Al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s Philosophical


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are the companions of sultans, and those who “have knowledge of divine unity 

tawh.ı¯d ) and the actions of the heart and who are the solitary and isolated in-

habitants of the  za¯wiya s.” 

210

  

 In  T.a¯bara¯n, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ built both a  za¯wiya  and a  kha¯nqa¯h . 



211

  As a minor 

madrasa that is not maintained by the state, a  za¯wiya  needs the support of 

small endowments or donations. Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was opposed to the idea that stu-

dents should pay for their education. Teachers, he said, should emulate the 

Prophet and not require payment for teaching; knowledge should not serve 

its holders but rather be served by them. 

212


  The term  kha¯nqa¯h  refers to a Sufi  

convent that also required the funding of donated wealth. The origin of the 

word  kha¯nqa¯h  is Persian; and although it gains usage in Arabic during this 

time, some sources prefer to use the Arabic translation  riba¯t.   for  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r 

al-Fa¯risı¯’s word  kha¯nqa¯h . A  riba¯t.  originally refers to a “camp” or “convent” for 

those who fi ght in a  jiha¯d . In his Arabic  fatwa¯  on who is allowed to live in the 

 kha¯nqa¯h ,  al-Ghaza¯lı¯ himself uses the word  riba¯t.  , even though in a Persian text 

on the same subject, he employs  kha¯nqa¯h . For al-Ghaza¯lı¯, the inhabitants of a 



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 kha¯nqa¯h  fi ght the  jiha¯d  of the soul. Others agree: Ibn al-Jawzı¯, for instance, writ-

ing in Arabic, documents this synonymous usage when he reports that in T.u¯s 

al-Ghaza¯lı¯ “had in his neighborhood a madrasa and a convent ( riba¯t. ) for those 

who practice Sufi sm. He also built a nice house and planted a garden.” 

213


  

 The   kha¯nqa¯h  was a relatively new institution at this time. It allowed those 

devoted to Sufi sm to stay there and pursue an ascetic lifestyle in the company 

of like-minded peers. Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ had a clear idea about who could come and 

stay at his  kha¯nqa¯h . He wrote a Persian  fatwa¯  in which he clarifi es that only 

those who are free from such sins as adultery and homosexual intercourse and 

who do not adorn themselves by wearing silk and gold are allowed to live in the 

 kha¯nqa¯h  and benefi t from its facilties. He did not admit people who pursued 

a profession other than such things as tailoring or paper making that can be 

done in the kha¯nqa¯h. The fact that there was endowed wealth ( amwa¯l ) on the 

side of the  kha¯nqa¯h  should allow its attendants to withdraw from the workforce. 

Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ also excluded those who seek fi nancial support from the sultan and 

who have acquired their means of living in another unlawful manner. 

214


  

 In his autobiography written in 500 (1106–7), al-Ghaza¯lı¯ portrays his life 

back home in T.u¯s: “I chose seclusion (  ¶uzla ), desiring solitude and the purifi ca-

tion of the heart through  dikhr .” 

215

  These words, together with  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r 



al-Fa¯risı¯’s report about al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s last years in T.u¯s, created the mistaken im-

pression of a totally isolated scholar who had withdrawn from all public activity. 

  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r al-Fa¯risı¯ writes in a passage about al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s return to Kho-

rasan that many later historians copy: 

 Then he returned to his homeland where he stayed close to his fam-

ily. He was preoccupied with meditation ( tafakkur ) and he was tena-

cious of his time. He was the precious goal and the preserveance of 

the hearts for those who seeked him and who came to see him. 

