{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74846/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74846","id":"gutenberg_74846","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74846","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Ghazzali, 1058-1111"],"text":"=Transcriber\u2019s Note:= The author\u2019s transliteration of Arabic words into\nEnglish is inconsistent, and often wrong in its usage of the \u02be and \u02bf\ncharacters. They have been left as printed (except where such marks were\nmissing entirely, in which case they have been supplied correctly).\n\nOn page 143 \u200e\u200f\u063a\u0632\u0627\u0651\u0644\u064a\u200f\u200e was changed to \u200e\u200f\u063a\u0632\u0651\u0627\u0644\u064a\u200f\u200e.\n\n\n\n\nA Moslem Seeker After God\n\n\n\n\nBy S. M. Zwemer, F. R. G. S.\n\n\n_Mohammed or Christ._ Illustrated.\n\n    _Introduction by Rt. Rev. C. H. Stileman, M. A., sometime\n    Bishop of Persia_\n\n    An account of the rapid spread of Islam in all parts of the\n    globe, the methods employed to obtain proselytes, its immense\n    press, its strongholds, and suggested means to be adopted to\n    counteract the evil.\n\n_The Disintegration of Islam._ Illustrated, 12mo, cloth\n\n    Dr. Zwemer traces the collapse of Islam as a political power in\n    Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as the inevitable effect of\n    the impact of Western civilization.\n\n_Childhood in the Moslem World._ Illustrated, 8vo, cloth\n\n    Both in text and illustrations, Dr. Zwemer\u2019s new book covers\n    much ground hitherto lying untouched in Mohammedan literature.\n\n_Arabia: The Cradle of Islam._ Maps and numerous Illustrations, cloth\n\n    \u201cThe comprehensive scope of the volume covers a wide range of\n    interest, scientific and commercial, historical and literary,\n    sociological, religious.\u201d\u2014_Outlook._\n\nBy A. E. and S. M. Zwemer\n\n_Zigzag Journeys in the Camel Country._ Arabia in Picture and Story.\nIllustrated, 12mo, cloth\n\n    \u201cDr. and Mrs. Zwemer are charming guides. We commend the book\n    highly for interest and information.\u201d\u2014_Missionary Review of the\n    World._\n\n_Topsy-Turvy Land._ Arabia Pictured for Children. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth\n\n    \u201cA book of pictures and stories for big children and small\n    grown-up folk, for all who love Sinbad the Sailor and his\n    strange country.\u201d\u2014_Boston Globe._\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The old ruined Mosque at Tus, Persia, probably dating from\nthe Eleventh Century.]\n\n[Illustration: The supposed grave of Abu Hamid Al Ghazali at Tus.]\n\n\n\n\n                             A Moslem Seeker\n                                After God:\n\n                        Showing Islam at its Best\n                                    in\n                   the Life and Teaching of Al-Ghazali\n                       Mystic and Theologian of the\n                             Eleventh Century\n\n                                    By\n                             SAMUEL M. ZWEMER\n           _Author of \u201cThe Disintegration of Islam,\u201d \u201cChildhood\n                       in the Moslem World,\u201d etc._\n\n                              _ILLUSTRATED_\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                             NEW YORK CHICAGO\n                        Fleming H. Revell Company\n                           LONDON AND EDINBURGH\n\n                           Copyright, 1920, by\n                        FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n                        New York: 158 Fifth Avenue\n                      Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.\n                      London: 21 Paternoster Square\n                       Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street\n\n\n\n\n_To the Faculties and Students of the Theological Seminary, New\nBrunswick, N. J. and the College of Missions, Indianapolis, Ind. where\nthe several chapters of this book were given as lectures 1918-1920_\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nBy DR. J. RENDEL HARRIS\n\n\nAl-Ghazali was a rare combination of scholar and saint, of the orthodox\nMoslem and the aberrant Sufi. This work is a real contribution to the\nhistory of religion, and will have a peculiar value which attaches to\nSufism at the present time. On the one hand we have the anthropologists\nengaged in the task (and for the most part successfully engaged) of\ntracing all religions to a common root, or roots, in the constitution\nand the fears of primitive man; on the other hand we have the mystics,\nof whom the Sufi is a leading representative, who are occupied in\ndemonstrating experimentally that all religions which start at the bottom\nfind their way to the top.\n\nWilliam Penn said something in the same direction when he affirmed that\nall good men were of the same religion, and that they would know one\nanother when the livery was off. But what did he mean by taking the\nlivery off? The abstinence from rites, ceremonies and the like is a\nnegative process which certainly would not satisfy the genuine Sufi.\nHe would say with St. Paul, \u201cNot that we would be unclothed, but rather\nclothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life.\u201d That is real\nmystic language, and suggests that we shall know one another, not so\nmuch by being denuded of tradition and superstition (however desirable\nthe process may be in some points of view), as by putting on the robe of\nlight and sitting down in the heavenly places with Jesus Christ, _and\nwith any one else whom He calls into His companionship_.\n\nAl-Ghazali tells us in his Confessions that he found the true way of life\nin Sufism, that is, in Pantheism, yet he remained an orthodox Moslem,\nthat is, a Transcendentalist. At the present time, when the effects of\na war of unheard and unequalled severity are still perplexing men, the\nTranscendent and the Immanent views of God are alike hard put to it.\nSufism is on its back, Transcendentalism can scarcely keep its feet.\nIt is a poor time of day for seeing God in all, almost as ill a time\nfor believing Him to be over all. Where speculation fails, or limps\nalong with lame feet or with broken wing, there must be some other way\nof taking us to God Himself, beyond reason and safer than imagination.\nAl-Ghazali found it, when he abandoned his lecture-room and went into the\nwilderness. While he still continued to recite the formulas, which affirm\nthe Unity of God and the authority of His Apostle, he found his way into\nthe Sufi inner sanctuary, where one understands that\n\n                                \u201che who lies,\n    Folded in favour on the Sultan\u2019s breast,\n    Needs not a letter nor a messenger.\u201d\n\nThe book tells us something about this side of his experience in the\nQuest of Life, and when the story is finished we are reminded not to seek\nthe Living among the dead, but to believe that the same Lord is rich unto\nall that call upon Him in truth.\n\n                                                                  J. R. H.\n\n_Friends\u2019 Settlement, Woodbrooke, England._\n\n\n\n\nPreface\n\n\nThere are a score of lives of Mohammed, the great Arabian Prophet, in\nthe English language, yet there is no popular biography of the greatest\nof all Moslems since his day, Al-Ghazali. Even the _Encyclop\u00e6dia\nBritannica_ gives only scant information. Professor Duncan B. Macdonald\nprepared a life of Al-Ghazali with special reference to his religious\nexperiences and influence in a paper published in the twentieth volume\nof \u201cThe Journal of the American Oriental Society\u201d (1899), but now out\nof print. His scholarly investigations and conclusions, however, deal\nwith Al-Ghazali\u2019s inner experiences and his philosophy, rather than\nwith his environment and the events of his life. We acknowledge our\ngreat indebtedness to his paper and to the original Arabic sources on\nwhich it was based, especially the introduction to the Commentary on the\n_Ihya_ by Sayyid Murtadha in ten volumes and entitled _Ithaf as-sa\u02bfada_.\nI have found additional material in Al-Ghazali\u2019s writings and other\nbooks mentioned in the bibliography given in the appendix of this book,\nespecially the _Tabaqat ash-shafai\u02beya_ by As-Subqi, who wrote long before\nMurtadha and to whom Macdonald refers, but whose work he did not use.\n\nThe study of Al-Ghazali\u2019s life and writings will, more than anything\nelse, awaken a deeper sympathy for that which is highest and strongest in\nthe religion of Islam; for the student of his works learns to appreciate\nIslam at its best. As Jalal-ud-din says:\n\n    \u201cFools buy false coins because they are like the true.\n    If in the world no genuine minted coin\n    Were current, how would forgers pass the false?\n    Falsehood were nothing unless truth were there,\n    To make it specious. \u2019Tis the love of right\n    Lures men to wrong. Let poison but be mixed\n    With sugar, they will cram it into their mouths.\n    Oh, cry not that all creeds are vain! Some scent\n    Of truth they have, else they would not beguile.\u201d\n\nThere is a real sense in which Al-Ghazali may be used as a schoolmaster\nto lead Moslems to Christ. His books are full of references to the\nteaching of Christ. He was a true seeker after God.\n\nIslam is the prodigal son, the Ishmael, among the non-Christian\nreligions; this is a fact we may not forget. Now we read in Christ\u2019s\nmatchless parable of the prodigal how \u201cWhen he was yet a great way\noff his father saw him and ran out to meet him and fell on his neck\nand kissed him.\u201d Have missionaries always had this spirit? No one\ncan read the story of Al-Ghazali\u2019s life, so near and yet so far from\nthe Kingdom of God, so eager to enter and yet always groping for the\ndoorway, without fervently wishing that Al-Ghazali could have met a\ntrue ambassador of Christ. Then surely this great champion of the Moslem\nfaith would have become an apostle of Christianity in his own day and\ngeneration. By striving to understand Al-Ghazali we may at least better\nfit ourselves to help those who, like him, are earnest seekers after God\namid the twilight shadows of Islam. His life also has a lesson for us all\nin its devout Theism and in its call to the practice of the Presence of\nGod.\n\n                                                                  S. M. Z.\n\n_Cairo, Egypt._\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n  I.    THE ELEVENTH CENTURY                       19\n\n  II.   BIRTH AND EDUCATION                        51\n\n  III.  TEACHING, CONVERSION, AND RETIREMENT       81\n\n  IV.   WANDERINGS, LATER YEARS AND DEATH         111\n\n  V.    HIS CREED AND CREDULITY                   145\n\n  VI.   HIS WRITINGS                              169\n\n  VII.  HIS ETHICS                                195\n\n  VIII. AL-GHAZALI AS A MYSTIC                    219\n\n  IX.   JESUS CHRIST IN AL-GHAZALI                255\n\n        APPENDIX:\n\n          A. Bibliography                         295\n\n          B. Translations of Al-Ghazali\u2019s Works   297\n\n          C. List of Al-Ghazali\u2019s Works           299\n\n          D. Comparative Table of Events          303\n\n\n\n\nIllustrations\n\n\n  The old ruined Mosque at Tus, Persia, probably dating\n    from the Eleventh Century                                _Frontispiece_\n\n  The supposed grave of Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali at Tus                \u201d\n\n                                                              _Facing page_\n\n  The East Gate, Damascus                                               54\n\n  Interior of the Great Mosque at Damascus. In the center\n    the _Mihrab_ showing the direction of prayer and to\n    the right the Great Pulpit                                         106\n\n  The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, as seen from the Lutheran\n    Church                                                             126\n\n  Pen-case of Al-Ghazali, made of brass inlaid with silver,\n    preserved in the Arab Museum, Cairo                                172\n\n  A facsimile page of the _Ihya_ (Vol. II, page 180, Cairo Ed.).\n    It gives a diagram of the prayer _kibla_ and the rules to be\n    observed in facing it correctly                                    180\n\n  Facsimile title page of the last book Al-Ghazali wrote, entitled\n    \u201cMinhaj Al-\u02beAbidin.\u201d On the margin this Cairo edition gives\n    another of his celebrated works, \u201cBadayat-al-Hadaya\u201d               232\n\n  A _Mihrab_ or prayer-niche made of cedar wood and dating from\n    the Eleventh Century. (Cairo Museum)                               242\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nThe Eleventh Century\n\n    \u201cBetween the civilizations of Christendom and Islam there is\n    a gulf which no human genius, no concourse of events, can\n    entirely bridge over. The most celebrated Orientals, whether in\n    war or policy, in literature or learning, are little more than\n    names for Europeans.\u201d\n\n                \u2014_\u201cThe Assemblies of Al-Hariri,\u201d by Thomas Chenery._\n\n    \u201cWith the time came the man. He was Al-Ghazali, the greatest,\n    certainly the most sympathetic figure in the history of Islam,\n    and the only teacher of the after generations ever put by a\n    Muslim on a level with the four great Imams. The equal of\n    Augustine in philosophical and theological importance. By his\n    side the Aristotelian philosophers of Islam, Ibn Rushd and\n    all the rest, seem beggarly compilers and scholiasts. Only\n    Al-Farabi, and that in virtue of his mysticism, approaches him.\n    In his own person he took up the life of his time on all its\n    sides and with it all its problems. He lived through them all\n    and drew his theology from his experience.\u201d\n\n                             \u2014_\u201cMuslim Theology, Jurisprudence and\n                             Constitutional Theory,\u201d by D. B. Macdonald._\n\n\nI\n\nTHE ELEVENTH CENTURY\n\nThe great characters of history may be compared to mountain peaks that\nrise high above the plains and the lower foot-hills and are visible from\ngreat distances because they dominate the landscape. In the historical\nstudy of Islam four names stand out prominently. They are those of\nMohammed himself; of Al-Bokhari, the most celebrated collector of the\nTraditions; of Al-Ash\u02beari, the great dogmatic theologian and the opponent\nof rationalism; and of Al-Ghazali, the reformer and mystic. The last\nnamed has left a larger imprint upon the history of Islam than any man\nsave Mohammed himself. \u201cIf there had been a prophet after Mohammed,\u201d said\nAs-Suyuti, \u201cit would have been Al-Ghazali.\u201d\n\nIt is in his life, and more especially in his writings, that I believe\nwe can see Islam at its best. In trying to escape the dead weight of\nTradition and the formalism of its requirements, Moslems are more and\nmore finding relief in the way of the mystic. Of all those who have found\na deeper spiritual meaning in the teachings of the Koran and even in the\nmultitudinous and puerile detail of the Moslem ritual, none can equal\nAl-Ghazali. \u201cHe was,\u201d says Jamal-ud-Din, \u201cthe pivot of existence and the\ncommon pool of refreshing waters for all, the soul of the purest part\nof the people of the Faith, and the road for obtaining the satisfaction\nof the Merciful.... He became the unique one of his own day and for all\ntime among the Moslem learned.\u201d \u201cAl-Ghazali,\u201d said another writer, nearly\ncontemporary, \u201cis an _imam_ by whose name breasts are dilated and souls\nrevived, in whose literary productions the ink horn exults and the paper\nquivers with joy, and at the hearing of whose message voices are hushed\nand heads are bowed.\u201d\n\nA celebrated saint, Ahmed As-Sayyed Al-Yamani Az-Zab\u00eedi, also a\ncontemporary of Al-Ghazali, said, \u201cWhen I was sitting one day, lo, I\nperceived the gates of heaven opened, and a company of blessed angels\ndescended, having with them a green robe and a precious steed. They stood\nby a certain grave and brought forth its tenant and clothed him in the\ngreen robe and set him on the steed and ascended with him from heaven to\nheaven, till he passed the seven heavens and rent after them sixty veils,\nand I know not whither at last he reached. Then I asked about him, and\nwas answered, \u2018This is the Imam Al-Ghazali.\u2019 That was after his death;\nmay God Most High have mercy on him!\u201d\n\nAnother story is related of him as follows: \u201cIn our time there was a man\nin Egypt who disliked Al-Ghazali and abused him and slandered him. And he\nsaw the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace!) in a dream; Abu Bakr\nand \u02beOmar (may God be well pleased with both of them!) were at his side,\nand Al-Ghazali was sitting before him, saying, \u2018O Apostle of God, this\nman speaks against me!\u2019 Thereupon the Prophet said, \u2018Bring the whips!\u2019\nSo the man was beaten on account of Al-Ghazali. Then the man arose from\nsleep, and the marks of the whips remained on his back, and he was wont\nto weep and tell the story.\u201d\n\nAnd should this praise seem oriental and extravagant, we add the words\nof Professor Duncan B. Macdonald, who has made a more thorough study of\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s life and writings than any other student of Islam:\u2014\u201cWhat\nrigidity of grasp the hand of Islam would have exercised but for\nthe influence of Al-Ghazali might be hard to tell; he saved it from\nscholastic decrepitude, opened before the orthodox Moslem the possibility\nof a life hid in God, was persecuted in his life as a heretic, and now\nranks as the greatest doctor of the Moslem Church.