This is a paper written as a partial fulfillment to the requirement of History of Islamic Philosophy subject. Any citation is allowed as long as it does not breach the rules and ethics, and please do not plagiarise.
Abu Hamid Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Al-GhazÉlÊ
was born in 1058, in Ùus, Persia, near the
modern Meshad in eastern Iran. His family was Persian, of modest means, had a
reputation for learning, and displayed an open tendency towards Sufism. Al-GhazÉlÊ’s
father died while he was very young; a friend of his father’s who was also a
mystic (Sufi) raised al-GhazÉlÊ
and his brother (Latefah, 2001).
As he was a theologian, jurist, philosopher
and Sufi mystic, al-GhazÉlÊ
is a towering figure in the history of Islam and a pivotal thinker within its
philosophical tradition. He is often blamed –somewhat hyperbolically- for
bringing Islamic philosophy to an ultimate end (Groff & Leaman, 2007).
The
eventful life of al-GhazÉlÊcan be divided into three
major periods. The first was the period of learning; first in his home town of Ùus in Persia, then in
Gurgan and finally in Nishapur. After the death of his teacher, ImÉm al-×aramayn Al-JuwaynÊ (the great Ash‛arite
theologian), al-GhazÉlÊ moved to the court
of Nizam al-Mulk, the powerful vizir of the Seljuq Sultans, who eventually
appointed him head of the Nizamiyyah College at Baghdad in AH 484/AD 1091
(Kojiro, 2008).
The
second period of al-GhazÉlÊ’s life was his
brilliant career as the highest-ranking orthodox ‘doctor’ of the Islamic
community in Baghdad (AH 484-8/AD 1091-5). This period was short but
significant. During this time, as well as lecturing on Islamic jurisprudence at
the College, he was also busy refuting heresies and responding to questions from
all segments of the community (Kojiro, 2008).
During
this productive period he wrote The Intentions of the Philosophers (MaqÉÎid al-FalÉsifa), which
offered a clear, accurate exposition of the mashsha’i or Peripatetic
philosophers (first and foremost, IbnSina). This was soon followed by his
monumentally important Incoherence of the Philosophers (TahÉfut al-FalÉsifa), which
critiqued twenty of their most problematic claims. (Groff & Leaman, 2007)
After
four years of teaching in Baghdad, al-GhazÉlÊ underwent a profound
spiritual crisis that led him to question the validity of both sense experience
and reason and even temporarily rendered him unable to speak. Finally, he
renounced his academic career and worldly ambitions and left Baghdad (Groff
& Leaman, 2007).
This
event marked the beginning of the third period of his life, that of retirement
(AH 488-505/AD 1095-1111), but which also included a short period of teaching
at the Nizamiyyah College in Nishapur. After leaving Baghdad, he wandered as a
Sufi in Syria and Palestine before returning to
Ùus,
where he was engaged in writing his spiritual autobiography,
The Deliverance
from Error (
al-Munqidh min al-ÖalÉl), Sufi
practices and teaching his disciples until his death. (Kojiro
,
2008)
In
his work -Al-Munqidh min al-ÖalÉl-, al-GhazÉlÊ detailed his quest
for certain knowledge about reality, which led him from theology to philosophy
to the esotericism of the IsmÉ‛ilis
to Sufi mysticism. Like his earlier engagement with philosophy, al-GhazÉlÊ’s mystical turn had
wide-ranging and complementary effects. On the one hand, his sober, responsible
appropriation of Sufism made mysticism respectable in the eyes of orthodox
traditionalists; on the other, it helped to revitalize the stultified Islam of
his time. Al-GhazÉlÊ’s magnum opus, Revival
of the Religious Sciences (IÍya’
‛UlËm
al-DÊn)
exemplifies this mutual enrichment (Groff & Leaman, 2007).
Knowledge :
General Discussion
Knowledge is one of the most important
themes in Islam. Islam put knowledge on the highest stage; a very special
place. In Islamic point of view, knowledge is from God and revelation (wahy).
It is proved by evidence from QurÉ’nic
verse in SËrah al-ÑAlaq:
1:
.......