216

  

 The word “seclusion” (  ¶uzla ) is used almost every time al-Ghaza¯lı¯ writes about 



his life after 488/1095. Given that he published books, taught in his  za¯wiya , 

and received those who came to him, this cannot mean the sort of seclusion 

from his contemporaries that we would describe as a hermit’s retreat, fully 

separate from the outside world. What al-Ghaza¯lı¯ intended for his seclusion 

became clear during his written and oral exchanges with Sanjar. These conver-

sations were collected and later edited by one of his descendents. Here, soon 

after 501/1108, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ claimed that: 

 [I]n the months of the year 499, the author of these lines, Ghaza¯lı¯, 

after having lived in seclusion (  ¶uzlat ) for twelve years and after 

having been devoted to the  za¯wiya , had been obliged to come to 

Nishapur in order to occupy himself with the spread of knowledge 

and of divine law ( sharı¯ 



at ). (This was ordered), since in scholarship 

debility and weakness had become widespread. The hearts of those 

dear to him and of those who have insight ( ahl-i bas.ı¯rat ) rushed to 

help him with all their good will. In sleep and in wake he was given 

to understand that this effort is the beginning of something good 


 

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and the cause for a revival of scholarship and of divine law. After he 



agreed (to come to Nishapur) he brought splendor to the teaching po-

sition and students from all parts of the world made efforts to come 

to him. 

217


  

 When  al-Ghaza¯lı¯ writes that he lived “in seclusion (  ¶uzla ) for twelve years de-

voted to the  za¯wiya ,” he refers to the period of eleven lunar years between his 

departure from Baghdad in Dhu

¯ l-Qa ¶da 488 / November 1095 and the begin-

ning of his teaching at the Niz.a¯miyya in Nishapur in late 499 / summer of 

1106, an event that will be discussed below. The discrepancy between twelve 

and eleven is either a glitch on al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s part or a scribal mistake. 

218

   The 


years of  za¯wiya  life that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ mentions includes his popular teaching at 

Damascus and Baghdad, his writing of a letter for the people of Jerusalem, his 

performing of the pilgrimage, and most important, his teaching at his own 

 za¯wiya  and  kha¯nqa¯h  in his hometown T.a¯bara¯n-T.u¯s. 

219

  

 “Being devoted to the  za¯wiya ” 



220

  simply means that he had dedicated him-

self to the teaching at private madrasas and  kha¯nqa¯h s in Damascus, Jerusalem, 

Baghdad, and T.a¯bara¯n-T.u¯s. Thus “seclusion” (  ¶uzla ) merely means not serving 

in a public offi ce and not being engaged in state-sponsored teaching at one of 

the Niz.a¯miyya schools. The key element of this seclusion is avoiding any close 

contact with the rulers and audiences selected by them. This principle is a Sufi  

topos, and it is prominent in the  Deliverer from Error,  where the two teaching 

engagements at Niz.a¯miyya schools (separated by eleven years) are described 

in very similar terms. When in 504/1110, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ is once again invited to 

teach at the Niz.a¯miyya in Baghdad (which will also be discussed below), he 

declines, saying that a public offi ce would not suit him well. In a letter to his 

invitor D.iya¯ 7 al-Mulk Ah.mad, the son of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk and the vizier to Sultan 

Muh.ammad Tapar, he excuses himself by pointing to his three vows at the 

grave of Abraham: 

 If I fail towards these vows it will darken my heart and my life. 

Success won’t be granted to anything that I will do in this world. In 

Baghdad one cannot avoid public disputations and one has to attend 

the palace of the caliph. During the time while I returned from Syria, 

I had no business in Baghdad, and since I had no offi cial position, 

I was free from all responsibilities. I chose to live by my own. 

If I am given an offi ce, I cannot live without burden ( musallam ).  But 

since my innermost will yearn to give up the offi ce and return to a 

free state, it will have no good effect. The most important excuse is, 

however, that I will be unable to earn my living, since I cannot accept 

money ( ma¯l ) from a ruler ( sult.an ) and since I have no property ( milk ) 

in Baghdad [to live from.] If one lives economically and in abstinence, 

the piece of land that I own in T.u¯s is for my humble person and the 

children just enough. 