\u201d\n\nTo understand the importance of Al-Ghazali and of his teaching we must\ntransport ourselves to the time in which he lived. We cannot understand\na man unless we know his environment. Biography is only a thread in the\nvast web of history, in which time is broad as well as long. Al-Ghazali\nbelongs to the small company of torch bearers in the Dark Ages.\n\nHe was born at Tus, in Khorasan, Persia, in the year 1058 A. D., and died\nin 1111 A. D. When Al-Ghazali was born Togrul Bey had just taken Bagdad,\nHenry IV was Emperor, Nicholas II was Pope, the Norman conquest had just\nbegun in the west, and Asia Minor was overrun by the Turks in the Near\nEast. Among Al-Ghazali\u2019s other contemporaries in the west were Hildebrand\nthe Pope, Abelard, Bernard, Anselm, and Peter the Hermit. About the time\nhe wrote his greatest work, Godfrey of Bouillon was King of Jerusalem.\nAl-Ghazali was struggling with the problem of Islam in its relation to\nthe human heart thirsting for God, about two hundred years after Al-Kindi\nhad written his remarkable apology for the Christian faith at the court\nof Haroun-ar-Rash\u00eed and two hundred years before Raymond Lull laid down\nhis life a martyr in North Africa.\n\nThe condition of the Moslem world had utterly changed since the days when\nBusrah with its rival city Kufa were dominated by the victorious Arabs\nof Omar\u2019s Caliphate. The Abbasside Caliphs of the eleventh century were\nalmost as much the shadows of former power as the Emperors of the East;\nthey retained little more than their religious supremacy. Togrul Bey, the\ngrandson of Seljuk, had been confirmed by the powerless Caliph Al-Qa\u02beim\nbi-amr Allah, in all his conquests, loaded with honours, saluted as King\nof the East and West, and endowed with the hand of the Caliph\u2019s daughter.\nIn the next reign, that of Al-Muqtadi, the Seljuk Turks captured\nJerusalem.\n\n\u201cAbout the year 1000,\u201d says N\u00f6ldeke,[1] \u201cIslam was in a very bad way. The\nAbbasside Caliphate had long ceased to be of any importance, the power\nof the Arabs had long ago been broken. There was a multitude of Islamite\nStates, great and small; but even the most powerful of these, that of the\nFatimids, was very far from being able to give solidity to the whole,\nespecially as it was Shi\u02beite.... These nomads (the Turks) caused dreadful\ndevastation, trampled to the ground the flourishing civilization of\nvast territories, and contributed almost nothing to the culture of the\nhuman race; but they mightily strengthened the religion of Mohammed. The\nrude Turks took up with zeal the faith which was just within reach of\ntheir intellectual powers, and they became its true, often fanatical,\nchampions against the outside world. They founded the powerful empire of\nthe Seljuks, and conquered new regions for Islam in the northwest. After\nthe downfall of the Seljuk empire they still continued to be the ruling\npeople in all its older portions. Had not the warlike character of Islam\nbeen revived by the Turks, the Crusaders perhaps might have had some\nprospect of more enduring success.\u201d\n\nTogrul Bey was invested with the title of Sultan in the royal city of\nNishapur, A. D. 1038. According to Gibbon, he was the \u201cfather of his\nsoldiers and of his people. By a firm and equal administration Persia was\nrelieved from the evils of anarchy; and the same hands which had been\nimbrued in blood became the guardians of justice and the public peace.\nThe more rustic, perhaps the wisest, portion of the Turkmans continued\nto dwell in the tents of their ancestors; and, from the Oxus to the\nEuphrates, these military colonies were protected and propagated by their\nnative princes. But the Turks of the court and city were refined by\nbusiness and softened by pleasure: they imitated the dress, language, and\nmanners of Persia; and the royal palaces of Nishapur and Rei displayed\nthe order and magnificence of a great monarchy. The most deserving of the\nArabians and Persians were promoted to the honours of the state; and the\nwhole body of the Turkish nation embraced with fervour and sincerity the\nreligion of Mahomet.\u201d[2]\n\nThe first of the great Seljuk Sultans was conspicuous by his zeal for\nthe Moslem faith. He spent much time in prayer, and in every city which\nhe conquered built new mosques. By force of arms he delivered the Caliph\nof Bagdad at the head of an irresistible force and taught the people of\nMosul and Bagdad the lesson of obedience. Rescued from his enemies, the\nalliance between the Caliph and the Sultan was cemented by the marriage\nof Togrul\u2019s sister with the successor of the Prophet. In 1063 Togrul\ndied and his nephew Alp Arslan succeeded him. His name, therefore, was\npronounced after that of the Caliph in public prayer by all the Moslems\nof the Near East.\n\nThe character of his rule Gibbon gives us in a sentence: \u201cThe myriads of\nTurkish horse overspread a frontier of 600 miles from Taurus to Erzeroum,\nand the blood of 136,000 Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the\nArabian prophet.\u201d The \u201cvaliant lion,\u201d for that is the significance of\nhis name, displayed at once the fierceness and generosity of a typical\nOriental ruler. Christians suffered dreadful persecution. Enemies were\nassassinated; but the learned, the rich, and the favoured were lavishly\nrewarded. Arslan was a valiant warrior of the faith and as eager for the\nbattlefield as those whom Moore describes:\u2014\n\n    \u201cOne of that saintly murderous brood\n    To carnage and the Koran given,\n    Who think through unbeliever\u2019s blood\n    Lies their directest path to heaven.\n    One who will pause and kneel unshod\n    In the warm blood his hand hath poured\n    To mutter o\u2019er some text of God\n    Engraven on his reeking sword.\u201d\n\nArmenia was laid waste in the cruelest manner when the capital was taken\non June 6, 1064. We are told that \u201chuman blood flowed in torrents, and\nso great was the carnage, that the streets were literally choked up with\ndead bodies; and the waters of the river were reddened from the quantity\nof bloody corpses.\u201d The wealthy inhabitants were tortured, the churches\npillaged, and the priests flayed alive. Al-Ghazali was then six years old.\n\nIn 1072 Alp Arslan was assassinated. His eldest son, Malek Shah,\nsucceeded him. He extended the conquests of his father beyond the Oxus\nas far as Bokhara and Samarkand, until his name was inserted on the\ncoins and in the prayers of the Tartar kingdom on the borders of China.\n\u201cFrom the Chinese frontiers, he stretched his immediate jurisdiction or\nfeudatory sway to the west and south, as far as the mountains of Georgia,\nthe neighbourhood of Constantinople, the holy city of Jerusalem, and the\nspicy groves of Arabia Felix. Instead of resigning himself to the luxury\nof the harem, the shepherd king, both in peace and war, was in action in\nthe field.\u201d\n\nNizam Al-Mulk was his vizier, and it is largely due to his influence that\nthe study of science and literature revived to such a remarkable degree.\nThe calendar was reformed, schools and colleges erected, and the learned\ncompeted with each other for the favour of royalty. For thirty years\nNizam Al-Mulk was honoured by the Caliph as the very oracle of religion\nand science. But at the age of ninety-three, the venerable statesman, to\nwhom, as we shall see later, Al-Ghazali owed so much, was dismissed by\nhis master, accused by his enemies, and murdered by a fanatic. The last\nwords of Nizam attested his innocence, and the remainder of Malek\u2019s life\nwas short and inglorious.\n\nThe Arabic language had become dominant everywhere. Its vocabulary had\nleavened the whole lump of languages in the Near East. Every race with\nwhich the Arabs came in contact was more or less Arabized. \u201cThe extent\nof this influence,\u201d says Chenery,[3] \u201cmay be perceived by comparing the\nPersian of Firdausi with that of Sa\u02bedi. The language of the former,\nwho flourished in the early part of our eleventh century, is tolerably\npure, while the Gulistan, which was produced some two hundred and fifty\nyears later, is in some places little more than a piecing together of\nArabic words with a cement of the original tongue. It is to be noticed,\nalso, that the latter author introduces continually Arabic verses, as\nthe highest ornaments of his work, and assumes that his readers are\nacquainted with this classic and sacred tongue.\u201d\n\nTrade routes extended everywhere. There was intercourse with India and\nChina on the east, as well as with the Spice Islands, so called, of\nMalaysia. Caravans carried trade across the whole of Central Asia and\nNorthern Arabia to the emporiums of the West. Spain had intercourse with\nPersia. Al-Hariri praises Busrah \u201cas the spot where the ship and the\ncamel meet, the sea fish and the lizard, the camel-leader and the sailor,\nthe fisher and the tiller.\u201d In other words it was the port and emporium\nfor all the lands watered by the Euphrates and Tigris. The same was true\nof Alexandria for the West.\n\nWe have evidences that an extensive trade was carried on between Arabia\nand China in walrus and ivory. An extensive work exists written in\nChinese in the twelfth century on trade with the Arabs of which a recent\ntranslation has been published at Petrograd. More remarkable still is the\nfact that in Scandinavia thousands of Kufic coins have been found, nearly\nall of which date from the eleventh century. This would indicate that\neven this remote part of Europe was in touch with the Near East.[4]\n\nJudging from literature and history, it was a time of looseness of morals\nand of divorce between religion and ethics, even more startling than\nin the world of Islam to-day. There were those who wrote commentaries\non the marvels of the Koran, like Al-Harawi, yet did not scruple to\nindulge in private wine-drinking and carousals and loose conversation.\nThe place of wine, women, and song, not only in popular literature and\npoetry, but even in the table talk of theologians and philosophers is\nclear evidence. Huart remarks in regard to the celebrated \u201cBook of the\nMonasteries,\u201d which is an anthology of the convents of the Near East:\n\u201cWe must not forget that, when Moslems went to Christian cloisters,\nit was not to seek devotional impulses, but simply for the sake of an\nopportunity of drinking wine, the use of which was forbidden in the\nMohammedan towns. The poets, out of gratitude, sang the praises of the\nblessed spots where they had enjoyed the delights of intoxication.\u201d Those\nwho dared to preach and write against this public immorality had to\nsuffer the consequences; and because hypocrites were in power reformers\nwere not heeded.\n\nWe read of Ibn Hamdun (1101-1167), that when he openly attacked the\nevils which he saw around him in Bagdad, he was dismissed from his\npublic office as secretary of state, cast into prison, and left to die.\nPunishments were cruel. Amputations for theft, in accordance with the\nKoran legislation, were matters of such every-day occurrence that the\nmaimed man was always a suspect. We read of Al-Zamakhshari, that one of\nhis feet had been frost-bitten during a winter storm, necessitating an\namputation, and so he went about with a wooden leg, but he also carried\nabout with him a written testimony of witnesses to prove that he had been\nmaimed by accident, and not in punishment for a crime.\n\nAl-Baihaki, the chronicler of the court at Bagdad, shows us that the\nzeal for the faith was often accompanied by a reckless disregard for\nthe law of Islam as regards the use of fermented liquor. Not only the\nsoldiers and their officers had drunken brawls, but the Sultan Mas\u02beud\nused to enjoy regular bouts in which he frequently saw his fellow topers\n\u201cunder the table.\u201d Here is a scene represented as having taken place at\nGhazni, the capital of Khorasan province. \u201cFifty goblets and flagons of\nwine were brought from the pavilion into the garden, and the cups began\nto go round. \u2018Fair measure,\u2019 said the amir, \u2018and equal cups\u2014let us drink\nfair.\u2019 They grew merry and the minstrels sang. One of the courtiers had\nfinished five tankards\u2014each held nearly a pint of wine\u2014but the sixth\nconfused him, the seventh bereft him of his senses, and at the eighth he\nwas consigned to his servants. The doctor was carried off at his fifth\ncup; Khalil Dawud managed ten, Siyabiruz nine, and then they were taken\nhome; everybody rolled or was rolled away, till only the Sultan and the\nKhwaja Abd-ar-Razzak remained. The Khwaja finished eighteen goblets and\nthen rose, saying, \u2018If your slave has any more he will lose both his\nwits and his respect for your Majesty.\u2019 Mas\u02beud went on alone, and after\nhe had drunk twenty-seven full cups, he too arose, called for water and\nprayer-carpet, washed, and recited the belated noon and sunset prayers\ntogether as soberly as if he had not tasted a drop; then mounted his\nelephant and rode to the palace.\u201d[5]\n\nMas\u02beud was put to death in 1040. His sons and descendants for more than\na century ruled this part of the Moslem world. But Ghazni fell from the\nproud position of the capital of a kingdom to a mere dependency of the\nEmpire of Malek Shah.\n\nThe eleventh century was a period when the nations of Western Europe\nwere beginning to crystallize both as regards their governments and\ncivilization. Their influence was felt at home and abroad, although\nthe masses were still in the depths of barbarism. Among the clergy and\nnobility something of order and civilization, and social development\nhad appeared, but we are told by one writer that it was a striking\ncharacteristic of the time to find side by side with barbarian violence\nand disorder, and the constant display of the most brutal passions,\na strong religious feeling. This feeling often took the form of\nsuperstition and fanaticism, the performance of meritorious works,\nespecially a pilgrimage to the holy sepulcher. Thousands risked their\nlife and health, and spent all their fortune to reach the holy city, with\nthe same devotion and sacrifice which we still witness among the ardent\nRussian pilgrims of to-day.\n\nWhen Asia Minor and Syria were conquered by the Turks this access to\nJerusalem was cut off. In 1076 (Al-Ghazali was then eighteen years\nold) they massacred three thousand of these Christian people and their\nsubsequent rule was relentless in its tyranny. We read that \u201cthe\nvenerable Patriarch was dragged by the hair along the streets, and cast\ninto a dungeon; the clergy of every sect were insulted; and the unhappy\npilgrims were made to suffer every indignity and abuse.\u201d\n\nThis treatment of Christian pilgrims produced a storm of indignation and\nanger throughout the West. Peter the Hermit himself visited Jerusalem\nand returned to Europe to arouse the nations. The result was the first\nCrusade, in which Pope Urban II co\u00f6perated. Three hundred thousand\nhalf-armed, half-naked peasants forced their way across Europe along the\nRhine and the Danube. Only one-third of their number reached the shores\nof Asia. There they were utterly destroyed and only a pyramid of bones\nremained to tell of their fate.\n\nThe Crusade under Godfrey of Bouillon was a well-appointed military\nexpedition embracing the flower of Europe. There are said to have been\nmustered in the plains of Bithynia one hundred thousand horsemen in\nfull armour and six hundred thousand footmen. These numbers may be\nexaggerated, and pestilence and famine thinned their ranks, but in less\nthan three years they had attained the great object of their expedition.\nIn 1097 they laid siege to Nicea and captured it. They advanced against\nAntioch and after seven weary months laid siege to the city. In 1099\nthey advanced on Jerusalem and after a siege of forty days the holy city\nsurrendered. \u201cThe merciless Franks did not fail to inflict a terrible\nvengeance for their own sufferings and the indignities which had been\nheaped upon their religion and their race. The Jews were burned in their\nsynagogues; and seventy thousand Moslems were put to the sword. For three\ndays the city was given up to indiscriminate pillage and massacre, until\na pestilence was bred by the putrefaction of the slain.\u201d\n\nSoon Godfrey and his successors extended their dominions until only four\ncities, Aleppo, Damascus, Hamath, and Hums remained in the possession of\nthe Moslems in Syria. Everywhere the followers of the Prophet were filled\nwith grief and shame and with a great longing to wipe away the disgrace\nwhich had fallen on their religion.\n\n\u201cIn the year 492 A. H.,\u201d says Muir,[6] \u201cconsternation was spread\nthroughout the land by the capture of Jerusalem, and cruel treatment of\nits inhabitants. Preachers went about proclaiming the sad story, kindling\nrevenge, and rousing men to recover from infidel hands the Mosque of\nOmar, and scene of the Prophet\u2019s heavenly flight. But whatever the\nsuccess elsewhere, the mission failed in the East, which was occupied\nwith its own troubles, and moreover cared little for the Holy Land,\ndominated as it then was by the Fatimide faith. Crowds of exiles, driven\nfor refuge to Bagdad, and joined there by the populace, cried out for\nwar against the Franks. But neither Sultan nor Caliph had ears to hear.\nFor two Fridays the insurgents, with this cry, stormed the Great Mosque,\nbroke the pulpit and throne of the Caliph in pieces, and shouted down the\nservice; but that was all. No army went.