Al-Ghazali's Philosophical Theology

423 Pages·2009·4.55 MB·English

by  Frank Griffel

Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Philosophical
Theology
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Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s
Philosophical
Theology
Frank Griffel
2009
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Griffel, Frank, 1965–
Al-Ghazali’s philosophical theology / Frank Griffel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-533162-2
1. Ghazzali, 1058–1111. 2. Islamic cosmology. 3. Philosophy, Islamic.
I. Title.
B753.G34G75 2009
181'.5—dc22 2008030813
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
per Magda Lena e Tanya
La gloria di colui che tutto move
per l’universo penetra, e risplende
in una parte più e meno altrove.
—Dante, Paradiso , 1.1–3
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Contents
Timetable , xi
Introduction , 3
1. A Life between Public and Private Instruction: Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s
Biography , 19
The Main Sources for al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Biography , 21
Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Date of Birth: Around 448/1056 , 23
Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Early Years and His Education , 25
Becoming a Famous Jurist and Theologian , 31
Leaving Baghdad, Traveling in Syria and the Hijaz,
and Returning to Khorasan , 40
The Ideal of a Secluded Life—His Last Years
in Khorasan , 49
2. Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Most Infl uential Students and Early
Followers , 61
Abu¯ Bakr ibn al-A¶ rab¯ı (d. 543/1148) , 62
Ibn al-A¶ rab¯ı’s First Report of His Meeting
with al-Ghaz¯al¯ı , 65
Ibn al-A¶ rab¯ı’s Second Report of His Meeting
with al-Ghaz¯al¯ı , 66
Asa¶ d al-Mayhan¯ı (d. 523/1130 or 527/1132–33) , 71
Muh.ammad ibn Yah.y¯a al-Janz¯ı (d. 549/1154) , 74
Ibn Tu¯mart (d. 524/1130) , 77
A ¶ yn al-Qud.¯at al-Hamadh¯an¯ı (d. 525/1131) , 81
The Anonymous Author of T he Lion and the Diver
( al-Asad wa-l-ghawwa¯.s ) , 87
viii contents
3. Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı on the Role of falsafa in Islam , 97
The Refutation of the f ala¯sifa in the Incoherence ( Taha¯fut ) , 98
Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s fatwa¯ against Three Teachings of the fala¯sifa , 101
Unbelief and Apostasy , 103
The Decisive Criterion ( Fay.sal al-tafriqa ) , 105
4. The Reconciliation of Reason and Revelation through
the “Rule of Interpretation” ( Qa¯nu¯n al-taw7 ¯ıl ) , 111
Three Different Types of Passages in Revelation , 115
A Dispute about al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Approach: Ibn Ghayl¯an versus
Fakhr al-D¯ın al-R¯az¯ı , 116
Demonstrative Knowledge ( burha¯n ) and Its Opposite: Emulation
of Authorities ( taql¯ıd ) , 120
5. Cosmology in Early Islam: Developments That Led to al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s
Incoherence of the Philosophers , 123
Asha¶ rite Occasionalism in the Generations before al-Ghaz¯al¯ı , 124
Secondary Causes in Asha¶ rite Theology , 128
The fala¯sifa ’s View of Creation by Means of Secondary Causality , 133
The fala¯sifa ’s View That This World Is Necessary , 141
Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Treatment of Causality in MS London, Or. 3126 , 143
6. The Seventeenth Discussion of The Incoherence of the Philosophers , 147
The First Position: Observation Does Not Establish
Causal Connections , 150
T he First Approach of the Second Position: How the Natural
Sciences Are Possible Even in an Occasionalist Universe , 153
The Second Approach of the Second Position: An Immanent
Explanation of Miracles , 156
Overcoming Occasionalism: The Third Position , 157
Julian Obermann’s “Subjectivist” Interpretation of the
Seventeenth Discussion , 160
Al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Critique of Avicenna’s Conception of the
Modalities , 162
The Different Conceptions of the Modalities in f alsafa
and kala¯m , 167
What Does al-Ghaz¯al¯ı Mean When He Claims That Causal
Connections Are Not Necessary? , 172
7. Knowledge of Causal Connection Is Necessary , 175
The Dispute over al-Ghaz¯al¯ı’s Cosmology , 179
Five Conditions for Cosmological Explanations
in the I ncoherence , 183
Determination by an Unchanging Divine Foreknowledge , 187
Divine Foreknowledge in the Revival of Religious Sciences , 190
Prophetical Miracles and the Unchanging Nature
of God’s Habit , 194
Necessary Knowledge in an Occasionalist Universe , 201
contents ix
Concomitant Events and Rational Judgments , 204
Experience ( tajriba ) in Avicenna and in al-Ghaz¯al¯ı , 208
8. Causes and Effects in T he Revival of the Religious Sciences , 215
The Creation of Human Acts , 216
The Conditional Dependence of God’s Actions , 222
The Conditions of a Creation That Is the Best of All Possible
Creations , 225
The Necessity of the Conditions in God’s Creation , 231
9. Cosmology in Works Written after T he Revival , 235
God’s Creation as an Apparatus: The Simile of the Water
Clock , 236
Cosmology in The Highest Goal in Explaining the Beautiful
Names of God , 242
The Niche of Lights: The Philosophers’ God as the First
Created Being , 245
The Cosmology of the “Fourth Group” in the Veil Section of
The Niche of Lights , 253
An Isma¯¯ı¶lite Infl uence on the Cosmology in the Veil Section? , 260
Final Doubts about Cosmology: R estraining the Ordinary People
( Ilja¯m al-a¶wa¯mm ) , 265
Conclusion , 275
Notes , 287
Bibliography , 361
General Index , 395
Index of Works by al-Ghaz¯al¯ı, 403
Index of Manuscripts, 405
Index of Verses in the Qur’an, 407