Nishapur afterward, and that he 

became part of the traveling court ( mu askar ) and of the assembly of scholars 



3 2   a l - gh a z a

¯ l 1


¯ ’ s   ph ilosoph ic a l   t h e olo g y

majlis ) that the vizier Niz.a¯m al-Mulk kept around him. 

89

  Later historians add 



nothing to this description. 

 In earlier Turkish tradition, the court of the Seljuq sultan and his vizier 

would travel through the open country. The sultan’s military and political 

strength depended on the livestock kept by his nomadic warriors, and he had 

to lead it through fertile pastures in order to survive. With time, however, the 

sultan became detached from his troops and accustomed to a more urban life-

style. By the time Sultan Maliksha¯h came to power in 465/1072, the court spent 

much of its time in Isfahan and visited Baghdad in regular intervals. 

 When  al-Ghaza¯lı¯ arrived in Baghdad in 484/1091, he came from Isfahan. 

Indeed, a comment in his letter to Sanjar suggests that he had spent the years 

after leaving Nishapur and before arriving in Baghdad exclusively in Isfahan. 

Talking about himself, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ wrote to Sanjar: 

 Know that this applicant ( da¯ ı¯ ) has reached fi fty-three years of age, 

forty years of which he has dived in the sea of religious scholarship 

so that he reached a point where his words are beyond the under-

standing of most of his contemporaries. Twenty years in the days of 

the martyred Sultan Maliksha¯h passed, while in Isfahan and Bagh-

dad he remained in favor with the sultan. Often he was the mes-

senger ( rasu¯l ) between the sultan and the caliph in their important 

affairs. 

90

  

 The amount of time al-Ghaza¯lı¯ spent in the service of Maliksha¯h (see fig-



ure  1.1)      is  most probably exaggerated. Maliksha¯h reigned almost exactly twenty 

lunar years between Rabı¯ ¶

  I 465 / January 1073 and Shawwa¯l 485 / November 

1092, and these words suggest that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ served him throughout his whole 

period in offi ce. With this address, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ aimed to impress Maliksha¯h’s son 

Sanjar and to suggest that he had paid his dues of servitude to the Seljuq family. 

Still, these words propose that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ entered the court early in Maliksha¯h’s 

reign, probably many years before al-Juwaynı¯’s death in 478/1085. One of al-

Ghaza¯lı¯’s students reports that Maliksha¯h commissioned one of his works 

in Persian; the  Proof of Truth in Responding to the Isma¯ ı¯



lites   ( H

. ujjat al-h.aqq fı¯ 

l-radd  ala¯ l-ba¯t.iniyya ), which unfortunately is lost. 

91

  



 During the exchange with the vice-regent Sanjar, which took place shortly 

after 501/1108, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ mentions that one of his earliest books,  The Sifted 



among the Notes on the Methods of Jurisprudence   ( al-Mankhu¯l min ta lı¯qa¯t al-us.u¯l ), 

was published about thirty years before. 

92

  That would put the publication of 



this book, which is an extracted version of al-Juwaynı¯’s course curriculum 

ta lı¯



qa ) for Islamic law, in the years around 471/1078. 

93

  Ibn al-Jawzı¯ confi rms 



that the book was published during al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s teacher’s lifetime; it even mer-

ited a jealous comment by al-Juwaynı¯. 

94

  Despite disagreeing with his teacher 



on some legal points,  The Sifted among the Notes on the Methods  was written in 

close cooperation with al-Juwaynı¯, who is honored in numerous references. 

Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ says that he “took great pain to organize the book into sections and 

chapters in order to facilitate the understanding when the need for consulta-

tion arises.” 

95

  The clear and detailed organization of his material is a feature of 



figure 1.1 

Sultan Maliksha¯h among his court. Miniature from the Arabic transla-

tion of Rashı¯d al-Dı¯n T.abı¯b’s (d. 718/1318) Persian Compendium of Chronicles ( Ja¯mi  

al-tava¯rı¯kh), produced around 714/1314 in Tabriz, Iran (Edinburgh University Library, 

MS Arab 20, fol. 138a).



3 4   a l - gh a z a

¯ l 1


¯ ’ s   ph ilosoph ic a l   t h e olo g y

all of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s writings, and al-Juwaynı¯ might have understood how much 

his own teaching activity could benefi t from it. 

 Ibn  al-Jawzı¯’s story of al-Juwaynı¯’s jealousy is part of an admiring but criti-

cal account of how al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s intellectual brilliance was also combined with a 

signifi cant amount of hubris. Ibn al-Jawzı¯ gives the impression that the young 

al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was disrespectful toward his teacher. Given Ibn al-Jawzı¯’s antago-

nism toward al-Ghaza¯lı¯, one might question whether his analysis is unbiased 

or mere scandalmongering. Yet an earlier and more reliable source also men-

tions that al-Juwaynı¯ was not entirely happy with his master student.  ¶Abd al-

Gha¯fi r al-Fa¯risı¯, who knew both and who may have witnessed what he reports, 

says that al-Juwaynı¯ admired al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s intelligence, his eloquence, and his 

talent for disputations, yet “secretly ( sirr  

an

  ) he did not have a good opinion of 

al-Ghaza¯lı¯.” 