\u201d\n\nAmong Moslems themselves religious rancour abounded. At present the four\northodox sects worship together and live in peace as neighbours, but in\nthose days there were frequent and hot disputes between the rival schools\nand much controversial literature arose, so that the hatred between the\nsects was deep and bitter. The Persian historian, Mirkhond, has recorded\na fact which shows how implacable the feeling had become towards the\nclose of the Caliphate. When the Mongols of Genghiz Khan appeared before\nthe city of Rei, they found it divided into two factions\u2014the one composed\nof Shafi\u02beites, the other of Hanifites. The former at once entered into\nsecret negotiations undertaking to deliver up the city at night, on\ncondition that the Mongols massacred the members of the other sect. The\nMongols, never reluctant to shed blood, gladly accepted these proposals,\nand being admitted into the city, slaughtered the Hanifites without mercy.\n\nIt was in this atmosphere of mutual hatred, of war and bloodshed, that\nAl-Ghazali spent the last years of his life. We may excuse in him much of\nwhat would otherwise seem intolerant and hateful, when we remember how\nthe passion of war blinds human judgment and makes it impossible to see\nany virtue in the invader.\n\nWe must not forget that Al-Ghazali came into close touch with Oriental\nChristians from his boyhood.[7] Christianity was established in Persia\nat the time of the Moslem conquest, and the Nestorian Church withstood\nits terrific impact when Zoroastrianism was almost destroyed. The coming\nof the Arabs meant to the Christians only a change of masters. The\nNestorians became the _rayah_, \u201cpeople of protection,\u201d of the Caliphs.\nThey did not immediately sink into their present deplorable condition.\nThey still conducted foreign missions and during the entire Abbasside\nperiod remained a very important factor of civilization in the East.\nThey were permitted to restore their Churches, but not to build new\nones; they were forbidden to bear arms or ride a horse, save in case\nof necessity, and they even then had to dismount on meeting a Moslem;\nthey were subject to the usual poll-tax. Yet the Nestorians were the\nmost powerful non-Moslem community while the Caliphs reigned at Bagdad\n(750-1258), and had a higher tradition of civilization than their\nmasters. They were used at court as physicians, scribes, and secretaries,\nand thus gained great influence, having much freedom in canonical\nmatters, elected Patriarchs, etc. The Arab scholarship which came to\nSpain, and was a great factor in medi\u00e6val learning, begins in great part\nwith the Nestorians of Bagdad. They handed on to their Arab masters the\nGreek culture which was inherited in Syriac translations. So we find\nthe Caliphs treating them as chief of the Christian communities, and at\ntimes civil authority over all Christians had been given to the Nestorian\nPatriarch.\n\nEarly in the eleventh century Al-Biruni, a Moslem writer from Khiva,\nmentions the Nestorians as the most civilized of the Christian\ncommunities under the Caliph. He says that there are three sects of\nChristians\u2014Melchites, Nestorians and Jacobites. \u201cThe most numerous\nof them are the Melchites and Nestorians; because Greece and the\nadjacent countries are all inhabited by Melchites, whilst the majority\nof the inhabitants of Syria, Irak and Mesopotamia and Khorasan are\nNestorians.\u201d[8]\n\nAl-Ghazali spent his first twenty years in Khorasan. Did he ever become\nacquainted with Christianity through perusal of the Gospel? We know that\nArabic, if not Persian, translations existed at this period; and not only\nare there many references to Christ and His teaching in Al-Ghazali\u2019s\nworks, but there are some very few passages accurate enough to be called\nquotations. He himself states as we shall see later: \u201cI have read in the\nGospel.\u201d\n\nThat there were translations of the Bible into Arabic to which Al-Ghazali\nmay have had access is probable. Dr. Kilgour tells of Arabic Gospel\nmanuscripts of the ninth century and of translations of the Old Testament\nand portions of the New made in the Fayyoum before 942 A. D. \u201cTo the\ntenth century belong versions of some books of the Old Testament from\nSyriac, others from the LXX., and from the Coptic; and some fresh\ntranslations of the Pentateuch, using the Samaritan text as well as the\nMassoretic.\u201d[9]\n\nDiglot manuscripts in Syriac and Arabic are quite numerous. The\nmanuscript of the four Gospels, of which a few leaves are now in the\nBritish Museum, is a good specimen of such a diglot. It was brought by\nTischendorf from the Syrian Convent of St. Mary Deipara in the Nitrian\nDesert. In the early part of the eleventh century an Arabic scholar\nmade a version of Tatian\u2019s Diatessaron, that early Syriac Harmony of\nthe Gospels which helped the Christian Church to realize the main facts\nconcerning our Saviour. A version of the Psalms was prepared in the\nmiddle of the same century for use in the Church services of the papal or\nMelchite Greeks. This was translated from the Greek Psalter, and, from\nthe place where it was first printed, became known afterwards as the\nAleppo Psalter.[10] It remains an interesting question whether Al-Ghazali\nin his travels, or while still in Khorasan, ever examined the New\nTestament.\n\nWe are told that the Jews translated their law into Persian by 827 A. D.\nIt is, therefore, hard to acquit the Christians of Persia of negligence.\nTheir bishops found time to write learned treatises in Persian and\nArabic, and even to translate Aristotle, but not to give Moslems the\nScriptures. Yet Al-Kindi and others like him, many of whose names and\nwritings are lost, were not afraid to give their testimony even at the\ncourt of the Caliphs. \u201cThe Church,\u201d says W. T. Whiteley,[11] \u201chad not\nfailed to exercise an influence on Islam around it, while Christians\nmight not, on peril of death, seek to win converts direct, a command\noccasionally violated with honour and success, yet all the development of\nIslam at Damascus and Bagdad was in a Christian atmosphere.\u201d\n\nThe Christianity of that period was, however, not the religion of Christ\nin its purity nor after the example of His love and toleration. Mutual\nhatred and suspicion prevented real intercourse of those who, as devout\nChristians and devout Moslems, were both seeking God. The Moslem was\nfeared and the Christian despised. The followers of Jesus were the\nenemies of Allah in the eyes of Moslems.\n\nHow Christians were regarded at this time we may learn from the books of\ncanon law of this period, and that immediately following upon it. They\nwere considered _infidels_ in the Moslem sense of the word, and were\nprotected only by the payment of a poll tax, which gave them certain\nrights as subjects. The most distinguished jurist of the Shafi\u02beite\nsect, An-Nawawi, who taught at Damascus in 1267, lays down the law[12]\nas follows: \u201cAn infidel who has to pay his poll tax should be treated\nby the tax collector with disdain; the collector remaining seated and\nthe infidel standing before him, the head bent and the body bowed. The\ninfidel should personally place the money in the balance, while the\ncollector holds him by the beard and strikes him upon both cheeks.\nInfidels should be forbidden to have houses higher than those of their\nMoslem neighbours, or even to have them as high; a rule, however, that\ndoes not apply to the infidels who inhabit a separate quarter. An infidel\nsubject of our Sovereign may not ride a horse; but a donkey or a mule\nis permitted him, whatever may be its value. He must use an _ikaf_, and\nwooden spurs, those of iron being forbidden him, as well as a saddle.\nHe must go to the side of the road to let a Moslem pass. He must not\nbe treated as a person of importance, nor given the first place at a\ngathering. He should be distinguished by a suit of coloured cloth and\na girdle outside his clothes. If he enters a bathing house where there\nare Moslems, or if he undresses anywhere else in their presence, the\ninfidel should wear round his neck an iron or leaden necklace, or some\nother mark of servitude.[13] He is forbidden to offend Moslems, either by\nmaking them hear his false doctrines, or by speaking aloud of Esdras or\nof the Messiah, or by ostentatiously drinking wine or eating pork. And\ninfidels are forbidden to sound the bells of their churches or of their\nsynagogues, or celebrate ostentatiously their sacrilegious rites.\u201d[14]\n\n\u201cThe history of Christian communities,\u201d says Margoliouth,[15] \u201cunder\nMoslem rule cannot be adequately written; the members of those\ncommunities had no opportunity of describing their condition safely, and\nthe Moslems naturally devote little space to their concerns. Generally\nspeaking, they seem to have been regarded as certain old Greek and Roman\nsages regarded women: as a necessary annoyance. Owing to their being\nunarmed their prosperity was always hazardous; and though it is true that\nthis was the case with all the subjects of a despotic state under an\nirresponsible ruler, the non-Moslem population was at the mercy of the\nmob as well as of the sovereign; they were likely scapegoats whenever\nthere was distress, and even in the best governed countries periods of\ndistress frequently arose.\u201d\n\nThere are darker shades in the treatment of Christians and in the moral\ncondition of this period over which one might well draw the veil,\nbut some of the chapters of Ghazali\u2019s _Ihya_ reflect such terrible\nconditions as Margoliouth describes: \u201cA form of passion which is nameless\nwould appear at one time to have been as familiar among Moslems as of\nold among Hellenes. Christian lads seem often to have been the unhappy\nobjects of this passion. A story is told us by the biographer Yakut of a\nyoung monk of Edessa or Urfah who had the misfortune to attract the fancy\nof one Sa\u02bead the copyist. The visits and attentions of this Moslem became\nso offensive that the monks had to put a stop to them. Thereupon this\npersonage pined away, and was finally found dead outside the monastery\nwall. The Moslem population declared that the monks had killed him,\nand the governor proposed to execute and burn the young monk who had\noccasioned the disaster, and scourge his colleagues. They finally got off\nby paying a sum of 100,000 dirhems.\u201d\n\nNot only among Moslems, however, but among Christians as well, morals\nwere at a low ebb in the eleventh century. One of the annalists of the\nRoman Church says it was an iron age barren of all goodness, a leaden age\nabounding in all wickedness. \u201cChrist was then, as it appears, in a very\ndeep sleep, when the ship was covered with waves; and what seemed worse,\nwhen the Lord was thus asleep, there were no disciples, who by their\ncries might awaken him, being themselves all fast asleep.\u201d\n\nEnemies of the Papacy have perhaps exaggerated the vices and crimes\nof the popes in this and the preceding century; but the Church, on the\ntestimony of its own writers, was immersed in profaneness, sensuality,\nand lewdness. When Otho I, Emperor of Germany, came to Rome, he\nintroduced moral reforms by the power of the sword, but according\nto Milner,[16] \u201cThe effect of Otho\u2019s regulations was that the popes\nexchanged the vices of the rake and the debauchee for those of the\nambitious politician and the hypocrite; and gradually recovered, by a\nprudent conduct, the domineering ascendency, which had been lost by\nvicious excesses. But this did not begin to take place till the latter\nend of the eleventh century.\u201d\n\nMissionary effort in this century was confined to work in Hungary, the\nunevangelized portions of Denmark, Poland, and Prussia. Adam of Bremen,\nwho wrote in 1080, says: \u201cLook at the very ferocious nation of the\nDanes. For a long time they have been accustomed, in the praises of\nGod, to resound Alleluia. Look at that piratical people. They are now\ncontent with the fruits of their own country. Look at that horrid region,\nformerly altogether inaccessible on account of idolatry; they now eagerly\nadmit the preachers of the word.\u201d\n\nThe Prussians continued pagans in a great measure throughout this\ncentury. We read that eighteen missionaries sent out to labour among them\nwere massacred. They seemed to have been among the last of the European\nnations to submit to the yoke of Christ.\n\nThe noblest figure of the century in the West, in the annals of\nChristendom, was undoubtedly that of Anselm. He was born about the\ntime of Al-Ghazali, and died in 1109. His life in many respects is a\nparallel to that of his contemporary. Both were theologians and both\nwere mystics, seeking rest for their souls in withdrawing from the world\nand its allurements. Both were apologists for the Faith and opponents\nof infidelity and philosophy. Both exerted an immense influence by\ntheir writings as well as through teaching; and if Al-Ghazali sought\nthe revival of religious life in Islam through his _Ihya_, Anselm gave\nemployment to his active mind in writing his celebrated treatise \u201c_Cur\nDeus Homo?_\u201d Both of them refuted philosophers in their effort to\nestablish the Faith.\n\nIt is interesting to note in this connection that Anselm\u2019s famous book\nis now used in Arabic translation by missionaries to Moslems, and that\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s \u201cConfessions\u201d have been put into the hands of the English\nreader as a testimony of his sincerity and devotion.\n\nBoth Anselm and Al-Ghazali lived and wrote under a deep consciousness of\nthe world to come, the terrors of the judgment day, and the doom of the\nwicked. This also was characteristic of the times.\n\nTo understand the time in which Al-Ghazali lived we must also remember\nthat it was one of great literary activity under the Abbasside Caliphs of\nBagdad and the Seljuk sultans. We have seen how rulers rewarded literary\ngenius, established schools, and furthered education on religious lines.\nArabic literature affords a galaxy of names during the latter half of the\neleventh century in almost every department of Moslem learning.\n\nAmong Ghazali\u2019s celebrated contemporaries, men of literary fame, we may\nmention Abiwardi (d. 1113), the poet; Ibn Al-Khayyat, who was born at\nDamascus in 1058 and died in Persia in 1125; Al-Ghazi (b. 1049), who\ncomposed elegies and panegyrics at Nizamiyya College, was a college mate\nof Ghazali\u2019s, and died in Khorasan; Al-Tarabalusi (b. 1080), a younger\ncontemporary. But the most famous poet of all was Al-Hariri (1054-1122),\nwhose \u201cAssemblies\u201d throw so much light on the manners and morals of this\nperiod. Among the men at the Nizamiyya University were Al-Khat\u00eeb (b.\n1030), the great philologist; and Ibn Al-Arabi, born at Seville in 1076,\nwho visited Bagdad to attend the teaching of Al-Ghazali. The greatest\nof all the Shafi\u02beite doctors, Al-Ruyani, was also a contemporary of\nAl-Ghazali. He taught at Nishapur and wrote the most voluminous book on\njurisprudence in existence, called \u201cThe Sea of Doctrine.\u201d In 1108, just\nas he had finished one of his lectures he was murdered by a fanatic of\nthe Assassin sect, who were then holding the castle of Alamut in the\nmountains. We must also mention a schoolmate of Al-Ghazali, Al-Harrasi\n(1058-1110), who studied at Nishapur under the Imam Al-Haramain, was\nmade his assistant, and then went to Bagdad, where he taught theology in\nthe Nizamiyya University for the rest of his life. Nor must we forget\nAl-Baghawi, who wrote a famous commentary on the Koran, and other works\nof theology (1122); Al-Raghib Al-Ispahani, who died in 1108, and wrote a\ndictionary of the Koran, arranged in alphabetical order, called _Mufradat\nalfaz Al-Koran_, with quotations from the traditions and from the poets;\nhe also wrote a treatise on morals, which Al-Ghazali always carried about\nwith him (_Kitab ad-dharia_), and a commentary on the Koran. Among the\nearly contemporaries of Al-Ghazali we must not forget to mention Ali bin\n\u02beUthman Al-Jullabi Al-Hujwiri, the author of the oldest Persian treatise\non Sufism extant. He was born in Ghazni, Afghanistan, and died in A.\nD. 1062, when Al-Ghazali was fourteen years old. Al-Hujwiri travelled\nfar and wide through the Mohammedan Empire and his famous work _Kashf\nal-Mahjub_ anticipates much of the teaching of Al-Ghazali, who must have\nbeen familiar with this author. And to complete this already long list\nof celebrities, we may mention Al-Maidani of Nishapur, who died in 1124,\nhaving written a great work on Arabic proverbs; Al-Zamakhshari, born in\n1074, who wrote a famous commentary on the Koran; Ibn Tumart, the noted\nphilosopher of the West who attended Al-Ghazali\u2019s lectures at Nizamiyya;\nand ash-Shahristani who wrote on the various religions and sects\u2014the\nstandard work among all Moslems to-day on comparative religion. The\nperiod was in many respects the golden age of Islamic literature, and\nit is high praise indeed that, in the judgment of Moslem and Christian,\nAl-Ghazali surpassed all his literary contemporaries, if not in style and\neloquence, at least in the scope and character of his writings\u2014still more\nby the enduring and outreaching influence of his life. The story of that\nlife and the character of his message we will now attempt to sketch for\nthe reader.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nBirth and Education\n\n    \u201cGhazali is without doubt the most remarkable figure in all\n    Islam. His doctrine is the expression of his own personality.