221


  

 ¶ Abd al-Gha¯fi r al-Fa¯risı¯’s personal report about this last period in al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s 

life, when he stayed in T.a¯bara¯n-T.u¯s, centers on his conversion ( tawba ).  He 


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contrasts the al-Ghaza¯lı¯ of his late years with the one  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r knew as 

a young and brilliant student-colleague under al-Juwaynı¯.  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s im-

pression of the younger al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was far from positive: the young scholar was 

dominated by a feeling of superiority over others. The late al-Ghaza¯lı¯ had com-

pletely changed, and yet  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r initially suspected his kind manners to 

be merely a pretense adopted to cover up his true nature as a scholar fi lled with 

hubris. By and by, however,  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r became convinced of the depth of 

al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s conversion: 

 I visited [al-Ghaza¯lı¯] many times and it was no bare conjecture of 

mine that he, in spite of the maliciousness and roughness towards 

people that I witnessed during the times past, had become quite the 

opposite and was cleansed from these fi lthy strains. In the past he 

had looked at people from above and with defi ance. He had a vain 

pride and was blinded by the ease with which God had provided him 

to handle words, thoughts, expressions, and the pursuit of glory. 

I used to think that [this new al-Ghaza¯lı¯] was wrapped in the gar-

ments of false mannerism ( takalluf  ) and regarding what had become 

of him, he was suppressing his natural disposition ( na¯mu

¯s ). But I re-

alized after investigation that things were the opposite of what I had 

thought, and that the man had recovered after he had been mad. 

222


  

 ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s report of his nightly talks with al-Ghaza¯lı¯ has many parallels 

in the autobiography  The Deliverer from Error.  Yet  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s retelling of 

the events are more concrete and less chronologically streamlined. The seeds of 

al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s  tawba  appear much earlier in this report than in the written au-

tobiography. According to  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ studied the sciences and 

excelled in everything that had caught his interest. After these early successes, 

he started to meditate about the afterlife, which led him to seek the company 

of the infl uential Sufi  teacher Abu

¯  ¶Alı¯ al-Fa¯ramadhı¯. 

223

   Al-Fa¯ramadhı¯ was a 



Sha¯fi ¶ite from T.u¯s, where he died in 477/1084 when al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was in his late 

twenties. Al-Fa¯ramadhı¯ was engaged in mystical practices ( tadhkı¯



r ) and one 

“to whom fl ashes from the light of insight have been made visible.” 

224

   ¶Abd 


al-Gha¯fi r says that the younger al-Ghaza¯lı¯ received from al-Fa¯ramadhı¯ an intro-

duction to his Sufi  method ( t.arı¯qa ). 

 After his initiation to Sufi sm,  al-Ghaza¯lı¯ experienced his fi rst crisis of 

knowledge, the one he describes in the second chapter of the  Deliverer from 



Error , “The Inroads of Skepticism.” 

225


  In the autobiography, this crisis precedes 

al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s mastering of the sciences. Here, in  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s report, the 

epistemological crisis is a less dramatic confusion about the criteria for truth. 

It was prompted by the relativist impression that rational arguments seem 

to stand undecidedly against one another without trumping their opposites 

taka¯fu 7 al-adilla ).  Finally,  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s conversations with al-Ghaza¯lı¯ illumi-

nate the major crisis in his life, the Sufi   tawba  that led to his departure from 

Baghdad. The main motive from the  Deliverer , namely, fear of the afterlife, also 

dominates  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s report: 


 

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 Then he related that a gate of fear had been opened for him to such 



an extent that he could no longer occupy himself with anything else 

until [his fear] got better. In this manner he remained until he 

was fully practiced [in matters of religion]. [Only now] the truths 

al-h.aqa¯ 7iq ) became apparent [to him]. 

226

  

   ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s report about al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s two crises calls the chronology of 



events in the autobiography in question. Sufi sm appeared much earlier in al-

Ghaza¯lı¯’s life than he acknowledges in that book.  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r also confi rms 

the impression of some readers of the  Deliverer  that the narrative description—

studying fi rst  kala¯m , then  falsafa , then Isma¯ ¶ilite theology, until fi nally reach-

ing Sufi sm—stems from pedagogical conventions and does not represent the 

actual sequence of study in al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s life. 

227

  

  



 In the late months of 499 / summer of 1106, shortly before the turn to a new 

century in the Islamic calendar, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ began teaching at the Niz.a¯miyya 

madrasa in Nishapur. 

