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They looked upon it as a calamity for Islam. Some interpreted it as fear of the Govern ment, a flight from responsibility, but the real rea son of his renunciation he himself tells us in his " Confessions. He says: "Know then, my brother may God direct you in the right way , that the diversity in beliefs and religions, and the variety of doctrines and sects which divide men, are like a deep ocean strewn with shipwrecks, from which very few es cape safe and sound.

Each sect, it is true, believes itself in possession of the truth and of salvation;. I have never met one who maintained the hidden meaning of the Koran without investigating the nature of his belief, nor a partisan of its exterior sense with out inquiring into the results of his doctrine.

There is no philosopher whose system I have not fathomed, nor theologian the intricacies of whose doctrine I have not followed out. The thirst for knowledge was innate in me from my early age; it was like a second nature implanted by God, without any will on my part. No sooner had I emerged from boyhood than I had already broken the fetters of tradition and freed myself from hereditary beliefs. But how? In order to disentangle the knot of this difficulty, a proof was necessary. Now a proof must be based on primary assumptions, and it was precisely these of which I was in doubt.

This un happy state lasted about two months, during which I was not, it is true, explicitly or by profession, but morally and essentially a thoroughgoing sceptic". That Al-Ghazali was driven to scepticism must not surprise us. Schools of free thinkers had been established fifty years earlier at Bagdad and Bus rah. Every Friday they gathered together. Some were rationalists, some downright materialists.

Not only philosophers but poets were the leaders of these circles. This blind poet is said to have written a Koran in imitation of Mohammed, and when some one complained to him that although the book was well written it did. For example, he writes:. And many guides and which of them is Lord? For verily Mohammed has the sword And he may have the truth perhaps? Now this religion happens to prevail Until by that one it is overthrown, Because men dare not live with men alone,. Which they describe, forsooth, as if it swung In air and anchored with a yard of string.

As in the nineteenth century for Christianity, so in the eleventh century for Islam, the struggle be tween science and orthodoxy waged fiercely. The rationalistic school of the Mu atazilites still exer cised great influence while the literalists and the blind followers of traditional Islam were often more distinguished for Pharisaism than piety. We need only turn to the " Maqamat " of Al Hamadhani to know what the sceptic of that day thought of the public religious services.

But I sought aid against the difficulty of the desert through the blessing of prayer, and, therefore, I went to the front row and stood up. The Imam went up to the niche and recited the opening chap ter of the Quran according to the intonation of Hamza, in regard to using Madda and Hamsa while I experienced disquieting grief at the thought of missing the caravan, and of separation from the mount.

I was. But, from what I knew of the savage fanaticism of the people of that place, if prayers were cut short of the final salutation, there was no alternative but silence and endurance, or speech and the grave! So I remained standing thus on the foot of neces sity till the end of the chapter. I had now de spaired of the caravan and given up all hope of the supplies and the mount.


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He next bent his back for the two prostrations with such humility and emo tion, the like of which I had never seen before. Then he placed his right hand on the ground, put his forehead on the earth and pressed his face thereto. I raised my head to look for an opportunity to slip away, but I per ceived no opening in the rows, so I re-addressed myself to prayer until he repeated the Takbir for the sitting posture. Then he stood up for the sec ond prostration, recited the Suras of Al-Fatiha and Al-Qaria with an intonation which occupied the duration of the Last Day and well-nigh exhausted the spirits of the congregation.

Al-Ghazali found no help for his doubts among these scholastic theologians nor has any Moslem since his day. Professor Macdonald tells us why. Their science had been founded by Al-Ash ari to meet the Mu tazilites; it had done that victoriously, but could do no more. They could hold the faith against heretics, expose their inconsistencies and weaknesses; but against the sceptic they could do nothing. It is true that they had attempted to go further back and meet the students of philosophy on their own ground, to deal with substances and attributes and first prin ciples generally; but their efforts had been fruitless.

Religion is not merely of the mind but of the heart; philosophy had its place but could satisfy only the intellect and left the deepest longings of the soul unsatisfied. Next he examined the teachings of the Ta limites, the con 1 Macdonald, p.

A Moslem Seeker after God - Wikisource, the free online library

Theirs was the doctrine of an Imam or infallible spiritual guide and the sect found large following. But Al-Ghazali, so far from being attracted by them, wrote several books against them. It was a return to the early teaching he received at Tus and Nishapur and to the atmosphere of his native land which was for centuries steeped in mysticism.

Of this period of his life he was wont to say:. Then I looked upon it, and lo, in it was a legal element. So I returned to solitude and busied myself with religious exer cises for forty days, and there was doled to me other knowledge, purer and finer than what had befallen me at first, and I rejoiced in it. Then I looked upon it, and lo, in it was a speculative ele ment. So I returned to solitude a third time for forty days, and there was doled to me other knowl edge that is known i.