\n    He abandoned the attempt to understand this world. But the\n    religious problem he comprehended much more profoundly than\n    did the philosophers of his time. These were intellectual in\n    their methods, like their Greek predecessors, and consequently\n    regarded the doctrines of Religion as merely the products\n    of the conception or fancy or even caprice of the lawgiver.\n    According to them Religion was either blind obedience, or a\n    kind of knowledge which contained truth of an inferior order.\n\n    \u201cOn the other hand Ghazali represents Religion as the\n    experience of his inner Being. It is for him more than law and\n    more than Doctrine; it is the Soul\u2019s experience.\u201d\n\n                             \u2014_\u201cPhilosophy in Islam,\u201d T. J. DeBoer._\n\n\nII\n\nBIRTH AND EDUCATION\n\nAs already stated, Al-Ghazali was born and educated in Khorasan, Persia,\nand there also he spent the closing years of his life. Persia, as Huart\nexpresses it, possessed \u201can intangible force, the Aryan genius, the\npowerful, imaginative, and creative mind of the great Indo-European\nfamily, the artistic, philosophic, and intellectual brain which, from the\nAbbasside period onward, so mightily affected Arab literature, enabling\nit to develop in every quarter of the Caliph\u2019s realms, and to produce the\nenormous aggregate of works.\u201d It was this Aryan genius which explains\nmuch of the powerful influence of Al-Ghazali upon Moslem thought, and\nthe revival of that influence in our day when Islam is again facing\ndisintegrating forces. At the time of Al-Ghazali, Persian influence was\nsupreme. It pervaded everything. The Arabs had ceased to write. The\nrealms of poetry, theology, and science, were dominated by those of\nPersian birth. All posts, administrative and legal, were held by men who\nwere not Arabs, and yet the language they used was that of the Koran, and\nremained the sole literary language of the huge empire of the Caliphs.\n\u201cAll races, Persians, Syrians, Berbers from Maghrib, were melted and\namalgamated in this mighty crucible.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali was a Persian by birth, an Aryan in his modes of thought,\na Semite in his religion and he became a cosmopolitan by travel and\neducation. His long residence in all the great centres of Islam of his\nday brought him into close touch with men of every school of thought\nand followers of all manners of religions and philosophies. When we\nremember this, we have the key to his enormous literary productiveness.\nHis horizon stretched from Afghanistan to Spain, and from Kurdistan to\nSouthern Arabia. What happened outside the _Dar ul Islam_ in infidel\nEurope was brought to the notice of all by the Crusades.\n\nMen of learning had intercourse by correspondence with those of similar\ntastes in every part of the Moslem world. We have records of letters\nreceived by Al-Ghazali from Spain and Morocco as well as from Egypt,\nSyria, and Palestine. Questions of jurisprudence, philosophy, and\ntheology were referred by Sultans to celebrated authorities for reply.\nAll this produced the cosmopolitan atmosphere we find in his works.\n\nThe poet Moore describes Al-Ghazali\u2019s native land as\n\n    \u201c... the delightful Province of the Sun,\n    The first of Persian lands he shines upon,\n    Where, all the loveliest children of his beam,\n    Flowerets and fruits blush over every stream,\n    And, fairest of all streams, the Murga roves\n    Among Merou\u2019s bright palaces and groves.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The East Gate, Damascus.]\n\nKhorasan, indeed, signifies \u201cthe land of the sun,\u201d and was one of the\nfour geographical divisions into which the ancient kingdom of the\nSassanians was divided. They were named according to the cardinal points\nof the compass. After the Arab conquests the name was used both for\na definite province and also in a looser sense for the whole eastern\nregion of Persia. Even now the boundaries of the province are scarcely\ndetermined. The total area is about 150,000 square miles, and the present\npopulation not over 800,000. It was doubtless far more in Al-Ghazali\u2019s\nday.\n\nTowards the north and southwest Khorasan is mountainous. In the east the\ncountry is hilly, but between the mountain ranges there extend broad\ntracts of waste land. By far the most extensive of these saline wastes\nis the Dasht-i-Kabir, or Great Salt Desert of Khorasan. Throughout the\nprovince, and especially near Tus, the arid plains and the grassy valleys\nhave been engaged in a perpetual struggle for the mastery. The shifting\nsands have already absorbed some towns and villages. There are scarcely\nany rivers, and the few streams are brackish and intermittent, losing\nthemselves in the great salt desert. The salt brought down by the rivers\nis deposited in the marshes. The fierce summer heat dries these up until\nthe winter floods occur again. This process being repeated for ages, in\nthe course of time the whole stretch of soil over which the marsh extends\nhas become incrusted with salt.\n\nTravellers and students of climate seem to be agreed that the country\noffers unmistakable evidence of desiccation. Ruins of cities and\nvillages are incredibly numerous and point to a larger population and\nbetter climate and irrigation in the days past. It would not be just to\nattribute the decay of Persia entirely to the devastations of war and the\nmisrule of Islam.\n\n\u201cA comparison of the four provinces of Khorasan, Azerbaijan, Kirman,\nand Seyistan is instructive,\u201d says Ellsworth Huntington.[17] Khorasan\n\u201chas suffered from war more severely than has any other province of\nPersia. Its northern portion, where the rainfall is heaviest, and where\nthe greatest amount of fighting has taken place, is to-day one of the\nmost prosperous portions of Persia. It contains numerous ruins, but they\nare by no means such impressive features as are those farther south.\nThe southern and drier part of the province is full of ruins, and has\nsuffered great depopulation. Azerbaijan, which ... has suffered from\nwar more than any province except Khorasan, is the most prosperous and\nthickly settled part of Persia. The relative abundance of its water\nsupply renders its future hopeful. Seyistan has suffered from wars, but\nless severely than the two preceding provinces. Nevertheless, it has been\ndepopulated to a far greater extent. Its extreme aridity renders recovery\nwell-nigh impossible, except along the Helmund. Kirman lies so remote\nbehind its barriers of desert and mountains that it has suffered from war\nmuch less than any of the three other provinces. Yet its ruined cities\nand its appearance of hopeless depopulation are almost as impressive as\nthose of Seyistan. If war and misgovernment are the cause of the decay\nof Persia, it is remarkable that the two provinces which have suffered\nmost from war, and not less from misgovernment, should now be the most\nprosperous and least depopulated; while the two which have suffered less\nfrom war and no more from misgovernment have been fearfully, and, it\nwould seem, irreparably depopulated.\u201d\n\nThe surface of the province of Khorasan to-day consists mainly of\nhighlands, the saline deserts, and the fruitful well-watered upland\nvalleys. In these fruitful regions rice, cotton, saffron, but especially\nmelons and other fruits, are raised in profusion. Other products are\nmanna, gum, asaf\u0153tida for export to India, and turquois. The chief\nmanufactures have always been sabres, pottery, carpets, woolen and cotton\ngoods.\n\nThe town of Mashad, the present capital of Khorasan, has supplanted the\nolder city and district of Tus, which was an ancient capital. The ruins\nof this city lie fifteen miles to the northwest. As early as the tenth\ncentury we have references to the birthplace of Al-Ghazali. Thus Mis\u02bear\nMuhalhil (about 941 A. D.) writes: \u201cTus is made up of the union of four\ntowns, two of which are large and the other two of minor importance; its\narea is a square mile. It has beautiful monuments that date from the\ntime of Islam, such as the house of Hamid, son of Kahtabah, the tomb of\nAli, son of Musa, and that of Rashid in the environs (lit. gardens) of\nthe town.\u201d Istakhri (951 A. D.), writing ten years later, speaks of Tus\nas a dependency with four large towns or settlements. He says: \u201cTaking\nTus as a dependency of the province of Nishapur, its towns are Radkan,\nTabaran, Bazdghur, and Naukan, in which (latter) is the tomb of Ali,\nson of Musa ar-Riza (may the peace of God be upon him), and the tomb\nof Haroun ar-Rash\u00eed.... The tomb of Ar-Riza is about one-quarter of a\n_farsakh_ distant towards the village called Sanabadh.\u201d The best summary\nof the history of Tus and description of its present condition is given\nby Professor A. V. Williams Jackson in his most interesting book, \u201cFrom\nConstantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam.\u201d He tells us that the name\nof the town is as old as the half-legendary warrior Tusa of the Avesta,\nwho gave battle against Turan. Alexander the Great passed through it in\npursuit of Bessus, the slayer of the last Darius. During the Zoroastrian\nsway, the city of Tus shared with Nishapur the distinction of being the\nseat of a Nestorian Christian bishop. When the Arab conquest of Persia\ncame Tus fell before the invaders and it became a great Moslem centre,\nfamous especially as the home of the poet Firdausi, who was born there\nabout 935 A. D. and died 1025 A. D.\n\nProfessor Jackson thus describes the present ruined condition of the\ncity: \u201cThe crumbling walls of the dead city were once broad and lofty\nramparts of clay and rubble, much like those already mentioned at Bustam\nand Rei, but they had become much flattened with the lapse of ages,\nalthough traces of their towers were still to be seen, while their\noutline showed the contour of the town, which must have formed a very\nirregular quadrilateral, following roughly the points of the compass....\nThe scene, as we saw it, presented a strange paradox of the destructive\neffects of the hand of man, and the eternal power of nature to rise\nand bloom again. The devastating inroads of the Ghuzz hordes and the\nMongol armies, aided by earthquakes, had indeed laid mighty Tus in\nruins: but its dust still contains the resurrection seed of flowers and\ngrain, bringing life anew in the midst of death. Acres of barley and\nfields of thick clover spread their rich green on all sides, in contrast\nwith stretches of arid waste that told only too well the story of ruin\nwrought in the past.\u201d Professor Jackson goes on to say: \u201cIt is clear\nthat the ruined site of Tus we have been examining, with the Rudbar\nand Rizan Gates, formed part of the borough of Tabaran, an important\nsection of the town in Firdausi\u2019s day, when the city covered a large\narea comprising several thickly populated centres, as we know from the\nOriental geographers of the tenth century, or the period covering the\nbetter portion of the poet\u2019s life. It was in Tabaran that Al-Ghazali was\nburied, and there he must have had his home during the closing years of\nhis life.\u201d[18]\n\nReligious disputation must have been the very atmosphere of Tus.\nChristians were numerous and the Moslem _Shiahs_ were almost as strong\nas the orthodox. Some of their most celebrated writers and scholars, for\nexample Abu Ja\u02befar Muhammed, were born at Tus; and Ibn Abi Hatim, one\nof the earliest and most important critics of the science of Tradition,\ndied at Tus in 939. In spite of its learned men, however, Tus did not\nhave a high reputation, as we know from the following anecdote related\nof Ibn-Habbariyya. He was asked by an enemy of Nizam Al-Mulk to compose\na satire on this ruler. \u201cHow can I attack a man to whose kindness I owe\neverything I see in my house?\u201d asked the poet. However, on being pressed,\nhe penned these lines:\n\n    \u201cWhat wonder is it that Nizam Al-Mulk should rule,\n    And that Fate should be on his side?\n    Fortune is like the water-wheel\n    Which raises water from the well\u2014\n    None but _oxen_ can turn it!\u201d\n\nWhen the vizier was informed of this attack upon him, he merely remarked\nthat the poet had simply intended to allude to his origin\u2014he came from\nTus in Khorasan, and, according to a popular saying, all the men of Tus\nwere oxen (one would say asses, nowadays).\n\n\u201cThe people of Khorasan,\u201d says Chenery, \u201cwere renowned for their\nstinginess, and it is not surprising that the inhabitants of the mother\ntown were said to excel in it all the rest of the world. Witness the\nstory, related in Sa\u02beadi\u2019s Gulistan, if I remember well, of the merchant\nof Merv, who would not allow his son to eat cheese, but made him rub his\nbread against the glass cover under which it was kept.\u201d\n\nTo prove the stupidity of the Khorasanis to-day, Major P. M. Sykes[19]\ntells a story of three Persians who met and were all praising their own\nprovinces. The Kermani said, \u201cKerman produces fruit of seven colours.\u201d\nThe Shirazi continued, \u201cThe waters of Ruknabad issue from the very rock.\u201d\nBut the poor Khorasani could only say, \u201cFrom Khorasan come all the fools\nlike myself.\u201d\n\nYet Khorasan, in the words of Hujwiri, was that land \u201cwhere the shadow\nof God\u2019s favour rested,\u201d as regards the teaching of the Mystics. He\nmentions nine leading Sufis who belong to Khorasan, and taught there\nbefore Al-Ghazali\u2019s day, all of them distinguished for the \u201csublimity of\ntheir aspiration, the eloquence of their discourse, and the sagacity of\ntheir intelligence.\u201d He then goes on to say: \u201cIt would be difficult to\nmention all the sheikhs of Khorasan. I have met three hundred in that\nprovince alone who had such mystical endowments that a single man of them\nwould have been enough for the whole world. This is due to the fact that\nthe sun of love and the fortune of the Sufi Path is in the ascendant in\nKhorasan.\u201d[20]\n\nIn view of such statements it is clear that Al-Ghazali owed much to his\nenvironment as well as to his own genius. He did not originate mysticism,\nbut used what his predecessors had already written on the subject. The\nvery chapter headings of _Kashf al-Mahjub_ are the same as those found in\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s books on mysticism.\n\nAccording to Murtadha (who follows As-Subqi), Al-Ghazali\u2019s full name was\nAbu Hamid Mohammed bin Mohammed bin Mohammed at-Tusi al-Ghazali, and he\nwas born at Tus in the year of the Hegira 450 (A. D. 1058). In regard\nto his name, it is related that others before him had the peculiarity\nof the family name three times repeated. \u201cIbn-Kutaibah states that\nAbu\u2019l-Bakhtari\u2019s name was Wahb b. Wahb b. Wahb, the same name thrice in\none continuation; and that similar to this among the names of the Persian\nkings was that of Bahram b. Bahram b. Bahram; among the Talibis (the\ndescendants of Abu-Talib) that of Hasan b. Hasan b. Hasan, and among\nthe Ghassan that of al-Harith the junior b. al-Harith and the senior b.\nal-Harith.\u201d[21]\n\nConcerning the spelling of his name, whether it should be spelled with\ntwo z\u2019s or with one, there has been long and strong dispute. Professor\nMacdonald thinks the name should be spelt _Ghazzali_ and has given\nhis arguments in a special essay.[22] This spelling is given by Ibn\nKhallikan in his biographical dictionary (d. A. D. 1282). But apparently,\naccording to the authority of As-Sam\u02beani, the name is derived from\nGhazala, a village near Tus, and is not a professional noun, such as\nare common among patronymics. Abu Sa\u02bed \u02beAbd al-Karim As-Sam\u02beani was\nborn only two years after Al-Ghazali\u2019s death, and wrote a famous book\nof patronymics in eight volumes. He was, therefore, an expert in names\nand genealogies, and we may well accept his authority for the spelling\nof the name of the great _imam_, who was his own countryman. The sheikhs\nof the Azhar University in Cairo _all_ follow this authority and write\n_Al-Ghazali_.[23]\n\nSome say that there had already been two scholars in the family, one\nan elder Al-Ghazali, at whose tomb in the cemetery of Tus prayer was\nanswered. This was a paternal uncle of Ghazali\u2019s father. The other was\na son of the same. The story is told, apparently on the authority of\nGhazali himself, that at the time of his father\u2019s death he committed\nhis two boys, Mohammed and Ahmed, to the care of a trusted Sufi friend\nfor their education. He himself seems to have had unfulfilled desires\nin regard to his own education and was determined that his boys should\nhave a better opportunity. So he left in trust what money he had for\nthe purpose with this friend, who proved faithful and taught and cared\nfor them until the money was all gone. Then he advised them to go to a\n_madrasa_, where, according to Moslem custom, they would receive food for\ntheir need and shelter. Ghazali used to tell the story of this experience\nin after life, and would add the remark, \u201cWe became students for the sake\nof something else than God, but _He_ was unwilling that it should be for\nthe sake of anything but Himself.\u201d This instance doubtless throws light\non the motives for his studies and his great diligence. At the outset he\nwas in search rather of reputation and wealth through learning than of\npiety.