228


  That event prompted the writing of his autobiography, 

 The Deliverer from Error , which responds to criticism from both close followers 

as well as hostile scholars. There, he legitimizes his return to the Niz.a¯miyya 

schools by linking it to the needs of an epoch characterized by religious slack-

ness (   fatra ) and the temptations of false beliefs. Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ says that he con-

sulted with a group of people “who have a pure heart and religious insight 

musha¯hada )” who advised him to leave his seclusion and emerge from his 

 za¯wiya  to lead the much-needed religious renewal at the beginning of the new 

century. In addition, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ mentions that “the sultan at that time” or-

dered him to come to Nishapur. From al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s letters, it becomes clear 

that Fakhr al-Mulk, a son of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk and vizier to Sanjar (see fi gure 1.5), 

put pressure on al-Ghaza¯lı¯.  He  wanted      al-Ghaza¯lı¯ to return to state-sponsored 

figure 1.5 

Sanjar as Sultan among his court. Miniature from Rashı¯d al-Dı¯n T.abı¯b’s 



Compendium of Chronicles (Edinburgh University Library, MS Arab 20, fol. 142a).

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teaching in Nishapur.  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r reports that Fakhr al-Mulk confronted al-

Ghaza¯lı¯ with the demand to teach at the Niz.a¯miyya in Nishapur, summoned 

him, and listened to him—meaning he heard his excuses. ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r’s 

language suggests that the vizier did not mince words and used all means 

of persuasion short of brute force. Subsequently, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ “was taken” to 

Nishapur and began teaching at the Niz.a¯miyya. 

229


  From his letters, one gets 

the impression that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ had a close relationship with Fakhr al-Mulk: the 

scholar addresses the vizier as his trusted intellectual mentor. 

 A couple of years later, when al-Ghaza¯lı¯ spoke about the events in 499/1106 

to Sanjar, he said that he was initially afraid of returning to the Niz.a¯miyya 

school and mentioned his fear to the vizier: 

 I said to Fakhr al-Mulk that this era cannot bear my words and that 

during these times everybody who says the truth has walls erected 

right in front of him. He said to me: “This king ( scil.  Sanjar) is just 

and I will come to your aid.” 

230

  

 Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ feared the possibility that scholars who objected to his teachings 



might stir up the Seljuq ruler against him. This was indeed the situation in 

which he found himself during this conversation with Sanjar. Two years later, 

in late 501 / summer of 1108, a group of scholars that included all Sunni schools 

of jurisprudence present in Khorasan accused al-Ghaza¯lı¯ of 

 not being a believer in Islam but rather following the beliefs of the 

 fala¯sifa  and the heretics ( mulh.ida¯n ). All his books are infested with 

their words and he mixes unbelief ( kufr ) and falsehoods ( aba¯t.ı¯l )  with 

the secrets of revelation. He calls God the “true light” [in his  Niche of 



Light ] and that is the teaching of the Zoroastrians ( maju¯s ). 

231


  

 Abu¯  ¶Abdalla¯h al-Ma¯zarı¯ al-Dhakı¯ (d. 510/1116–17), a native of Mazzara in Sic-

ily and an Ash ¶arite Ma¯likite scholar who had come to the east from Tunisia, 

was particularly active in this campaign. 

232

   ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r al-Fa¯risı¯ refers to a 



controversy in Nishapur that began around 497/1103, when Fakhr al-Mulk be-

came grand vizier of Sanjar and fi rst attempted to make al-Ghaza¯lı¯ a teacher 

at the Niz.a¯miyya in Nishapur. 

233


  Once in Nishapur, al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s teaching faced 

resistance. “His staff was struck,”  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fir writes, “by opposition, by at-

tacks on him, and by slanderings about what he omitted and what he commit-

ted.” 