This verse is the first revelation
and commandment of Allah to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This verse stands for
‘reads in the name of Allah’. The term iqra’ or read connotes the
importance of seeking knowledge for the sake of Allah. Knowledge is not a new
thing, it is not an alien subject as knowledge has been known and shared even
with the creation of the first man, Adam as. Allah taught Prophet Adam the name
of the things in this world. It is mentioned on Surah al-Baqarah verse 31: “And
He taught Adam the nature of all things: then He placed them before the Angels
and said, ‘tell me the nature of these if ye are right’ ”.
Besides, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
also
concerned about knowledge. He highlighted the need and urgency of acquiring
knowledge in several hadiths. The Prophet’s saying: ‘Knowledge is to be
acquired from birth (cradle) to death’ and ‘Pursuit knowledge is an incumbent
duty of man and woman’, shows that acquisition of knowledge is the duty of all
believers (Qadir, 1988).
Greek philosophy was also concerned
about knowledge and called them as epistemology which means science of knowledge.
Knowledge in Arabic term isÑilm
and it directly means knowledge. The termÑilm
has been used repetitively in QurÉ’n
and ×adÊth
as referring to knowledge. In addition, there are also several terms in QurÉ’n that carry the meaning and concept of knowledge
such as book (kitÉb),
pen (qalam), ink (Groof & Leaman, 2007).
The wordÑilm
is also one of the terms used to refer to Islamic Philosophy besides ma’rifah,
hikmah, falsafah and kalam. Islamic philosophers were also talked
about knowledge, for instance al-FÉrabÊ
who was famous with his classification of knowledge. Then, al-KindÊ
also declared that knowledge is virtue and the final aim of philosophy is
morality and man can have knowledge of right and wrong through reason
(Majid,1983).
Al-GhazÉlÊ
is one of the philosophers who has a
deep interest in the subject of knowledge. He began his famous writing; IhyÉ’
ÑUlËm
al-DÊn,
with the chapter; The Book of knowledge (KitÉb
al-ÑIlm).
In the introduction part, he stated that he opened his book with a chapter
about knowledge (bÉb
al-Ñilm)
because the harvest of good knowledge is to fear God and become pious (Latefah,
2001). Al-Ghazali (in Gianotti, 2000) wrote:
“I began the whole thing with the
Book of Knowledge because it is of the utmost importance. First of all, I
do this in order that I make known the knowledge that is devoted to the words
of His Prophet (May God bless him and grant him salvation), the [kind of
knowledge that are] required to be sought. (To this effect), the Prophet (May
God bless him and grant him salvation) said, ‘the pursuit of knowledge is an
obligation for every Muslim’.[Secondly, I begin with this book] in order that I
may distinguish the beneficial knowledge from the harmful, since the Prophet
(May God bless him and grant him salvation) said, “I seek refuge in God from
knowledge that has no benefit,” [All this is] in order that I correct the
present generation in their inclination away from the way of what is right, in
their willingness to be duped by glimmering phantoms and in their [total]
contentment sciences [that treat] the outer husk[rather than] the essential
core.”
Al-Ghazali’s
Theory of Knowledge
Al-Ghazali’s magnification of knowledge is obviously seen
as he positioned The Book of Knowledge as the first, opening chapter of Ihya’
Ulum al-Din. This Book of Knowledge comprises of seven chapters; among them
on the branches of knowledge. Al-Ghazali did not discuss on branches of
knowledge just in this book, but also in his other writings, for instance al-Risalat
al-Laduniyyah and al-Munqidh.
In discussing the meaning of knowledge, al-Ghazali was in
the same stance with his notable teacher, Imam al-Haramayn (Hamid, 2010).
Knowledge, for al-Ghazali, is hard to be defined, but it could be explained by
means of disjunction (qismah) and resemblance (mithal) ( Hamid, 2010; Mustafa, 1996). By
disjunction it means classification, and by resemblance it connotes examples
and references to other things to sign similarities. Al-Ghazali has given an
example of scent of musk on what he meant by knowledge. He stated that the
knowledge one has of the scent of a musk, cannot be defined, but one can
distinguish it from other musk, can classify the musk in specific characteristics, and can give the
example of other scent which is similar to the scent of the musk (Mustafa,
1996). In his Mi`yar, al-Ghazali stated that “there is no meaning of
knowledge except that of its being an image (mithal) that arrives in the
soul, which conforms to that which is an image in sense perception, namely, the
object known” (Hamid, 2010).