[24]\n\nOf Al-Ghazali\u2019s home life at Tus, and of his own family life afterwards,\nwe know next to nothing. His name Abu Hamid was doubtless given him\nmuch later, and would seem to indicate that he had a son of that name\nwho probably died in infancy. We know that he married before he was\ntwenty and that at least three daughters survived him. Of his younger\nbrother, however, who died fifteen years after he did (1126), and was\nburied at Kazvin, we know the following: He succeeded Al-Ghazali in the\nprofessorial chair at the Nizamiyya School. Like him, he was a mystic\nand preached his views with great eloquence as well as with a prolific\npen. We are told that he was a man of splendid appearance, and had the\ngift of healing. So fond was he of public preaching that he neglected his\njudicial studies. He wrote an abridgement of his brother\u2019s great work,\nand also a celebrated treatise on mysticism called _Minhaj al-albab_\n(Path for Hearts), in which he deals with the advantages of poverty, and\nadvocates the wearing of a special garb by the dervishes. Another of his\nbooks was in defense of music, called _Bawariq al-ilma_; but this was\nconsidered frivolous by strict Moslems, although the Sufis used music to\nproduce the state of ecstasy.\n\nOf Al-Ghazali\u2019s mother we know nothing beyond the fact that she survived\nher husband and lived to see both her sons famous at Bagdad, whither\napparently she accompanied or followed them. An interesting story is\ntold of how, when Abu Hamid was at the height of his fame at Bagdad, his\nbrother Ahmed not merely failed to show him proper respect, but acted\nin such a manner as to discredit him in the eyes of the people. The\nfull account is worth giving. \u201cHe had a brother called Ahmed, surnamed\nJamal-ud-Din, or, as others say, Zain-ud-Din, who, notwithstanding the\nhigh rank which his brother held, would not take part with him in the\nprayers (_i. e._, would not recognize him as a man fitted to lead the\npublic prayers), even while thousands of the commonalty and nobility\narranged themselves in ranks behind him. So he complained to his mother\nwhat he experienced at his brother\u2019s hands, (saying) that it almost led\nto people doubting him, seeing that his brother was celebrated for his\ngood conduct and piety, and he asked his mother to order him (Ahmed) to\ntreat him as other people did. He complained about this repeatedly, and\npressed his demand. His mother urged him (Ahmed) time and again to agree\nto this, and he agreed on condition that he stand apart from the ranks.\nThe Imam accepted this condition, and when one of the appointed times of\nprayer arrived, the Imam went to the Mosque, and the people followed him,\ntill, when the Imam began the prayer, and the people began it after him,\nJamal-ud-Din followed him in the prayer in the distance. And while they\nwere praying Jamal-ud-Din suddenly interrupted him. So this trial was\nworse than the first; and when he was asked the reason (of his conduct)\nhe replied that it was impossible for him to take as his pattern an Imam\nwhose heart was full of blood, indicating by this expression the vileness\nof one who took a share in the work of worldly men of learning.\u201d[25]\n\nAl-Ghazali must have begun his education at a very early age, and\nhis studies at Tus met with such success that he went to the larger\neducational centre of Jurjan before the age of twenty, a distance of over\none hundred miles, and no inconsiderable journey at that time.\n\nIn Al-Ghazali\u2019s autobiography we have a glimpse of how he himself\nconceived the growth of a child in wisdom and stature. \u201cThe first sense\nrevealed to man,\u201d he says, \u201cis touch, by means of which he perceives a\ncertain group of qualities\u2014heat, cold, moist, dry. The sense of touch\ndoes not perceive colours and forms, which are for it as though they did\nnot exist. Next comes the sense of sight, which makes him acquainted\nwith colours and forms; that is to say, with that which occupies the\nhighest rank in the world of sensation. The sense of hearing succeeds,\nand then the senses of smell and taste. When the human being can\nelevate himself above the world of sense, towards the age of seven, he\nreceives the faculty of discrimination; he enters then upon a new phase\nof existence and can experience, thanks to this faculty, impressions,\nsuperior to those of the senses, which do not occur in the sphere of\nsensation.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali must have been an early riser from his youth. In his\n\u201cBeginner\u2019s Guide to Religion and Morals\u201d (Al Badayet) he writes: \u201cWhen\nyou awaken from sleep, endeavour to arise before early dawn, and may the\nfirst thing that enters your heart and your tongue be the remembrance of\nGod Most High, saying, \u2018Thanks be to God who hath given us life after the\ndeath of sleep. To Him do we return. He hath awakened us and awakened all\nnature. The greatness and the power belong to God; the majesty and the\ndominion to the Lord of the worlds. He hath awakened us to the religion\nof Islam and the testimony of His unity, and the religion of His Prophet\nMohammed and the sect of our father Abraham, who was a _Hanif_ and a\nMoslem, and not a polytheist. O God, I ask Thee that Thou wouldst this\nday send me all good and deliver me from all evil. By Thee, O God, do\nwe arise from sleep, and by Thee do we reach the even-tide. In Thee\ndo we live and die and to Thee do we return.\u2019 And when you put on your\ngarments, remember that God desires you to cover your nakedness with them\nand to show forth God\u2019s beauty to those around you.\u201d\n\nIn another place in the same little volume he again inculcates early\nrising by saying: \u201cKnow that the night and the day consist of twenty-four\nhours. Let therefore your sleep during the night and day be not more than\neight hours; for it will suffice you to think after you have lived sixty\nyears that you have lost twenty years of it solely in sleep.\u201d\n\nHe probably began to read even before the age of seven, for we find\nthat his studies at Tus, and afterwards at Jurjan, apparently included\nnot only religious science but also a thorough knowledge of Persian\nand Arabic. Of his religious studies we will speak later. He himself\ntells us that the philosophical sciences taught included \u201cmathematics,\nlogic, physics, metaphysics, politics, and moral philosophy.\u201d And\nalthough he does not speak in his Confessions of his earliest studies,\nwhat he says in regard to mathematics throws a flood of light on his\nyouthful scepticism. He says, \u201cMathematics comprises the knowledge of\ncalculation, geometry, and cosmography: it has no connection with the\nreligious sciences, and proves nothing for or against religion; it rests\non a foundation of proofs which, once known and understood, cannot be\nrefuted. Mathematics tend, however, to produce two bad results. The first\nis this: Whoever studies this science admires the subtlety and clearness\nof its proofs. His confidence in philosophy increases, and he thinks that\nall its departments are capable of the same clearness and solidity of\nproofs as mathematics. But when he hears people speak of the unbelief and\nimpiety of mathematicians, of their professed disregard for the divine\nLaw, which is notorious, it is true that, out of regard for authority, he\nechoes these accusations, but he says to himself at the same time that,\nif there was truth in religion, it would not have escaped those who have\ndisplayed so much keenness of intellect in the study of mathematics.\u201d\n\nNext, when he becomes aware of the unbelief and rejection of religion\non the part of these learned men, he concludes that to reject religion\nis reasonable. \u201cHow many of such men gone astray I have met, whose sole\nargument was that just mentioned!\u201d (p. 28).\n\nNot only mathematics but astronomy and other sciences were then in\nalleged conflict with the facts of revelation. Al-Ghazali must have felt\nthis very keenly, for he says: \u201cThe ignorant Moslem thinks the best way\nto defend religion is by rejecting all the exact sciences. Accusing\ntheir professors of being astray, he rejects their theories of the\neclipses of the sun and moon, and condemns them in the name of religion.\nThese accusations are carried far and wide, they reach the ears of the\nphilosopher who knows that these theories rest on infallible proofs;\nfar from losing confidence in them, he believes, on the contrary, that\nIslam has ignorance and the denial of scientific proofs for its basis,\nand his devotion to philosophy increases with his hatred to religion. It\nis therefore a great injury to religion to suppose that the defense of\nIslam involves the condemnation of the exact sciences. The religious law\ncontains nothing which approves them or condemns them, and in their turn\nthey make no attack on religion. The words of the Prophet: \u2018The sun and\nmoon are two signs of the power of God; they are not eclipsed for the\nbirth or the death of any one; when you see these signs take refuge in\nprayer, and invoke the name of God\u2019\u2014these words I say, do not in any way\ncondemn the astronomical calculations which define the orbits of these\ntwo bodies, their conjunction and opposition according to particular\nlaws.\u201d[26] We must remember in this connection that it was Omar Khayyam,\nthe poet astronomer, who at this very time was leading many into\nscepticism.\n\nAfter a knowledge of Arabic grammar, and memorizing the Koran, the\ndiligent student would take up its critical and devotional study.\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s teachers undoubtedly emphasized, as he did himself, the\nimportance of correct reading of the sacred volume. In one of the most\nbeautiful passages in his _Ihya_, Al-Ghazali himself notes the following\npoints: The reader must be clean outwardly, and respect the book with\noutward reverence. He must read the proper quantity. He quotes with\napproval the practice of Sa\u02bead and Othman, that the Koran should be read\nthrough once a week. One should use chanting (_tartil_), for this is\nhelpful to the memory, and makes us read slowly, and rapid reading is\nnot approved. One should read it with weeping, _i. e._, sorrow for sins.\nOne should give the proper responses in the proper places. One should\nuse the opening prayer before beginning to read. It may be read secretly\nor aloud. It must be read beautifully\u2014according to the Tradition: \u201cAdorn\nthe Koran by the sweetness of your voice;\u201d or another Tradition: \u201cHe who\ndoes not sing the Koran is not of our religion.\u201d One day when the Prophet\nheard Abu Musa reading the Koran he said: \u201cVerily, to this reader God has\ngiven the voice of David when he wrote the Psalms.\u201d\n\nWe may believe that Yusuf Nassaj, his first teacher, who was a mystic, as\nwell as, later, the Imam al-Haramain, laid considerable emphasis on the\npoints here mentioned. The atmosphere in which Al-Ghazali was educated,\nwe must never forget, was that of mysticism.\n\nThe study of the Koran was followed by that of the Traditions, of which\nthe standard collections were already in circulation. After this, a\nyouth in Al-Ghazali\u2019s day would begin the study of _Fiqh_, or Moslem\njurisprudence. We know from the contents of the standard works on this\nsubject, written before Al-Ghazali\u2019s time, and later by himself, what\nengrossed the attention in the schools of Tus and Jurjan.[27] His first\nlesson would be on ceremonial purity by the use of ablution, the bath,\nthe tooth-pick and the various circumstances of legal defilement when\n_ghasl_ or complete ablution is prescribed; of the ailments of women\nand the duration of pregnancy. Then came the second part of the book\non prayer, its occasions, conditions, and requirements, including the\nfour things in which the prayer of a woman differs from that of a man.\nHe would learn all about the poor-rate (_zakat_), about fasting and\npilgrimage, about the laws of barter and sale and debt; about inheritance\nand wills\u2014a most difficult and complicated subject. Then the pupil would\npass on to marriage and divorce, a very large subject, and one on which\nMoslem law books show no reserve, and leave no detail unmentioned. Then\nwould follow the laws in regard to crime and violence, Holy War, and the\nritual of sacrifice at the Great Feast. The last three chapters of books\non _Fiqh_ generally deal with oaths, evidence, and the manumission of\nslaves.[28]\n\nFrom his youth up Al-Ghazali belonged to the Shafi\u02be School, one of the\nfour orthodox systems of jurisprudence. The Imam ash-Shafii\u02be, whose tomb\nat Cairo was afterwards visited by Al-Ghazali, and is still a place of\npilgrimage, died in A. H. 204. He chose the _via media_ between the\nslavery of tradition and the freedom of logic and deduction in Moslem\nlaw. According to Macdonald, \u201cAsh-Shafi\u02bei was without question one of\nthe greatest figures in the history of law. Perhaps he had not the\noriginality and keenness of Abu Hanifa; but he had a balance of mind and\ntemper, a clear vision and full grasp of means and ends, that enabled\nhim to say what proved to be the last word in the matter. After him came\nattempts to tear down; but they failed. The fabric of the Muslim canon\nlaw stood firm.\u201d The adherents of the school of Shafii\u02be now number some\nsixty million persons, of whom about a half are in the Netherland Indies,\nand the rest in Egypt, Syria, Hadramaut, Southern India, and Malaysia.\nAmong all of these Al-Ghazali the Shafi\u02beite naturally holds a place of\nsupreme honour.\n\nAn interesting story is told in connection with his studies under the\nImam Abu Nasr al-Isma\u02beili. He took copious notes under this celebrated\nteacher, but neglected to memorize what he had written. This seems to\nhave been a characteristic of his, according to Macdonald, because his\nquotations are often exceedingly careless; and one of the charges\nbrought against him by his assailants afterwards was that he falsified\ntradition. \u201cOn his way back to Tus from Jurjan, however, he got his\nlesson. He tells the story himself. Robbers fell upon him, stripped him,\nand even carried off the bag with his manuscripts. This was more than\nhe could stand; he ran after them, clung to them though threatened with\ndeath, and entreated the return of the notes\u2014they were of no use to them.\nAl-Ghazali had a certain quality of dry humour, and was evidently tickled\nby the idea of these thieves studying law. The robber chief asked him\nwhat were these notes of his. Said Al-Ghazali with great simplicity:\n\u2018They are writings in that bag; I travelled for the sake of hearing them\nand writing them down, and knowing the science in them.\u2019 Thereat the\nrobber chief laughed consumedly, and said: \u2018How can you profess to know\nthe science in them, when we have taken them from you and stripped you of\nthe knowledge, and there you are without any science?\u2019 But he gave them\nhim back. \u2018And,\u2019 says Al-Ghazali, \u2018this man was sent by God to teach me.\u2019\nSo Al-Ghazali went back to Tus, and spent three years there committing\nhis notes to memory as a precaution against future robbers.\u201d[29]\n\nShortly afterwards Al-Ghazali left Tus a second time to pursue his\nstudies at Nishapur under the most celebrated teacher of that period\nin this great literary centre. Nishapur was situated forty-nine miles\nwest of Tus, and was captured by the Arabs in A. H. 31. Yakut, in his\ngeographical dictionary, says that of all the cities he had visited this\nwas the finest. It was in this city that Hamadhani wrote his four-hundred\n_Maqamat_ and vanquished his great literary rival.\n\nOther great names are connected with the city, among them Omar Khayyam\nthe poet, the Koran commentator Ahmed al-Tha\u02belabi, and Maidani the author\nof the well-known collection of Arabic proverbs.\n\nThe older name of the town or district was Abrashahr. The importance of\nthe place under the Sasanians was in part religious; one of the three\nholiest fire temples was in its neighbourhood. Nishapur under the Moslems\ncontained a large Arab element; it became the capital of Khorasan, and\ngreatly increased in prosperity, under the almost independent princes\nof the house of Tahir (A. D. 820-873). Istakhri describes it as a\nwell-fortified town, a league square, with a great export of cotton\ngoods and raw silk. In the decline of the empire the city had much to\nsuffer from the Turkomans, whose raids have in modern times destroyed\nthe prosperity of this whole region. In 1153 it was utterly ruined by\nthe Ghuzz Turkomans, but soon rose again, because, as Yakut remarks, its\nposition gave it command of the entire caravan trade with the East. It\nwas taken and razed to the ground by Mongols in 1221, but a century later\nIbn Batuta found the city again flourishing, with four colleges, numerous\nstudents, and an export of silk-stuffs to India. Nishapur was famous for\nits fruits and gardens which gave it the epithet of \u201clittle Damascus.\u201d\n\nWe have an interesting portrait of Al-Ghazali\u2019s chief teacher while he\nwas at Nishapur,\u2014Abul-Ma\u02beali \u02bfAbdal-Malik Al-Juwaini Imam al-Haramain. He\nwas born at Bushtaniqan, near Nishapur, on the twelfth of February, 1028,\nand was one of the most learned and celebrated teachers of Moslem law in\nhis day. \u201cOn the death of his father, Abu Muhammed \u02bfAbdallah ibn Yusuf,\nwho was a teacher in the latter town, he took his place, though barely\ntwenty years of age.\u201d But this was a time of literary prodigies due to\nprecocious talent and prodigious power of memory. \u201cTo complete his own\nstudies, and to make the sacred pilgrimage, he went to Bagdad and thence\nto the two holy cities, Mecca and Medina, where he taught for four years;\nhence his surname, which signifies \u2018the teacher of the two holy places.