234

  But al-Ghaza¯lı¯ remained calm and did not respond to these attacks, 

  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r says, nor did he show much ambition to correct his opponents’ 

mistakes. Given the arrogance and the litigiousness of the younger al-Ghaza¯lı¯, 

 ¶Abd al-Gha¯fi r had found it hard to believe that he had changed when he re-

turned to teaching at the Niz.a¯miyya in Nishapur. Yet his calm posture in the 

face of numerous accusations and slandering impressed  ¶Abd al-Gha¯fir, and 

in a very personal note, he confi rms that his former colleague had indeed 

become different. In a discussion about al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s bearing while teaching in 

Nishapur, he writes: 



 

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 What we [initially] thought was pretention ( tamarrus ) and an aqcuired 



mode ( takhalluq ) was, in fact, his [true] nature ( t.ab ¶ ) and the realiza-

tion ( tah.aqquq ) [of what he truely was]. This was the sign of the hap-

piness that has been ordained on him by God. 

235


  

 The collection of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s letters provides more information about the con-

fl ict. Its compiler reports that among the scholars who carried accusations to 

Sanjar’s court were a group of H

. anafi tes, who asked that al-Ghaza¯lı¯ be punished 

for a passage in one of his early legal works. In this early work, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ po-

lemicizes in an aggressively partisan spirit against the founding fi gure of their 

school, Abu

¯ H

. anı¯fa. 



236

  Since Sanjar was himself a H

. anafi te, the situation was 

potentially dangerous. A much later source from the tenth/sixteenth century 

claims that the H

. anafi te scholars had issued a  fatwa¯  demanding al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s 

execution. 

237


  Shortly after 501/1108, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ appeared before Sanjar. In the 

meantime, Isma¯ ¶ilite agents had murdered Fakhr al-Mulk. During his appear-

ance before Sanjar, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ evoked the memory of the assasinated grand 

vizier and the promises he made to secure al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s safety in the midst of 

the accusations driven by Nishapur’s notorious partisanship among the legal 

schools. Al-Ghaza¯lı¯ asked Sanjar to release him from his teaching obligation in 

Nishapur and in T.u¯s. 

238


  The name “Nishapur” refers, of course, to al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s 

teaching at the Niz.a¯miyya madrasa there. It is unclear, however, what the refer-

ence to T.u¯s means. Maybe al-Ghaza¯lı¯ was also required to teach there at a local 

state-sponsored school? 

 Sanjar declined to release al-Ghaza¯lı¯ from his teaching posts. In fact, the 

theologian’s address ( c.  501/1108) made such a strong impression on Sanjar 

that he said: “We should have ordered that all scholars of Iraq and Khorasan 

be present to hear your words.” 

239

  Sanjar promised to build madrasas for al-



Ghaza¯lı¯, “and we will order that all scholars should come to you once a year in 

order to learn everything what is unknown to them. If someone has a disagree-

ment ( khila¯f  ) with you, he should be patient and ask you to explain the solution 

to his problem.” 

240

  This version of events is the one reported by al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s fol-



lowers and students. It does seem that he was exonerated from the accusations 

of his anti-H

. anafi sm, and more amicable relations between him and Sanjar 

were established. He wrote the  Council for Kings   ( Nas.ı¯h.at al-mulu¯k ) for Sanjar 

in response to a piece of game ( shika¯r ) the vice-regent sent him from one of his 

hunts nearby. 

241

  

 The nature of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s duties in Nishapur did not seem to keep him 



there long or all too often. When Sanjar summoned him to his regularly es-

tablished camp near T.u¯s, 

242

   al-Ghaza¯lı¯ arrived there from T.a¯bara¯n, although 



this was still during the time that he was required to teach in Nishapur. In fact, 

Sanjar directs all his communications with al-Ghaza¯lı¯ to T.a¯bara¯n and never 

to Nishapur. During this time, al-Ghaza¯lı¯ also had students in T.u¯s; a group 

of them appeared before Sanjar’s court to defend al-Ghaza¯lı¯ from enemy ac-

cusations. 

243


  It is not clear whether these students were those who lived at al-

Ghaza¯lı¯’s  kha¯nqa¯h  and studied with him at his  za¯wiya , or whether they were 


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