Latter scholars have synthesized al-Ghazali’s
classification of sciences or knowledge into four divisions, namely; 1)
theoretical and practical parts, 2) presential (`Ilm Mukashafah)and
acquired (`Ilm Husuli) knowledge, 3) religious (`Ulum
Shar`iyyah) and intellectual (`Ulum Aqliyyah) sciences, and 4)
individual (Fard `Ain) and community (Fard Kifayah) obligation
(Osman, 2006). In this paper, the
discussion will be mainly on the third division of al-Ghazali’s classification
of sciences; religious and intellectual sciences.
This division was established upon the distinction in
sources of the sciences. It is quite clear to note that religious sciences’
sources are Quran, Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or prophetic
tradition, Ijma’ or consensus of the Community, and athar al-sahabah
or the traditions of the Companions as al-Ghazali wrote in Ihya’, (knowledge)
“which have been acquired from the prophets and are not arrived at either by
reason, like arithmetic, or experimentation, like medicine, or by hearing, like
language (p. 30), while intellectual sciences are derived from human reasoning
and intellectual process and is aided by sense perception.
Both religious sciences and intellectual sciences have
been put under the larger branch of community obligation (fard kifayah)
in Ihya’. Unlike any Western philosophers who separate between Divine
knowledge and rational knowledge, al-Ghazali integrates between these two
knowledge or sciences.
Religious sciences, in al-Ghazali’s classification, are
then divided into “four sub-categories according to their importance in
practicing religious teaching” (Latefah, 2001, p.106); science of fundamental
principles (usul), science of branches or derived principles (furu`),
auxiliary (muqaddimat), and supplementary (mutammimat). The first
category, usul, talks about the fundamental principles of religion and
the sources of religious sciences. The fundamental principles of religion are
science of Divine Unity (`ilm al-tawhid), science of prophethood,
eschatology and science of the sources of religious knowledge (Osman, 2006). The
four sources of religious sciences as listed by al-Ghazali are Quran, Sunnah
of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or prophetic tradition, Ijma’ or consensus of
the Community, and athar al-sahabah or the traditions of the Companions
(Nabih, 1962).
The second category, furu`, consists of the
sciences of the principles that are derived from the sources of religious
knowledge. There are three principles in this category: 1) science of man’s
obligation to God, i.e. religious rites and worship (`ibadah), 2)
science of man’s obligation to society, i.e. transaction, contractual
obligations especially family law (mu`amalah) , and 3) science of man’s
obligation to own soul, i.e. moral qualities (`ilm akhlaq) (Osman,
2006). All these sciences or knowledge are
based on the revelation of Almighty God, and also the traditions and examples
given by Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions.
The third category, muqaddimat, is the important
component in studying and understanding religious sciences (Nabih, 1962). It
comprises of linguistic science and syntax, and science of writing (Osman,
2006). Without this knowledge, religious sciences would be hardly learned and
comprehended.
The fourth category in religious sciences is mutammimat,
which act as the supplementary knowledge in further understanding and mastering
religious sciences. Divisions in this category include Quranic sciences
including the science of interpretation, the sciences of the prophetic traditions
such as the science of authoritative transmission, the science of principles of
jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), and biography of the illustrious men and
Companions (Osman, 2006).
On the other hand, intellectual sciences are categorized
into two; enumeration of intellectual sciences, and ethico-legal status of
intellectual sciences (Osman, 2006). On the enumeration category, al-Ghazali
proposed four types of intellectual sciences; 1)mathematics, which are
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and astrology, and music, 2) logics, 3) physics
or the natural sciences, which are medicine, meteorology, mineralogy, alchemy,
and 4) metaphysics, which includes ontology, knowledge of the divine essence,
attributes and activities, and science of prophecy (Osman, 2006). The
intellectual sciences were also viewed in three statuses that are linked with
ethics. The first status, praiseworthy (mahmud) applied to the sciences that
are essential to the community’s welfare, “on whose knowledge the activities of
this life depend such as medicine and arithmetic” (Nabih, 2006). The second
status, blameworthy (madhmuh) sciences are the sciences which have no
benefit to the community and individual, and may also impose harm to the
practitioners and others, for instance talisman and witchcraft. These sciences
are in fact contradicting Islamic values (Osman, 2006). The third status,
permissible (mubah) sciences are the neutral sciences that do not
contradict Islamic values and can be tailored to the Islamic values, for
instance philosophy and poetry. Al-Ghazali “did not agree with visual art and
images, however, because of the potential for idolization (Latefah, 2001,
p.106)
Al-Ghazali’ Influence
on Later Philosopher
As we have the later philosopher in the history of Islamic
philosophy, Qutb al-Din was influenced by the former philosophers, to name
some; al-Farabi and al-Ghazali. In this regard, the discussion will focus in
depth on al-Ghazali’s influence on
al-Shirazi.
