Muhammad Al-Ghazali

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Muhammad Al-Ghazali
Introduction
Muhammad al-Ghazali was born in Tus Khurasan a place in Meshhad in Persia in 450/1058. He is one of the most prominent Islamic scholars. At an early age, he received the title Hujjat al-Islam which means defender of Islam from the trends and thoughts of that time. Al-Ghalazi's came from a humble background. His father earned a living by spinning wool. Before his demise, A-Ghazali's father entrusted him and his brother named Ahamed to Sufi who was his friend. One of Sufi's main responsibilities was to teach the youngsters how to read and write. This paper is going to centralize on A-Ghazali's and his impact on the betterment of Islamic religion.
Edification
Al-Ghalazi commenced studying at Tus. His teacher was named Ahamed al- Radhakani.
After schooling at Tus, he joined Jurjan. At Jurjan, Al-Ghalazi wrote Al-Ta`liqah from the lectures he received at the school which were taught by Abu Al-Qasim. He later returned to Tus but left three years later for Nishapur. While at Nishapur, Al-Ghalazi joined Nizamiyyah School. While at Nizamiyyah, he excelled in all Islamic edifications except the science of Hadith. Eight years on his teacher named Imam Al-Juwaini died and after his death Al Ghazali went to Al-Mu'askar which was a camp reputed as a meeting point of prominent scholars of high standing. Here scholars debated on many issues especially in Islamic sciences as echoed by Al-Ghazali (p 59).
During the discussions, Al-Ghazali won the respect of the scholars and as a result he was appointed to be a teacher at Nizamiyyah in Baghdad by Nizam Al Mulk who was the founder of the camp. During this time, Al Ghazali became famous with position, prestige and riches unmatched even that owned by noble men like princes, merchants, viziers and kings of the time. He privately studied philosophy the knowledge of which helped him to write Maqasid Al Falasifah translated as 'The Aims of the Philosophers'. Later he wrote a book entitled Tahafut Al Falasifah translated as 'The incoherence of the philosophers' (Marmura, 89).
A-Ghazali's Philosophies
Later on Al Ghazali quitted his position under circumstances that were not immediately clear. This surprising twist of events became known as Al-Ghazali's 'spiritual crisis'. He eventually explained this spiritual crisis in Deliverance from Error. He said that He had chosen to quit his job as a way of acquiring unquestionable knowledge into Islam. Al Ghazali argued that it is important to shun all earthly things in order to acquire this spiritual knowledge. These earthly things included wealth, fame which in his view formed an obstacle to knowledge. He said that any activity that was not for Allah was an obstacle. After critiquing his own activities, he came to the conclusion that his reasons for teaching were not for Allah but himself and so he quit.
Al-Ghazali's health began to deteriorate and physicians were unable to restore it after realizing that his suffering was not caused by any physical, clinically known cause. He disposed his wealth by distributing it to the less fortunate, left his friends and family and departed for a maiden spiritual journey. His journey took him through Damascus, Jerusalem, Makkah, and back to Baghdad. This leg of the journey lasted eleven years. Hereafter, Al Ghazali proceeded to Tus where he spent nine years in isolation (Khalwa). After the end of his seclusion, he briefly taught at Nizamiyyah of Nishapur and then he returned to Tus where he died (Badawi, 231).
During his time, many Muslims had become huge caliphates that were threatened by conflict. A dynasty of Sultan had been forced u...