\u2019\nWhen he returned to Nishapur, Nizam Al-Mulk founded a school for him, in\nwhich he gave courses of lessons till his death, which overtook him on\nthe twentieth of August, 1085, while on a visit to his native village,\nwhither he had gone in the hope of recovering from an illness. Along\nwith his professorial duties, he had discharged those of a preacher. At\nNishapur he held gatherings every Friday, at which he preached sermons,\nand presided over discussions on various doctrinal points: to these\noccupations he added that of managing the _waqfs_, or landed property\ndevoted to the support of pious undertakings. For more than thirty years\nhe continued in undisputed possession of these various posts. When he\ndied, the mourning was general; the great pulpit of the Mosque from which\nhe had delivered his sermons was broken up, and his pupils, to the number\nof four hundred and one, destroyed their pens and ink-horns, and gave up\ntheir studies for a year.\u201d[30] It is certain that Al-Ghazali sat at his\nfeet as a learner, both at Nishapur and Bagdad, and we may imagine that\nhe had a part also in the general mourning at the death of the Imam,\nthe manuscript of whose masterpiece, _Nihayat al-Matlab_ (Finality of\nInquiry), is still preserved in Cairo in the Sultania Library.\n\nAt Nishapur, Al-Ghazali was one of the favourite pupils of this Imam, and\nhere his studies were of the broadest, embracing theology, dialectics,\nphilosophy and logic. He was a teacher as well as a student, for we are\ntold that he would \u201cread to his fellow students and teach them, until in\na short time he became infirm and weak.\u201d Under the double task his health\nfailed, but he did not give up his studies. The Imam once said of him,\nand two other notable pupils: \u201cAl-Ghazali is a sea to drown in, Al-Kiya\nis a tearing lion, and Al-Khawafi is a burning fire.\u201d Another saying of\nhis about the same three was: \u201cWhenever they contend together, the proof\nbelongs to Al-Khawafi, the warlike attacks to Al-Ghazali, and clearness\nto Al-Kiya.\u201d To this time of his life belongs the remark also, made by\nsome one unnamed, \u201cThe youth Al-Ghazali showed externally a vain-glorious\ndisposition, but underneath there was something that when it did appear\nshowed graceful expression and delicate allusion, soundness of attention,\nand strength of character.\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot ascertain,\u201d says Macdonald in speaking of this period of\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s life, \u201cwhether while he was still at Nishapur he touched\nthose depths of scepticism of which he speaks in the _Munqidh_. They must\ncertainly have been reached some time before the year A. H. 484, and\nmust have been the outcome of a long drift of development; but probably\nso long as he was under the influence of the Imam-al-Haramain, a devout\nSufi, he would be held more or less fast to the old faith.\u201d\n\nOf these struggles of his soul in an age of doubt and how he found relief\nthe next chapter will tell us.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTeaching, Conversion, and Retirement\n\n    \u201cAl-Ghazali is one of the deepest thinkers, greatest\n    theologians and profoundest moralists of Islam. In all\n    Muhamadan lands he is celebrated both as an apologist of\n    orthodoxy and a warm advocate of Sufi mysticism. Intimately\n    acquainted with all the learning of his time, he was not only\n    one of the numerous Oriental philosophers who traverse every\n    sphere of intellectual activity, but one of those rarer minds\n    whose originality is not crushed by their learning. He was\n    imbued with a sacred enthusiasm for the triumph of his faith,\n    and his whole life was dedicated to one purpose, the defense of\n    Islam.\u201d\n\n                      \u2014_\u201cMystics and Saints of Islam,\u201d Claud Field._\n\n\nIII\n\nTEACHING, CONVERSION, AND RETIREMENT\n\nWith the death of the Imam in A. H. 478 a great change came into the life\nof Al-Ghazali. He left Nishapur to seek his fortune and it brought him to\nthe camp court of the great Vizier Nizam Al-Mulk. Here Al-Ghazali sought\nadvancement and the honours of learning.\n\nThe camp court was the travelling capital of the Seljuk Sultans. This\nimperial camp was laid out into squares and streets. We read how in a few\nhours a city, as if built by enchantment, would rise on the uninhabited\nplain. The camp exhibited a motley collection of tents and dwellings and\npalm-leaf huts. The only regular part of the encampment were the streets\nof shops, each of which was constructed in the manner of a booth at an\nEnglish fair. Moore gives us the picture in these words:\n\n    \u201cWhose are the gilded tents that crowd the way,\n    Where all was waste and silent yesterday?\n    This City of War, which, in a few short hours,\n    Hath sprung up here, as if the magic powers\n    Of him who, in the twinkling of a star,\n    Built the high pillar\u2019d halls of Chilminar,\n    Had conjured up, far as the eye can see,\n    This world of tents and domes and sun-bright armoury.\u2014\n    Princely pavilions, screen\u2019d by many a fold\n    Of crimson cloth, and topp\u2019d with balls of gold;\u2014\n    Steeds, with their housings of rich silver spun,\n    And camels, tufted o\u2019er with Yemen\u2019s shells,\n    Shaking in every breeze their light-toned bells.\u201d[31]\n\nAs for Nizam Al-Mulk we have an interesting autobiography which he wrote\nand left as a memorial for future statesmen. (It is quoted in Mirkhond\u2019s\n\u201cHistory of the Assassins.\u201d) \u201cOne of the greatest of the wise men of\nKhorasan,\u201d says he, \u201cwas the Imam Mowaffak of Nishapur, a man highly\nhonoured and reverenced,\u2014may God rejoice his soul; his illustrious years\nexceeded eighty-five, and it was the universal belief that every boy who\nread the Koran or studied the traditions in his presence would assuredly\nattain to honour and happiness. For this cause did my father send me from\nTus to Nishapur with Abd-us-Samad, the doctor of law, that I might employ\nmyself in study and learning under the guidance of that illustrious\nteacher. Towards me he ever turned an eye of favour and kindness, and\nas his pupil I felt for him extreme affection and devotion, so that I\npassed four years in his service. When I first came there, I found two\nother pupils of mine own age newly arrived\u2014Hakim Omar Khayyam, and the\nill-fated Ibn Sabbah, founder of the sect of the Assassins. Both were\nendowed with sharpness of wit and the highest natural powers; and we\nthree formed a close friendship together. When the Imam rose from his\nlectures, they used to join me, and we repeated to each other the lessons\nwe had heard. Now Omar was a native of Nishapur, while Hasan Ibn Sabbah\u2019s\nfather was one Ali, a man of austere life and practice but heretical in\nhis creed and doctrine. One day Hasan said to me and to Khayyam: \u2018It is\na universal belief that the pupils of the Imam Mowaffak will attain to\nfortune. Now, even if we all do not attain thereto, without doubt one of\nus will; what then shall be our mutual pledge and bond?\u2019 We answered:\n\u2018Be it what you please.\u2019 \u2018Well,\u2019 he said, \u2018let us make a vow, that to\nwhomsoever this fortune falls, he shall share it equally with the rest,\nand reserve no pre\u00ebminence for himself.\u2019 \u2018Be it so,\u2019 we both replied, and\non these terms we mutually pledged our words. Years rolled on, and I went\nfrom Khorasan to Transoxiana, and wandered to Ghazni and Kabul; and when\nI returned I was invested with office, and rose to be administrator of\naffairs during the Sultanate of Sultan Alp Arslan.\u201d\n\nAfter his education at Nishapur Nizam Al-Mulk served Alp Arslan, the\nsuccessor of Togrul Bey, and for more than twenty years the burden of\nthe empire of the Seljuks rested on his shoulders. When Alp Arslan\ndied in 465 Malek Shah succeeded him and from that time until his\nassassination, on the tenth of Ramadan, 485, Nizam Al-Mulk was the\ngreatest man in the empire and its real ruler. He was a friend of\nlearning and letters and established colleges in many centres.\n\nIn A. H. 484, Al-Ghazali gained high fame at court and was appointed by\nNizam Al-Mulk to teach in the _Madrasa_ at Bagdad, the capital of the\nwhole of Eastern Islam.\n\nWe have an interesting picture of the city of Bagdad about this time\nfrom the pen of Rabbi Benjamin, of Tudela, who visited the city some\nyears after Al-Ghazali\u2019s death (1160). He says: \u201cThe circumference of\nthe city of Bagdad measures three miles; the country in which it is\nsituated is rich in palm-trees, gardens and orchards, so that nothing\nequals it in Mesopotamia; merchants of all countries resort thither for\npurposes of trade, and it contains many wise philosophers well skilled\nin sciences, and magicians proficient in all sorts of witchcraft. The\npalace of the Caliph at Bagdad is three miles in extent. It contains a\nlarge park of all sorts of trees, both useful and ornamental, and all\nsorts of beasts, as well as a pond of water led thither from the river\nTigris; and whenever the Caliph desires to enjoy himself and to sport\nand to carouse, birds, beasts and fishes are prepared for him and for\nhis councillors, whom he invites to his palace.\u201d He gives us a glimpse\nof what went on behind the walls of these royal palaces when he says:\n\u201cAll the brothers and other members of the Caliph\u2019s family are accustomed\nto kiss his garments, and every one of them possesses a palace within\nthat of the Caliph; but they are all fettered by chains of iron, and\na special officer is appointed over every household to prevent their\nrising in rebellion against the great king. These measures are enacted\nin consequence of an occurrence which took place some time ago, and upon\nwhich occasion the brothers rebelled and elected a king among themselves.\nTo prevent this in future, it was decreed that all the members of the\nCaliph\u2019s family should be chained, in order to prevent their rebellious\nintentions. Every one of them, however, resides in his palace, is there\nmuch honoured, and they possess villages and towns, the rents of which\nare collected for them by their stewards; they eat and drink, and lead a\nmerry life.\n\n\u201cThe palace of the great king contains large buildings, pillars of\ngold and silver, and treasures of precious stones. The Caliph leaves\nhis palace but once every year, viz., at the time of the feast called\nRamadan. Upon this occasion many visitors assemble from distant parts,\nin order to have an opportunity of beholding his countenance. He then\nbestrides the royal mule, dressed in kingly robes, which are composed\nof gold and silver cloth. On his head he wears a turban, ornamented\nwith precious stones of inestimable value; but over this turban is\nthrown a black veil, as a sign of humility, and as much as to say: \u2018See,\nall this worldly honour will be converted into darkness on the day of\ndeath.\u2019 He is accompanied by a numerous retinue of Mohammedan nobles,\narrayed in rich dresses, and riding upon horses; princes of Arabia, of\nMedia, of Persia, and even of Thibet, a country distant three months\u2019\njourney from Arabia. This procession goes from the Palace to the Mosque\nat the Basra gate, which is the Metropolitan Mosque. All those who walk\nin procession are dressed in silk and purple, both men and women. The\nstreets and squares are enlivened by singing, rejoicings, and by parties\nwho dance before the great king, called Caliph. He is loudly saluted by\nthe assembled crowd, who cry, \u2018Blessed art thou, our lord and king.\u2019 He\nthereupon kisses his garment, and by holding it in his hand, acknowledges\nand returns the compliment. The procession moves on into the court of the\nMosque, where the Caliph mounts a wooden pulpit, and expounds their law\nunto them. The learned Mohammedans rise, pray for him, and praise his\ngreat kindness and piety; upon which the whole assembly answer, \u2018Amen.\u2019\nHe then pronounces his blessing and kills a camel, which is led thither\nfor that purpose, and this is their offering, which is distributed to\nthe nobles. These send portions of it to their friends, who are eager to\ntaste of the meat killed by the hands of their holy king, and are much\nrejoiced therewith. He then leaves the Mosque, and returns alone to his\nPalace along the banks of the Tigris, the noble Mohammedans accompanying\nhim in boats until he enters his buildings. He never returns by the way\nhe came, and the path on the bank of the river is carefully guarded all\nthe year around, so as to prevent any one treading in his footsteps. The\nCaliph never leaves his palace again for a whole year.\n\n\u201cHe is a pious and benevolent man, and has erected buildings on the other\nside of the river, on the banks of an arm of the Euphrates which runs on\none side of the city. These buildings include many large houses, streets,\nand hostelries for the sick poor, who resort thither in order to be\ncured. There are about sixty medical warehouses here, all well provided\nfrom the king\u2019s stores with spices and other necessaries; and every\npatient who claims assistance is fed at the king\u2019s expense until his cure\nis completed. There is further the large building called Dar-ul-Marastan\n(the abode of the insane), in which are locked up all those insane\npersons who are met with, particularly during the hot season, every one\nof whom is secured by iron chains until his reason returns, when he is\nallowed to return to his home.\u201d\n\nWe may add what the poet, Al-Hamadhani, a contemporary, tells us of the\nluxuries of the table at Bagdad: \u201cWe found ourselves among a company who\nwere passing their time amid bunches of myrtle twigs, and bouquets of\nroses, broached wine vats and the sound of the flute and the lute. We\napproached them and they advanced to receive us. Then we clave to a table\nwhose vessels were filled, whose gardens were in flower, and whose dishes\nwere arranged in rows with viands of various hues; opposite a dish of\nsomething intensely black was something exceedingly white, and against\nsomething very red was arranged something very yellow.\u201d And in another\nplace: \u201cI was in Bagdad in a famine year, and so I approached a company,\nunited like the Pleiades, in order to ask something of them. Now there\nwas among them a youth with a lisp in his tongue and a space between his\nfront teeth. He asked: \u2018What is thy affair?\u2019 I replied: \u2018Two conditions\nin which a man prospers not: that of a beggar harassed by hunger, and\nthat of an exile to whom return is impossible.\u2019 The boy then said: \u2018Which\nof the two breaches dost thou wish stopped first?\u2019 I answered: \u2018Hunger,\nfor it has become extreme with me.\u2019 He said: \u2018What sayest thou to a white\ncake on a clean table, picked herbs with very sour vinegar, fine date\nwine with pungent mustard, roast meat ranged on a skewer with a little\nsalt, placed now before thee by one who will not put thee off with a\npromise nor torture thee with delay, and who will afterwards follow it up\nwith golden goblets of the juice of grape? Is that preferable to thee,\nor a large company, full cups, variety of dessert, spread carpets,\nbrilliant lights, and a skilful minstrel with the eye and neck of a\ngazelle?\u2019\u201d\n\nFrom all this we can imagine what Al-Ghazali enjoyed when he went to dine\nwith the Nizam Al-Mulk or other men of wealth and there was _no_ famine\nin Bagdad!\n\nThe Nizamiyya College which Al-Ghazali attended and in which he was one\nof the leading lecturers at two periods of his life, was built on the\neastern river bank of the Tigris, near the Bridge of Boats and close to\nthe wharf and the large market-place. The college was founded in A. D.\n1065, being especially established for the teaching of Shafi\u02beite law.\nClose to the college was another college called the Bahaiyah and the\nhospital Maristan Tutushi.\n\nThe traveller, Ibn Jubayr, attended prayers in the Nizamiyya on the first\nFriday after his arrival in Bagdad, in the year 581 (A. D. 1185), and he\ndescribes it as the most splendid of the thirty and odd colleges which\nthen adorned the City of East Bagdad.... Ibn Jubayr further reports that\nin his day the endowments derived from domains and rents belonging to\nthe college amply sufficed both to pay the stipends of professors and\nto keep the building in good order, besides supplying an extra fund for\nthe sustenance of poor scholars. The _Suk_, or market of the Nizamiyya,\nwas one of the great thoroughfares of this quarter, and it is described\nas lying adjacent to the \u201c_Mashra\u02beah_\u201d or wharf, which proves that the\ncollege must have stood near the Tigris bank.[32] ... Writing a dozen\nyears later than Ibn Batuta, Hamd-Allah, the Persian historian, briefly\nalludes to the Nizamiyya, which he calls \u201cthe mother of the Madrasahs\u201d\nin Bagdad. This proves that down to the middle of the fourteenth century\nA. D. the college was still standing, though at the present time all\nvestiges of it have disappeared, as indeed appears already to have been\nthe case in the middle of the last century, for Niebuhr found no traces\nof the Nizamiyya to describe in his painstaking account of the ruins in\nthe city of Caliphs, as these still existed in the time of his visit.\n\nIt was here, at the Nizamiyya School, that Al-Ghazali first embarked\non his career as an independent teacher. His lectures drew crowds. He\ngave _fatwas_, or legal opinions, on matters of the law,[33] he wrote\nbooks, he preached in the mosque, and was a leader of the people. Then\nsuddenly in the midst of all this prosperity a great change came over\nhim. He seemed to be attacked by a mysterious disease. His speech became\nhampered, his appetite failed, and his physicians said the malady was due\nto mental unrest. He suddenly left Bagdad in the month of Dhu-l-Qada,\n488, appointed his brother Ahmed to teach in his place, and abandoned\nall his property, except so much as was necessary for his own support and\nthat of his children.