Description
Book SynopsisThe Muslim thinker al-Ghazali (d. 1111) was one of the most influential theologians and philosophers of Islam and has been considered an authority in both Western and Islamic philosophical traditions. Born in northeastern Iran, he held the most prestigious academic post in Islamic theology in Baghdad, only to renounce the position and teach at small schools in the provinces for no money. His contributions to Islamic scholarship range from responding to the challenges of Aristotelian philosophy to creating a new type of Islamic mysticism and integrating both these traditions-falsafa and Sufism-into the Sunni mainstream.This book offers a comprehensive study of al-Ghazali''s life and his understanding of cosmology-how God creates things and events in the world, how human acts relate to God''s power, and how the universe is structured. Frank Griffel presents a serious revision of traditional views on al-Ghazali, showing that his most important achievement was the creation of a new rationa
Trade ReviewThis work of historical theology is essential reading for those wanting to understand with new depth and clarity the life and teachings of al-Ghazali. * American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences *
Table of ContentsTimetable ; Introduction ; Chapter One: A Life Between Public and Private Instruction: Al-Ghazali's Biography The Main Sources for Ghazali's Biography ; Chapter Two: Al-Ghazali's Most Influential Students and Followers ; Chapter Three: Al-Ghazali On the Role of falsafa in Islam ; Chapter Four: The Reconciliation of Reason and Revelation Through the "Rule of Interpretation" ; Chapter Five: Cosmology in Early Islam-Developments that Led to al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the Philosophers ; Chapter Six: The Seventeenth Discussion of the Incoherence of the Philosophers ; Chapter Seven: Knowledge of Causal Connections is Necessary ; Chapter Eight: Causes and Effects in the Revival of the Religious Sciences ; Chapter Nine: Cosmology in Works Written After the Revival ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Bibliography ; General Index ; Index of Works by al-Ghazali ; Index of Manuscripts ; Index of Verses in the Qur'an