96

   Like  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r himself, al-Juwaynı¯ disliked the young al-



Ghaza¯lı¯’s rush toward judgement and what many thought was an inborn sense 

of superiority. “He also was not pleased with [al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s] literary composi-

tions,”  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r continues, “even though he had been trained by him and 

was associated with him.” Outwardly, however, al-Juwaynı¯ boasted the achieve-

ments of his master student and held him in high esteem. 

97

  



 In  Juma¯da I 484 / July 1091, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ entered Baghdad as a newly ap-

pointed professor at the Niz.a¯miyya madrasa. The appointment was a decision 

by Niz.a¯m al-Mulk. Before he left Isfahan, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk had bestowed upon 

him two honorary titles, “Brilliance of the Religion” ( zayn al-dı¯



n ) and “Emi-

nence among the Religious Leaders” ( sharaf al-a 7imma ). 

98

   Later,  al-Ghaza¯lı¯ may 



have also received the title “Proof of Islam” ( hujjat al-Isla¯m ). This latter honorifi c 

was already used during his lifetime and overshadowed all others, which might 

indicate that the caliph—and not a sultan or his vizier—conferred it on him. 

 During his court days in Isfahan, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ had obtainted a number of 

precious robes whose opulence made a signifi cant impression in Baghdad. 

A contemporary noted: “When Abu

¯ H

. a¯mid entered Baghdad [in 484/1091] we 



estimated the value of his clothing and mount to be 500 dinars. After he turned 

ascetic, traveled, and returned to Baghdad [in 490/1097], we valued his cloth-

ing to be worth fi fteen  qira¯t. .” 

99

  The scholars of Baghdad must have understood 



the importance of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s appointment to the Niz.a¯miyya, since two teach-

ers had to leave their posts to make room for him. 

100

  By this time, it appears that 



he had already published his long compendium,  The Extended One   ( al-Bası¯

t. ), 

on the individual rulings in Sha¯fi  ¶ite  fi qh , and the somewhat shorter  Middle One  

al-Wası¯

t. ) on the same subject. His fame as a brilliant scholar had most likely 

reached the capital. 

101

  When he came to Baghdad, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ brought with him 



a companion and perhaps also students from Isfahan. 

102


  

 Al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s appointment to the most prestigious and most challenging 

teaching position of his time threw him squarely into the public light. From 

this point forward, there is no dearth of information about his life, and all his 

movements are well accounted for. Ibn al-Jawzı¯ reports appreciatively that all 

major scholars of Baghdad, among them the leading H

. anbalı¯ jurists, sat at his 

feet and “were astonished by his words; they believed these teachings had great 

merits, and they used them in their own books.” 

103


   Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ himself also at-

 

a   l ife   b e t w e e n   p ubl ic   a nd   p r i vat e   ins t r uc t ion  

3 5

tended the teaching sessions of other eminent professors at the Niz.a¯miyya. 



104

  

As his comments in the letter to Sanjar suggest, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was close to the 



caliph’s court and attended its major functions. 

105


  In addition to being the most 

prominent teacher of Muslim law and theology, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was also an offi cial 

of the Seljuq Empire, someone who, as he later put it critically, “consumed the 

riches of the ruler.” 

106

  

 Al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s tenure at the Niz.a¯miyya in Baghdad would last only four years. 



The number of books he is thought to have written during this period is stag-

gering. Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ himself brags about his achievements in a letter to  Sanjar: 

before he gave up teaching in 488/1095, he writes, he had already fi nished 

seventy books. 

107

  In his autobiography, he claims that even while teaching three 



hundred students, he still found the time to study the works of the  fala¯sifa   and 

compose a refutation to them within three years. 

108

  Such lines should be read 



skeptically, as they are intended to counter the accusation that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ had fa-

miliarized himself with philosophical teachings even before he had learned the 

religious sciences. It makes little sense to assume that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ arrived in 

Baghdad in the summer of 484/1091 with empty notebooks, so to speak, with-

out having written or drafted at least parts of the many books he would publish 

between his arrival at the Niz.a¯miyya in Baghdad and his departure four and 

one-half years later. In their work on the dating of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s works, Mau-

rice Bouyges and George F. Hourani were reluctant to assume that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ 

had completed many of his works before the year 484/1091. They follow his 

autobiography and date the composition of  Incoherence of the Philosophers   and 

the many books that surround this key work in the years after 484/1091. This 

assumption need not be the case. The text of manuscript London, British Li-

brary Or. 3126 illustrates that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ studied the works of  fala¯sifa  such as 

Avicenna, al-Fa¯ra¯bı¯, and Miskawayh in an extremely close manner. Whether 

he composed the  Incoherence of the Philosophers  during or after this study is an 

interesting question that we do not have the information to answer. 