\n\nThis sudden retirement from active life and academic honour was\nunintelligible to the theologians of his days. They looked upon it as\na calamity for Islam. Some interpreted it as fear of the Government, a\nflight from responsibility, but the real reason of his renunciation he\nhimself tells us in his \u201cConfessions.\u201d This book reveals the story of his\nspiritual experiences from his youth up to his fiftieth year.\n\nHe says: \u201cKnow then, my brother (may God direct you in the right\nway), that the diversity in beliefs and religions, and the variety of\ndoctrines and sects which divide men, are like a deep ocean strewn with\nshipwrecks, from which very few escape safe and sound. Each sect, it is\ntrue, believes itself in possession of the truth and of salvation; \u2018each\nparty,\u2019 as the Koran saith, \u2018rejoices in its own creed\u2019; but as the chief\nof apostles, whose word is always truthful, has told us, \u2018My people will\nbe divided into more than seventy sects of whom only one will be saved.\u2019\nThis prediction, like all others of the Prophet, must be fulfilled.\n\n\u201cFrom the period of adolescence, that is to say, previous to reaching\nmy twentieth year to the present time when I have passed my fiftieth, I\nhave ventured into this vast ocean; I have interrogated the beliefs of\neach sect and scrutinized the mysteries of each doctrine, in order to\ndisentangle truth from error and orthodoxy from heresy. I have never met\none who maintained the hidden meaning of the Koran without investigating\nthe nature of his belief, nor a partisan of its exterior sense without\ninquiring into the results of his doctrine. There is no philosopher whose\nsystem I have not fathomed, nor theologian the intricacies of whose\ndoctrine I have not followed out.\n\n\u201cSufism has no secrets into which I have not penetrated; the devout\nadorer of Deity has revealed to me the aim of his austerities; the\natheist has not been able to conceal from me the real reason of his\nunbelief. The thirst for knowledge was innate in me from my early age;\nit was like a second nature implanted by God, without any will on my\npart. No sooner had I emerged from boyhood than I had already broken the\nfetters of tradition and freed myself from hereditary beliefs.\n\n\u201cHaving noticed how easily the children of Christians become Christians,\nand the children of Moslems embrace Islam, and remembering also the\ntraditional saying ascribed to the Prophet: \u2018Every child has in him the\ngerm of Islam, then his parents make him Jew, Christian, or Zoroastrian,\u2019\nI was moved by a keen desire to learn what was this innate disposition\nin the child, the nature of the accidental beliefs imposed on him by the\nauthority of his parents and his masters, and finally the unreasoned\nconvictions which he derives from their instructions.\u201d\n\nAgain he is full of doubts when he says: \u201cPerhaps also Death is that\nstate [he is speaking of a possible state of being which will bear the\nsame relation to our present state as this does to the condition when\nasleep], according to a saying of the Prince of Prophets: \u2018Men are\nasleep; when they die, they wake.\u2019 Our present life in relation to the\nfuture is perhaps only a dream, and man, once dead, will see things in\ndirect opposition to those now before his eyes.\n\n\u201cSuch thoughts as these threatened to shake my reason, and I sought to\nfind an escape from them. But how? In order to disentangle the knot of\nthis difficulty, a proof was necessary. Now a proof must be based on\nprimary assumptions, and it was precisely these of which I was in doubt.\nThis unhappy state lasted about two months, during which I was not, it\nis true, explicitly or by profession, _but morally and essentially a\nthoroughgoing sceptic_.\u201d\n\nThat Al-Ghazali was driven to scepticism must not surprise us. Schools\nof free thinkers had been established fifty years earlier at Bagdad and\nBusrah. Every Friday they gathered together. Some were rationalists, some\ndownright materialists. Not only philosophers but poets were the leaders\nof these circles. Among them we must mention Abu\u2019l \u02beAla Al-Ma\u02bearri, born\nin 973 A. D. This blind poet is said to have written a Koran in imitation\nof Mohammed, and when some one complained to him that although the book\nwas well written it did not make the same impression as the true Koran,\nhe replied: \u201cLet it be read from the pulpit of the mosques for four\nhundred years and then you will all be delighted with it.\u201d His quatrains\nrival those of Omar Al-Khayyam in their utter pessimism and rank\ninfidelity from the orthodox Moslem standpoint. For example, he writes:\n\n    \u201cLo: there are many ways and many traps\n      And many guides and which of them is Lord?\n      For verily Mohammed has the sword\n    And he may have the truth\u2014perhaps? _perhaps?_\n\n    Now _this_ religion happens to prevail\n      Until by _that_ one it is overthrown,\u2014\n      Because men dare not live with men alone,\n    But always with another fairy-tale.\n\n    Religion is a charming girl, I say;\n      But over this poor threshold will not pass,\n      Because I can\u2019t unveil her, and alas;\n    The bridal gift I can\u2019t afford to pay.\u201d\n\nNor could this poet have had much reverence for the religion of Islam\nwhen he wrote:\n\n    \u201cWhere is the valiance of the folk who sing\n      These valiant stories of the world to come?\n      Which they describe, forsooth, as if it swung\n    In air and anchored with a yard of string.\u201d\n\n    ...\n\n    \u201cTwo merchantmen decided they would battle,\n      To prove at last who sold the finest wares;\n      And while Mohammed shrieked his call to prayers,\n    The true Messiah waved his wooden rattle.\u201d\n\nAs in the nineteenth century for Christianity, so in the eleventh century\nfor Islam, the struggle between science and orthodoxy waged fiercely. The\nrationalistic school of the Mu\u02betazilites still exercised great influence\nwhile the literalists and the blind followers of traditional Islam were\noften more distinguished for Pharisaism than piety.\n\nWe need only turn to the \u201cMaqamat\u201d of Al-Hamadhani to know what the\nsceptic of that day thought of the public religious services.\n\n\u201cSo I slipped away from my companions,\u201d says his hero, \u201ctaking advantage\nof the opportunity of joining in public prayers, and dreading, at the\nsame time, the loss of the caravan I was leaving. But I sought aid\nagainst the difficulty of the desert through the blessing of prayer,\nand, therefore, I went to the front row and stood up. The Imam went up\nto the niche and recited the opening chapter of the Quran according to\nthe intonation of _Hamza_, in regard to using \u2018_Madda_\u2019 and \u2018_Hamza_,\u2019\nwhile I experienced disquieting grief at the thought of missing the\ncaravan, and of separation from the mount. Then he followed up the Surat\nAl-Fatiha with Surat Al-Waq\u02beia while I suffered the fire of impatience\nand tasked myself severely. I was roasting and grilling on the live coal\nof rage. But, from what I knew of the savage fanaticism of the people\nof that place, if prayers were cut short of the final salutation, there\nwas no alternative but silence and endurance, or speech and the grave!\nSo I remained standing thus on the foot of necessity till the end of the\nchapter. I had now despaired of the caravan and given up all hope of the\nsupplies and the mount. He next bent his back for the two prostrations\nwith such humility and emotion, the like of which I had never seen\nbefore. Then he raised his hands and his head and said: \u2018May God accept\nthe praise of him who praises Him,\u2019 and remained standing till I doubted\nnot but that he had fallen asleep. Then he placed his right hand on the\nground, put his forehead on the earth and pressed his face thereto. I\nraised my head to look for an opportunity to slip away, but I perceived\nno opening in the rows, so I re-addressed myself to prayer until he\nrepeated the _Takbir_ for the sitting posture. Then he stood up for the\nsecond prostration, recited the Suras of Al-Fatiha and Al-Qaria with an\nintonation which occupied the duration of the Last Day and well-nigh\nexhausted the spirits of the congregation. Now, when he had finished\nhis two prostrations and proceeded to wag his jaws to pronounce the\ntestimony to God\u2019s unity, and to turn his face to the right and to the\nleft for the final salutation, I said: \u2018Now God has made escape easy, and\ndeliverance is nigh\u2019; but a man stood up and said: \u2018Whosoever of you\nloves the companions of the Moslem community let him lend me his ears for\na moment.\u2019\u201d\u2014Such was the impression made by the formalities of orthodoxy!\n\nAl-Ghazali found no help for his doubts among these scholastic\ntheologians nor has any Moslem since his day. Professor Macdonald tells\nus why. \u201cGrant the theologians their premises, and they could argue; deny\nthem, and there was no common ground on which to meet. Their science had\nbeen founded by Al-Ash\u02beari to meet the Mu\u02betazilites; it had done that\nvictoriously, but could do no more. They could hold the faith against\nheretics, expose their inconsistencies and weaknesses; but against the\nsceptic they could do nothing. It is true that they had attempted to go\nfurther back and meet the students of philosophy on their own ground, to\ndeal with substances and attributes and first principles generally; but\ntheir efforts had been fruitless. They lacked the necessary knowledge of\nthe subject, had no scientific basis, and were constrained eventually to\nfall back on authority.\u201d[34]\n\n\u201cNor did he find light in philosophy, although he thoroughly studied the\nvarious systems of his day and refuted them. Religion is not merely of\nthe mind but of the heart; philosophy had its place but could satisfy\nonly the intellect and left the deepest longings of the soul unsatisfied.\nNext he examined the teachings of the Ta\u02belimites, the contemporary\nsect of the Ishmaelites founded by Hassan Ibn as Sabbah. Theirs was the\ndoctrine of an Imam or infallible spiritual guide and the sect found\nlarge following. But Al-Ghazali, so far from being attracted by them,\nwrote several books against them.\u201d[35] No other path remained open for\nthe perplexed and sceptical seeker after God than the way of the mystics.\nIt was a return to the early teaching he received at Tus and Nishapur and\nto the atmosphere of his native land which was for centuries steeped in\nmysticism. Of this period of his life he was wont to say:\n\n\u201cWhen I wished to plunge into following the people and to drink of their\ndrink, I looked at my soul and I saw how much it was curtained in, so\nI retired into solitude and busied myself with religious exercises for\nforty days, and there was doled to me of knowledge I had not had purer\nand finer than what I had known. Then I looked upon it, and lo, in it\nwas a legal element. So I returned to solitude and busied myself with\nreligious exercises for forty days, and there was doled to me other\nknowledge, purer and finer than what had befallen me at first, and I\nrejoiced in it. Then I looked upon it, and lo, in it was a speculative\nelement. So I returned to solitude a third time for forty days, and\nthere was doled to me other knowledge that is known (_i. e._, not simply\nperceived, felt), and I did not attain to the people of the inward\nsciences. So I know that writing on a surface from which something has\nbeen erased is not like writing on a surface in its first purity and\ncleanness, and I never separated myself from speculation except in a few\nthings.\u201d\n\nWho can read this and doubt his utter sincerity in the search for God and\nfor Truth?\n\nHe tells the rest of the story in his \u201cConfessions\u201d: \u201cI saw that Sufism\nconsists in experiences rather than in definitions, and that what I was\nlacking belonged to the domain, not of instruction but of ecstasy and\ninitiation.\n\n\u201cThe researches to which I had devoted myself, the path which I had\ntraversed in studying religious and speculative branches of knowledge,\nhad given me a firm faith in three things\u2014God, inspiration, and the Last\nJudgment. These three fundamental articles of belief were confirmed\nin me, not merely by definite arguments, but by a chain of causes,\ncircumstances, and proofs which it is impossible to recount. I saw that\none can only hope for salvation by devotion and the conquest of one\u2019s\npassions, a procedure which presupposes renouncement and detachment\nfrom this world of falsehood in order to turn towards eternity and\nmeditation on God. Finally, I saw that the only condition of success was\nto sacrifice honours and riches and to sever the ties and attachments of\nworldly life.\n\n\u201cComing seriously to consider my state, I found myself bound down on all\nsides by these trammels. Examining my actions, the most fair-seeming\nof which were my lecturing and professorial occupations, I found to my\nsurprise that I was engrossed in several studies of little value, and\nprofitless as regards my salvation. I probed the motives of my teaching\nand found that, in place of being sincerely consecrated to God, it was\nonly actuated by a vain desire of honour and reputation. I perceived\nthat I was on the edge of an abyss, and that without an immediate\nconversion I should be doomed to eternal fire. In these reflections\nI spent a long time. Still a prey to uncertainty, one day I decided\nto leave Bagdad and to give up everything; the next day I gave up my\nresolution. I advanced one step and immediately relapsed. In the morning\nI was sincerely resolved only to occupy myself with the future life;\nin the evening a crowd of carnal thoughts assailed and dispersed my\nresolutions. On the one side the world kept me bound to my post in the\nchains of covetousness, on the other side the voice of religion cried to\nme: \u2018Up, Up, thy life is nearing its end, and thou hast a long journey to\nmake. All thy pretended knowledge is nought but falsehood and fantasy.\nIf thou dost not think now of thy salvation, when wilt thou think of it?\nIf thou dost not break thy chains to-day, when wilt thou break them?\u2019\nThen my resolve was strengthened, I wished to give up all and flee; but\nthe Tempter returning to the attack said: \u2018You are suffering from a\ntransitory feeling; don\u2019t give way to it, for it will soon pass. If you\nobey it, if you give up this fine position, this honourable post exempt\nfrom trouble and rivalry, this seat of authority safe from attack you\nwill regret it later on without being able to recover it.\u2019\n\n\u201cThus I remained, torn asunder by the opposite forces of earthly passions\nand religious aspirations, for about six months from the month Rajab of\nthe year A. D. 1096. At the close of them my will yielded and I gave\nmyself up to destiny. God caused an impediment to chain my tongue and\nprevented me from lecturing. Vainly I desired, in the interest of my\npupils, to go on with my teaching, but my mouth became dumb.\n\n\u201cThe enfeeblement of my physical powers was such that the doctors\ndespairing of saving me, said: \u2018The mischief is in the heart, and has\ncommunicated itself to the whole organism; there is no hope unless the\ncause of his grievous sadness be arrested.\u2019\n\n\u201cFinally, conscious of my weakness and the prostration of my soul, I\ntook refuge in God as a man at the end of himself and without resources.\n\u2018He who hears the wretched when they cry\u2019 (Koran, xxviii. 63) deigned to\nhear me; He made easy to me the sacrifice of honours, wealth, and family\u201d\n(\u201cThe Confessions,\u201d pp. 42-45).\n\nThat his _conversion_ did not mean ethically all that the word means\nin the Christian sense is evident from what immediately follows. He\ndissembled: \u201cI gave out publicly that I intended to make the pilgrimage\nto Mecca, while I secretly resolved to go to Syria, not wishing that the\nCaliph (may God magnify him) or my friends should know my intention of\nsettling in that country. I made all kinds of clever excuses for leaving\nBagdad with the fixed intention of not returning thither. The Imams of\nIrak criticized me with one accord. Not one of them would admit that this\nsacrifice had a religious motive, because they considered my position\nas the highest attainable in the religious community. \u2018Behold how far\ntheir knowledge goes\u2019 (Koran, liii. 31). All kinds of explanations of\nmy conduct were forthcoming. Those who were outside the limits of Irak\nattributed it to the fear with which the Government inspired me. Those\nwho were on the spot and saw how the authorities wished to detain me,\ntheir displeasure at my resolution and my refusal of their request, said\nto themselves, \u2018It is a calamity which one can only impute to a fate\nwhich has befallen the Faithful and Learning.\u2019\n\n\u201cAt last I left Bagdad, giving up all my fortune. Only, as lands and\nproperty in Irak can afford an endowment for pious purposes, I obtained a\nlegal authorization to preserve as much as was necessary for my support\nand that of my children; for there is surely nothing more lawful in the\nworld than that a learned man should provide sufficient to support his\nfamily. I then betook myself to Syria, where I remained for two years,\nwhich I devoted to retirement, meditation, and devout exercises. I only\nthought of self-improvement and discipline and of purification of the\nheart by prayer in going through the forms of devotion which the Sufis\nhad taught me. I used to live a solitary life in the Mosque of Damascus,\nand was in the habit of spending my days on the minaret after closing the\ndoor behind me\u201d (pp. 45-46).