So I know that writing on a sur face from which something has been erased is not like writing on a surface in its first purity and cleanness, and I never separated myself from spec ulation except in a few things. He tells the rest of the story in his " Confes sions": "I saw that Sufism consists in experi ences rather than in definitions, and that what I was lacking belonged to the domain, not of instruc tion but of ecstasy and initiation.

These three fundamental articles of belief were confirmed in me, not merely by definite arguments, but by a chain of causes, cir cumstances, and proofs which it is impossible to re count. Finally, I saw that the only condition of success was to sacrifice honours and riches and to sever the ties and attachments of worldly life.

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Examining my actions, the most fair-seeming of which were my lecturing and professorial occupa tions, I found to my surprise that I was engrossed in several studies of little value, and profitless as regards my salvation. I probed the motives of my teaching and found that, in place of being sincerely consecrated to God, it was only actuated by a vain desire of honour and reputation. I perceived that I was on the edge of an abyss, and that without an immediate conversion I should be doomed to eter nal fire.

In these reflections I spent a long time. Still a prey to uncertainty, one day I decided to leave Bagdad and to give up everything; the next day I gave up my resolution. I advanced one step and immediately relapsed. In the morning I was sincerely resolved only to occupy myself with the future life; in the evening a crowd of carnal thoughts assailed and dispersed my resolutions.

On the one side the world kept me bound to my post in the chains of covetousness, on the other side the voice of religion cried to me: Up, Up, thy life is nearing its end, and thou hast a long journey to make. All thy pretended knowledge is nought but falsehood and fantasy. If thou dost not think now of thy salvation, when wilt thou think of it?

If thou dost not break thy chains to-day, when wilt thou break them? Then my resolve was strengthened, I wished to give up all and flee; but the Tempter returning to the attack said: You are suffering from a transitory feeling; don t give. If you obey it, if you give up this fine position, this honourable post exempt from trouble and rivalry, this seat of au thority safe from attack you will regret it later on without being able to recover it.

At the close of them my will yielded and I gave myself up to destiny. God caused an impediment to chain my tongue and pre vented me from lecturing. Vainly I desired, in the interest of my pupils, to go on with my teaching, but my mouth became dumb. He who hears the wretched when they cry Koran, xxviii.

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That his conversion did not mean ethically all that the word means in the Christian sense is evi dent from what immediately follows. He dis. I made all kinds of clever excuses for leaving Bag dad with the fixed intention of not returning thither. The Imams of Irak criticized me with one accord Not one of them would admit that this sacrifice had a religious motive, because they considered my position as the highest attainable in the religious community. Behold how far their knowledge goes Koran, liii.

All kinds of explanations of my conduct were forthcoming. Those who were outside the limits of Irak at tributed it to the fear with which the Government inspired me. Only, as lands and property in Irak can afford an endowment for pious purposes, I obtained a legal authorization to preserve as much as was necessary for my support and that of my children; for there is surely nothing more lawful in the world than that a learned man should provide sufficient to support his family.

I then betook myself to Syria, where. I remained for two years, which I devoted to re tirement, meditation, and devout exercises. I only thought of self-improvement and discipline and of purification of the heart by prayer in going through the forms of devotion which the Sufis had taught me. I used to live a solitary life in the Mosque of Damascus, and was in the habit of spending my days on the minaret after closing the door behind me" pp.

When Al-Ghazali determined to abandon the world and set out as a pilgrim he was only fol lowing the custom of his time. Not only religious men but adventurers found in travel relief and recreation. The pious did it, as they asserted, in imitation of Jesus, the Messiah, whose name is often interpreted as meaning " one who travels constantly. Because of facilities for travel by post and cara van routes, this period seemed one of wanderlust second to none.

A scholar was not satisfied unless he had seen the world of Islam. Of At-Tabrizi A.

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The sweat on his. He even travelled about India, pass ing through Afghanistan on his way. I roamed over deserts and wastes, seeking warmth and the fire and taking shelter with the ass, till both my cheeks were blackened. And thus I collected of anecdotes and fables, witticisms and traditions, poems of the humorists, the diversions of the frivolous, the fabrications of the lovesick, the saws of the pseudo-philosophers, the tricks of.

And I solicited gifts and asked for presents. I had re course to influence and I begged. I eulogized and satirized, till I acquired much property, got posses sion of Indian swords and Yemen blades, fine coats of mail of Sabur and leathern shields of Thibet, spears of al-Khatt and javelins of Barbary, excel lent fleet horses with short coats, Armenian mules, and Mirris asses, silk brocades of Rum and woolen stuffs of Sus.

To the honest traveller, like Al-Ghazali, however, it was not so easy a life. Not only were there the hardships of travel and its loneliness, but the asceticism of the beggar and the wayfarer.