The first Islamic reviver : Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī and his Revival of the religious sciences PDF
Preview The first Islamic reviver : Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī and his Revival of the religious sciences
The First Islamic Reviver GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd ii 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2211 AAMM GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd iiii 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2222 AAMM The First Islamic Reviver Abū Ḥ ā mid al-Ghaz ā l ī and His Revival of the Religious Sciences KENNETH GARDEN 3 GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd iiiiii 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2222 AAMM 3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. 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Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Garden, Kenneth. The fi rst Islamic reviver : Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and his Revival of the religious sciences / Kenneth Garden. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–19–998962–1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Ghazzali, 1058–1111. 2. Ghazzali, 1058–1111. Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din. 3. Islam—Doctrines—History. 4. Islamic renewal—HIstory. I. Title. BP80.G3G37 2014 297.2—dc23 2013017174 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd iivv 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2222 AAMM For all my parents GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd vv 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2222 AAMM GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd vvii 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2222 AAMM Contents Preface and Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 A Misleading Autobiography 1 Recent Reassessments 5 Al-Ghaz ā l ī the Reviver 8 Chapter Overview 11 PART ONE: Al-Ghaz ā l ī Before His Revival Chapter 1—Al-Ghaz ā l ī and the Seljuk Regime 17 Al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Service to the Seljuk Regime 19 Collapse into Civil War 22 Al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Crisis and Transformation in a Political Context 25 Chapter 2— The Scale of Action : An Intellectual Portrait of al-Ghaz ā l ī on the Eve of His Departure from Baghdad 30 Sufi sm and Philosophy 31 The Scale of Action 40 Felicity in the Hereafter Is Attained through Knowledge and Practice 41 A Third Way 47 Are the “Theoreticians” and the Philosophers One and the Same? 49 Modifying Philosophy’s Practical Science 53 Al-Ghaz ā l ī and the Guides on the Path to Felicity 55 The Turning Point of 488/1095 56 GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd vviiii 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2233 AAMM viii Contents PART TWO: The Revival of the Religious Sciences Chapter 3—The Revival and Its Agenda 63 The Content of the R evival 63 Felicity and the T elos of the Science of the Hereafter 70 The Science of Unveiling and the Theoretical Science 72 The Science of Praxis and the Practical Science 75 The Legal Ethics of the First Two Quarters 81 Acts of Worship 81 Acts of Daily Life 83 The Second Half on Ethical Self-Cultivation 87 Qualities Leading to Perdition 87 Qualities Leading to Salvation 92 Al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Cosmology 92 Love, Logic, and Death 98 Conclusion 101 Chapter 4—The Rhetoric of Revival: Authorizing Strategies and the Presentation of the Science of the Hereafter 104 Conjuring a Sense of Crisis 105 Fingering the Culprits: Who Killed the Religious Sciences? 107 Reviving the “Science of the Hereafter” 109 Demoting Law and Theology 111 The Law as a Science of the World 112 The Law’s Eclipse of the Science of the Hereafter 112 Kaāl m ’s Eclipse of the Science of the Hereafter 115 The Science of the Hereafter Has Greater Authority than Law or Theology in the Key Jurisdictions of Those Disciplines 118 Did al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Authorizing Strategies Infl uence the Substance of the Revival as Well as Its Presentation? 120 Conclusion 121 GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd vviiiiii 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2233 AAMM Contents ix PART THREE: Promoting the Revival in the World Chapter 5—Promoting the Revival 125 Al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Self-Presentation to Members of the Regime 127 Writing Works on the Science of the Hereafter for Diff erent Audiences 130 Polemics Against the Ib ā ḥ i yya 133 Promoting Careers of Scholars of the Hereafter 134 Recruiting, Instructing, and Retaining Disciples 135 Fakhr al-Mulk: al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Vizier-Disciple 138 Conclusion 141 Chapter 6—Defending the R evival 143 Hopes for the Return to Teaching 147 The Controversy—What It Was About 149 Al-Ghaz ā l ī Responds 155 Responding to Critics through The Distinguishing Criterion 156 Responding to Critics by Casting Himself as the Deliverer f rom Error 158 Al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Enemies Move against Him through an Outside Agent 161 Al-Ghaz ā l ī ’s Summons and Trial 163 Conclusion 166 Epilogue—Rereading the Deliverer 169 Notes 1 77 Works Cited 2 17 Index 2 25 GGaarrddeenn226600441133OOUUSS..iinndddd iixx 66//77//22000077 44::2222::2233 AAMM
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