Qutb a-Din al-Shirazi (636/1236-710/1311), one of the
highly esteemed figures of the intellectual life of the Eastern lands of Islam
during the late 7th/13th and early 8th/14th century, authored two major works
in the field of philosophy that became popular- a commentary on Shihab al-Din
al-Suhrawardi’s (executed 587/1991) Hikmat al-ishraq, that is written in
Arabic, dedicated to the vizier Jamal al-Din A’li b. Muhammad al-Dastjirdani
and completed in 694/1295, and an independent work written in Persian, Durrat
al-taj li-ghurrat al-dubaj that was completed between 693/1294 and 705/1306
(Reza & Sabine, 2004).
In the Durrat al-taj, Qutb al-Din presents the following
classification of the sciences: the philosphical sciences (‘ulum hikmiy) and
the non-philosophical sciences (‘ulum ghayr hikmiy). The philosophical sciences
were divided into the theoretical (nazariy) and the practical (‘amaliy). The
theoretical philosophical science consists of metaphysics, mathematics, natural
sciences, and logic. These theory was influenced by al-Ghazali’s theory of
knowledge under his divisions of intellectual sciences. For practical
philosophical sciences, it was consists of ethics, economics, and politics
(Osman, 2006).
In
his theoretical divisions, al-Shirazi divided into four branches of sciences
which is metaphysics, mathematics, natural sciences and logic. For his
metaphysics, it was consists of two major parts, that is divine science (ilm-i
ilahi) and first philosophy (falsafah-i ula), and at least three minor parts.
The three minor parts mentioned by him are the science of prophethood
(nubuwwah), the science of religious authority (imamah) and eschatology. This
inclusion of minor branches was a feature of al-Ghazali’s religious sciences
(Osman, 2006).
For mathematics sciences, he divides into four major
branches and nine minor ones; major branches consist of geometry, arithmetic,
astronomy, and music. Meanwhile his minor branches consist of optics, algebra,
the science of weights, surveying, the science of calculation, mechanical
engineering, the science of the balance, the science of astronomical tables and
calendars, and the science of irrigation. His major branches were totally
inspired by al-Ghazali’s mathematics division but not the minor one since
al-Ghazali did not use the same concept as al-Shirazi. Al-Shirazi classified
his sciences using his own concept, major and minor. It was described that
al-Shirazi’s concept of minor branches of mathematics is based “upon the
consideration that those branches are subdivisions of the major branches” (Osman,
2006, p.253).
Besides
that, al-Shirazi’s natural sciences were also divided into major and minor
branches. But al-Ghazali’s natural sciences only consist of medicine,
meteorology, mineralogoy, and alchemy. Under al-Shirazi, both meteorology and
mineralogy fall under major branches. While alchemy and medicine fall under
minor branches. Basically he was inspired by al-Ghazali’s branches of natural
sciences but he tends to divide them according to his own concept. “In his division
of the science of logic, al-Shirazi follows the traditional Muslim Perapatetic
division into the nine books of the Organon” (Osman, 2006, p.256).
In conclusion, al-Ghazali is one of the most prominent
philosophers in Muslim and Western intellectual world. He has given enormous
contributions to the intellectual world, including the theory of knowledge that
he has proposed. He is also the first philosopher to integrate between
religious and intellectual sciences. Based upon al-Ghazali’s discussion on
knowledge, it can be seen that he has outlined a very great structure of
epistemology, including the ethics and etiquette of seeking knowledge. The practicality
of its theory should be taken into consideration and applied especially in this
modern world, to develop and strengthen the intellectual endeavor of Muslim
community, thus cultivate the intellectuals who will serve the Ummah.
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* This paper has been written by a group of four students from an international university in Malaysia and published here by one of the group members.
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