A critical analysis of the Modernists and the Hadeeth ... - Islam House
A critical analysis of the Modernists and the Hadeeth ... - Islam House
A critical analysis of the Modernists and the Hadeeth ... - Islam House
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
al-Ghazzali's<br />
<strong>of</strong> Philosophy <strong>and</strong> Kalaam<br />
Imam al-Ghazzali, <strong>the</strong> well-known author <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> book 'Ihyaa Uloom<br />
ad-Deen', was a person <strong>of</strong> rare level <strong>of</strong> intelligence, ingenuity <strong>and</strong><br />
cleverness.<br />
He went through a number <strong>of</strong> stages. He indulged in<br />
philosophy, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n he recanted <strong>and</strong> rejected it. Then he indulged in<br />
Ilmul-Kalaam <strong>and</strong> gained a sound grasp <strong>of</strong> its basic principles <strong>and</strong><br />
used it to refute philosophy; but later rejected Ilmul-Kalaam when it<br />
became clear to him that it was corrupt <strong>and</strong> filled with contradictions,<br />
he <strong>the</strong>n followed <strong>the</strong> path <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Batiniyyah (esotericisms) <strong>and</strong><br />
learned <strong>the</strong>ir knowledge, but rejected that too. He showed <strong>the</strong> beliefs<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Baatiniyyah to be false, <strong>and</strong> exposed <strong>the</strong> manner in which <strong>the</strong>y<br />
tamper with <strong>the</strong> texts <strong>and</strong> rulings. Then he followed <strong>the</strong> path <strong>of</strong><br />
Sufism. These are <strong>the</strong> four stages that al-Ghazzali went through.<br />
Even though, al-Ghazzali had a deep knowledge <strong>of</strong> Sufism,<br />
Ilmul-Kalaam, Usool al-fiqh, etc., <strong>and</strong> he was a devoted worshiper<br />
with good intentions, he could not completely free himself from<br />
philosophy.<br />
Imam<br />
His closest companion, Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi refuted his<br />
ideas saying, "Our shaykh Abu Haamid went deep into philosophy<br />
<strong>the</strong>n he wanted to come out <strong>of</strong> it but he was unable to. There were<br />
- 29 -