109

   Even  if 



one were to assume that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ did not compose these works before ar-

riving in Baghdad, there was enough time for his intense preparatory study 

during the twenty years between his studies with al-Juwaynı¯ and his arrival in 

Baghdad. The speedy and linear process of studying and refuting, as described 

in his autobiography, seems overly streamlined. It is more likely that periods 

of philosophical study were interspersed with other activities and occupations, 

fi nally leading to the very clever response of the  Incoherence of the Philosophers , 

which was published in Baghdad. Other works that came out of the study of 

 falsafa  such as  The Standard of Knowledge in Logics   ( Mi ya¯r al- ilm fı¯ fann al-

mant.iq ),   The Touchstone of Reasoning in Logic   ( Mih.akk al-naz.ar fı¯ l-mant.iq ),  the 

text of manuscript London, British Library Or. 3126, and even  The Balanced 



Book on What-To-Believe   ( al-Iqtis.a¯d fı¯ l-i tiqa¯d ) may have been written or at least 

signifi cantly drafted during the years before al-Ghaza¯lı¯ arrived in Baghdad. 

Similarly, al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s refutations of the propaganda of the Isma¯ ¶ı¯lite move-

ment, which he laid down in such books as  The Scandals of the Esoterics and the 



Virtues of the Followers of Caliph al-Mustaz.hirı¯   ( Fad.a¯ 7ih. al-ba¯t.iniyya wa-fad.a¯ 7il al-

 Mustaz.hiriyya ),   The Weak Positions of the Esoterics   ( Qawa¯s.im al-ba¯t.iniyya ), or  The 

3 6   a l - gh a z a

¯ l 1


¯ ’ s   ph ilosoph ic a l   t h e olo g y

Straight Balance   ( al-Qist.a¯s al-mustaqı¯m ), may have been conceived or written in 

the period before al-Ghaza¯lı¯ arrived in Baghdad. One of his refutations of the 

Isma¯ ¶ı¯lite teachings was written in response to a question put to him in Ha-

madan, probably in the period before he came to Baghdad. 

110

  During the years 



before their takeover of the Elburz Mountains in Daylam 483/1090, Hamadan 

and particularly Isfahan were main centers of Isma¯ ¶ı¯lite activity. 

111

  His having 



developed a comprehensive response to Isma¯ ¶ı¯lism may have been one of the 

elements that qualifi ed al-Ghaza¯lı¯ for his prominent position at the Baghdad 

Niz.a¯miyya madrasa. 

 Many of the books written or drafted before al-Ghaza¯lı¯ came to Baghdad 

were indeed published during his tenure at the Niz.a¯miyya. A manuscript of the 

most important book from this period, the  Incoherence of the Philosophers ,  for 

instance, says that it was concluded on 11 Muh.arram 488 / 21 January 1095. 

112


  

A second book that was certainly published within these years is  The Scandals 



of the Esoterics and the Virtues of the Followers of Caliph al-Mustaz.hirı¯ . The work 

was commissioned by the caliph’s court. 

113

  Both the  ¶Abba¯sid caliph’s as well 



as the Fa¯t.imid caliph’s names appear in the book, and since their reigns only 

briefl y overlapped, we know that the publication of the book fell in the year 

487/1094. 

114


  

 The years of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s teaching activity at the Baghdad Niz.a¯miyya were 

tumultuous for the city and the Seljuq Empire as a whole. 

115


  On 10 Ramad.a¯n 

485 / 14 October 1092, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk was murdered during the court’s travel 

from Isfahan to Baghdad. A young man who appeared to be an Isma¯ ¶ı¯lite from 

Daylam assassinated him, his name recorded in the annals of the Isma¯ ¶ı¯lites. 

116

  

But the murderer was immediately killed and could not be interrogated. Sultan 



Maliksha¯h, who continued on his route to Baghdad, appointed Ta¯j al-Mulk, 

a longtime rival of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, as his new vizier. Earlier, Maliksha¯h had 

already distanced himself from Niz.a¯m al-Mulk and the  ¶Abba¯sid caliph. 

117


   Now, 

after the death of his long-serving vizier, Maliksha¯h demanded that the caliph 

move from Baghdad to another city of his preference, leaving Baghdad to the 

Seljuqs as their capital. The caliph al-Muqtadı¯ asked to have at least ten days 

to prepare for his move, “like it is granted to any man from among the popu-

lace.” 


118

  During this grace period, Maliksha¯h went hunting and returned with 

a fever that killed him on 16 Shawwa¯l / 19 November, about a month after 

Niz.a¯m al-Mulk’s murder. 

 Maliksha¯h’s sudden death prompted his six eligible minor sons and 

their backers to engage in a fi erce struggle for the sultan’s succession. The 

sons were from three different mothers, and each mother attempted to build 

her own power base. The Seljuq generals (singl.  



amı¯r 

) and the so-called 

“ Niz.a¯miyya ”—the family and the clients of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk and their loyal slave-

troops—followed Maliksha¯h’s wishes and prepared for the appointment of his 

oldest son Berk-Yaruq, who was thirteen years old and whom they had taken 

to Rayy. Meanwhile in Baghdad, one of Maliksha¯h’s widows, known as Terken 

Kha¯tu

¯n, convinced the caliph to appoint her fi ve-year-old son, Mah.mu¯d, as sul-


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