Why Imām al-Ghazzālī is, “Islam’s Authority" (Hujjat al-Islam) - by Moustafa Elqabbany
Imām al-Ghazzālī made (at least) six major contributions. Any one of these would have been enough to make him a major Imām of Islam:
Imām al-Ghazzālī made (at least) six major contributions. Any one of these would have been enough to make him a major Imām of Islam:
1. He defeated esoteric (Bātinī) Shī’ism, primarily represented by the Ismā’īlī Fātimids of Egypt. While they are insignificant today, they were a major force, both politically and ideologically, at the time.
2. He defeated Perso-Arabic Neoplatonism (falsafah). Falsafah still survives, but in the same way as the Mongol hordes survived after their defeat at Ain Jalout: converted to Islam, but still problematic. Falsafah at the time posed a serious threat of leading to a..
..secular "enlightenment" like that Europe would face centuries later. European Christianity fell to secular enlightenment. While Muslims fell to their enemies, Islam was protected, and much of the credit goes to Imām al-Ghazzālī's groundwork.
3. He was the Proto-Nawawī of Shāfi’ī Fiqh. Most of the major books of fatwā that Shāfi’īs use today are derived from his works.
4. He is one of the greatest figures in legal methodology (Usūl al-Fiqh). His masterpiece, Al-Mustasfā, leaves no room for doubt about this.
5. He refined Sufism and made it mainstream by reconciling it with Sunni orthodoxy and orthopraxy. He realized that reason and knowledge protected one from false beliefs and practices, but that they were not sufficient to..
.. achieve true faith. ‘Aqīdah and Fiqh had become exercises in mental gymnastics. Debates on Islamic topics had become the intellectual equivalent of gladiator matches. By focusing on practical Sufism and avoiding delving into the details of..
.. experiential Sufis, he brought the soul of Islam, and not just its mind and body, to the forefront while avoiding heresy, whether real or perceived.
6. Related to #2, he was also a major Ash’arī theologian. His contributions not only influenced Islam, but Christianity (via Aquinas) and Judaism (via Maimonides) as well.
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