\n\nWhen Al-Ghazali determined to abandon the world and set out as a pilgrim\nhe was only following the custom of his time. Not only religious men\nbut adventurers found in travel relief and recreation. The pious did\nit, as they asserted, in imitation of Jesus, the Messiah, whose name\nis often interpreted as meaning \u201cone who travels constantly.\u201d And the\nworldly-minded often donned the garb of religious fakirs to satisfy their\ndesire for adventure and their ambition to see distant lands.\n\nBecause of facilities for travel by post and caravan routes, this period\nseemed one of _wanderlust_ second to none. A scholar was not satisfied\nunless he had seen the world of Islam. Of At-Tabrizi (A. D. 1030-1100),\none of the contemporaries of Al-Ghazali, who was also professor at the\nNizamiyya School, we read that when he desired to go on a journey for\nliterary purposes \u201che had no money wherewith to hire a horse, so he put\nhis book into a sack and started to walk the long journey from Persia to\nSyria. The sweat on his back oozed through the material of his sack and\nstained the precious manuscript, which was long preserved and shown to\nvisitors in one of the libraries of Bagdad.\u201d The Persian poet Sa\u02beadi was\nleft an orphan at an early age, went to Bagdad to attend the Nizamiyya\nUniversity course, made the Mecca pilgrimage several times over, acted,\nout of charity, as a water-carrier in the markets of Jerusalem and the\nSyrian towns, was taken prisoner by the Franks, and forced to work with\nJews at cleaning out the moats of Tripoli in Syria; he was ransomed by\nan Aleppan, who gave him his daughter in marriage. He himself mentions\nhis visits to Kashgar in Turkestan, to Abyssinia, and Asia Minor. He even\ntravelled about India, passing through Afghanistan on his way.\n\n[Illustration: Interior of the Great Mosque at Damascus. In the center\nthe _Mihrab_ showing the direction of prayer and to the right the Great\nPulpit.]\n\nWe have a picture of such a dervish (a dishonest one, however) in\nHamadhani\u2019s forty-second _Maqamat_: \u201cSo I started wandering, as though I\nwas the Messiah, and I journeyed over Khorasan, its deserted and populous\nparts, to Kirman, Sijistan, Jilan, Tabaristan, Oman, to Sind and Hind, to\nNubia and Egypt, Yemen, Hijaz, Mecca and al Ta\u02beif. I roamed over deserts\nand wastes, seeking warmth and the fire and taking shelter with the ass,\ntill both my cheeks were blackened. And thus I collected of anecdotes\nand fables, witticisms and traditions, poems of the humorists, the\ndiversions of the frivolous, the fabrications of the lovesick, the saws\nof the pseudo-philosophers, the tricks of the conjurors, the artifices\nof the artful, the rare sayings of convivial companions, the fraud of\nthe astrologers, the finesse of quacks, the deception of the effeminate,\nthe guile of the cheats, the devilry of the fiends, such that the legal\ndecisions of al-Sha\u02bfabi, the memory of al-Dabbi and the learning of\nal-Kalbi would have fallen short of. And I solicited gifts and asked\nfor presents. I had recourse to influence and I begged. I eulogized\nand satirized, till I acquired much property, got possession of Indian\nswords and Yemen blades, fine coats of mail of Sabur and leathern shields\nof Thibet, spears of al-Khatt and javelins of Barbary, excellent fleet\nhorses with short coats, Armenian mules, and Mirris asses, silk brocades\nof Rum and woolen stuffs of Sus.\u201d[36]\n\nTo the _honest_ traveller, like Al-Ghazali, however, it was not so easy a\nlife. Not only were there the hardships of travel and its loneliness, but\nthe asceticism of the beggar and the wayfarer. \u201cAnd to such a pass did we\ncome,\u201d says Hariri, \u201cthrough assailing fortune and prostrating need,\u2014that\nwe were shod with soreness, and fed on choking, and filled our bellies\nwith ache, and wrapped our entrails upon hunger, and anointed our eyes\nwith watching, and made pits our home, and deemed thorns a smooth bed,\nand came to forget our saddles, and thought destroying death to be sweet\nand the ordained day to be tardy.\u201d\n\nWe may believe that so keen an observer as Al-Ghazali carried his\n\u201c_Baedeker_\u201d with him on his travels. He was doubtless acquainted with\nthe chief geographical works of that period, some of which contained maps\nand even illustrations. The most important work was that by Abu \u02beAbdallah\nal-Maqdisi, who spent a great part of his life travelling all over the\nMoslem empire, with the possible exception of India and Spain. His book\nwas entitled: \u201cThe Best Classification for the Knowledge of Climates.\u201d It\nwas written in A. D. 985. Another work of a contemporary of Al-Ghazali,\nAbu \u02beUbaid al-Bakri of Cordova, was a general geography of all the roads\nand provinces of the Moslem world.\n\nAlthough we have no details of Al-Ghazali\u2019s wanderings we can at least\nfollow him on his journeys and learn something of the places he visited\nand their condition in his day. The course of his travels seems to have\nbeen from Bagdad to Damascus, a journey of nearly five hundred miles,\nfrom Damascus to Jerusalem and Hebron, thence on to the birthplace of the\nProphet at Mecca and his tomb at Medina and back over a thousand miles\nmore of caravan travel.\n\nAll through this period of Al-Ghazali\u2019s life Damascus was experiencing\nthe storm and stress of war. Shortly before his time the city was taken\nby the Karmatians and much of it was destroyed by fire. There were\nfrequent changes of governors, uprisings and riots. In 1068 the great\nMosque was set on fire. In 1076 the Seljuk generals seized the city,\nbuilt anew the citadel and other buildings, among them a famous hospital.\nThis was about fifteen years before Al-Ghazali\u2019s arrival there from\nBagdad.\n\nThe great Ummayad Mosque of Damascus was said to be the grandest of all\nMohammedan buildings. There was praying space for 20,000 men; and it is\nsaid to have taken the whole revenue of Syria for forty-seven years, not\ncounting eighteen shiploads of gold and silver from Cyprus to complete\nthe building. \u201cWhen the wondrous work was finished, the Caliph would\nnot look at the accounts brought to him on eighteen laden mules, but\nordered that they should be burned and thus addressed the crowd: \u2018Men of\nDamascus, you possess four glories above other people; you are proud of\nyour water, your air, your fruits, your baths; your mosque shall be your\nfifth glory.\u2019\u201d\n\nLike other famous places of Moslem worship, this mosque was once the\nsite of a Christian church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, to whom\nthere is still an imposing shrine. For some years the building was shared\nbetween Christians and Mohammedans, but in A. D. 708 the Christians were\ndriven out. To this day one of the three minarets is called by the name\nof _\u02beIsa_ (Jesus), and above a gate, long since closed, is the Greek\ninscription, \u201cTHY KINGDOM, O CHRIST, IS AN EVERLASTING KINGDOM, AND THY\nDOMINION ENDURETH THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali spent many hours for many years under the shadow of this\ngreat building, and it was in the minaret of Jesus that he had long\nmeditations. The minaret of Jesus, according to H. Saladin,[37] was built\nin the eleventh century, shortly before the time of Al-Ghazali\u2019s visit.\nDid he ever find or understand the inscription on the gate and meditate\non that Prophet whose kingdom has no end and no frontier?\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nWanderings, Later Years, and Death\n\n    \u201cThen came the immediate breaking up of the Seljukian Empire\n    into a number of independent principalities. Syria, Palestine,\n    and all Asia Minor, were partitioned among a dozen different\n    Turkish Emirs. Khorasan and Irak became the scene of a fierce\n    civil war, extending over several years, between two sons of\n    Malek Shah, Barkiaroc and Muhammed. Drought was added to the\n    horrors of war; the people perished by thousands of famine; the\n    incessant marching and counter-marching of the hostile armies\n    destroyed the remnant of food which had survived the want of\n    rain. To crown all, from the borders of Christendom a fresh\n    scourge was beheld preparing for Islam. The hosts of the Red\n    Cross passed the Bosphorus, and fought their way knee-deep in\n    blood to the walls of Jerusalem. The capture of the Holy City\n    struck like the point of a poisoned dagger to the heart of\n    every true Moslem.\u201d\n\n                            \u2014_\u201cIslam under the Khalifs of Baghdad,\u201d\n                                           by Robert Durie Osborn._\n\n\nIV\n\nWANDERINGS, LATER YEARS, AND DEATH\n\nThe chronology of Al-Ghazali\u2019s life was a puzzle even to those who wrote\nonly a century after his death. There seems great uncertainty not only as\nto the time of his various journeyings but as to their order, and there\nis dispute even regarding the places he visited. We know that the date\nof his conversion was A. H. 488 (A. D. 1095), when he was thirty-eight\nyears old, and that shortly after this he went into exile. In A. H.\n498 (A. D. 1104) he is said to have returned to active life, and to\nhave spent two years in retirement in Syria. The other dates are quite\nuncertain. Following the best authorities at our disposal, especially his\nown \u201cConfessions,\u201d we continue the story where we left off in the last\nchapter.[38]\n\n\u201cFrom Damascus,\u201d says Al-Ghazali, \u201cI proceeded to Jerusalem, and every\nday secluded myself in the Sanctuary of the Rock. After that I felt\na desire to accomplish the Pilgrimage, and to receive a full effusion\nof grace by visiting Mecca, Medina, and the Tomb of the Prophet. After\nvisiting the shrine of the Friend of God (Abraham), I went to the Hejaz.\nFinally, the longings of my heart and the prayers of my children brought\nme back to my country, although I was so firmly resolved at first never\nto revisit it. At any rate, I meant, if I did return, to live there\nsolitary and in religious meditation; but events, family care, and\nvicissitudes of life changed my resolutions and troubled my meditative\ncalm. However irregular the intervals which I could give to devotional\necstasy, my confidence in it did not diminish; and the more I was\ndiverted by hindrances, the more steadfastly I returned to it. Ten years\npassed in this manner.\u201d\n\nAccording to this account his pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Hebron, to\nMedina and Mecca, was part of one itinerary; it also is the natural\nroute of travel from Bagdad to the birthplace of Islam. The statement\nmade by some authorities that he first remained ten years at Damascus is\ntherefore probably inaccurate. If we are to believe al-Isnawi, the course\nof events was as follows: He set out in the year A. D. 1095 for the\nHejaz. On his return from the pilgrimage, he journeyed to Damascus, and\nmade his abode there for some years in the minaret of the Grand Mosque,\ncomposing several works of which the _Ihya_ is said to be one. Then\nafter visiting Jerusalem and perhaps Cairo and Alexandria, he returned to\nhis home at Tus.\n\nAccording to one Arabic authority, when Al-Ghazali left Damascus in\nhis wanderings, he was accompanied by a disciple, a certain Abu Tahir\nIbrahim, who had been a pupil also at Nishapur under the great Imam; he\nreturned afterwards to Jurjan, his native place, and died a martyr in\nA. H. 513. Other pupils of his at Damascus are also mentioned, but the\nauthorities do not agree.\n\nAmong many shrines at Jerusalem, Al-Ghazali visited the Mosque of Omar,\nand the Dome of the Rock. In Sura xvii. 1, Mohammed is represented as\nhaving taken his flight from Mecca to Jerusalem.\u2014\u201cCelebrated be the\npraises of Him who by night took his servant from the _Masjidu \u2019l-Haram_\n(the Sacred Mosque) to the _Masjidu \u2019l-Aqsa_ (the Remote Mosque), the\nprecinct of which we have blessed.\u201d\n\nAs-Suyuti says Jerusalem is specially honoured by Moslems as being the\nscene of the repentance of David and Solomon. \u201cThe place where God sent\nHis angel to Solomon, announced glad tidings to Zacharias and John,\nshowed David a plan of the Temple, and put all the beasts of the earth\nand fowls of the air in subjection to him. It was at Jerusalem that\nthe prophets sacrificed; that Jesus was born and spoke in His cradle;\nand it was from Jerusalem that Jesus ascended to heaven; and it will\nbe there that He will again descend. Gog and Magog shall subdue every\nplace on the earth but Jerusalem, and it will be there that God Almighty\nwill destroy them. It is in the holy land of Jerusalem that Adam and\nAbraham, and Isaac and Mary are buried. And in the last days there will\nbe a general flight to Jerusalem, when the Ark and the Shechinah will be\nagain restored to the Temple. There will all mankind be gathered at the\nResurrection for judgment, and God will enter, surrounded by His angels,\ninto the Holy Temple, when He comes to judge the earth.\u201d\n\nHere Al-Ghazali would see the sacred footprint of Mohammed made in the\nrock on his journey to heaven; the praying places of Abraham and Elijah\nwould be pointed out to him; the round hole where the rock let Mohammed\nthrough when he ascended to heaven; the holy place in the roof of the\ncavern where it arose to allow him to stand erect and to pray; the tongue\nwith which it spoke; and the marks of the Angel Gabriel\u2019s finger where\nit had to be held down from following him in his ascension! The place is\nalso pointed out by Moslems to-day where Solomon tormented the demons,\nand also near the eastern wall where the throne stood whereon he sat when\ndead, the corpse leaning on his staff to cheat the demons until the worms\nhad gnawed it through and the body fell forward. All this is found in\nMoslem Tradition, and must have stirred the credulity or the scepticism\nof Al-Ghazali. He himself tells us in one of his books that on the last\nday Israfil, who, with Gabriel and Michael, has been restored to life,\n\u201cstanding on the rock of the temple of Jerusalem, will at the command\nof God call together the souls from all parts, those of believers from\nParadise and the unbelievers from hell, and throw them into his trumpet.\nThere they will be ranged in little holes, like bees in a hive, and will,\non his giving the last sound, be thrust out and fly like bees, filling\nthe whole space between earth and heaven. Then they will repair to their\nrespective bodies. The earth will then be an immense plain without hills\nor villages, and the dead, after they have risen, will sit down each one\non his tomb, anxiously waiting for what is to come.\u201d[39]\n\nA modern traveller describes other Moslem superstitions connected\nwith this Mosque. \u201cThe little arcades at the top of the steps of the\nplatform are called \u2018Balances,\u2019 because the scales of judgment are to be\nsuspended there on the Great Day. The Dome of the Chain owes its name\nto the circumstance that there a golden chain hung at David\u2019s place of\njudgment, which had to be grasped by witnesses and dropped a link when a\nlie was told. A place in the outer wall is shown from which a wire will\nbe suspended on the Day of Judgment, whose other end will be made fast\nto the Mount of Olives. Christ will sit on the wall and Mohammed on the\nmount. Over this wire must all men find their way, but only the good will\ncross, the wicked falling into the valley beneath. In the Al-Aqsa Mosque\na couple of pillars stand very near each other, so worn that they are\nperceptibly thinned. The space between them bulges, and a piece of spiked\niron work is now inserted between them. These are another test for the\nfinal award\u2014he who could squeeze himself between them, and he alone, had\nfound the true \u2018narrow way to heaven.\u2019\u201d\n\nWe have descriptions of Jerusalem by a Moslem who wrote at the end of the\ntenth, and by another of the middle of the eleventh century. The latter\nestimated the population at twenty thousand, and fancied that as many\nmore Moslem pilgrims came to the city in the month of their pilgrimage;\nChristians and Jews then visited the city as they do to-day. Both these\nwriters praise the place for its cleanliness, which they attribute to its\ngeographical position and natural drainage. Yet the history of Jerusalem\nthroughout this century is little more than the record of damage and\nrepair to Christian and Moslem sanctuaries. In A. D. 1010 the Church\nof the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed by the mad Sultan Hakim. This was\nfollowed by other humiliations of the pilgrims and persecutions, until\nPeter the Hermit arose in protest and the Crusades began.\n\nWe have no information as to how Al-Ghazali spent his days during\nthis visit at Jerusalem. It was a time of war and tumult throughout\nSyria, on the eve of the Crusades. One can imagine with what interest\nAl-Ghazali studied the whole situation and how this ardent champion\nof the Moslem faith was stirred by the coming events whose shadows\nwere already resting on the Holy Land at the time of his visit there.\nWe do know that he lived the life of a mystic, and devoted himself to\nprayer and fasting. Prayer occupies a large place in the life of every\nconscientious Moslem. Not only are there the five ritual prayers, but the\nnight prayer which, according to Al-Ghazali himself, must be performed\nbetween midnight and the beginning of dawn. It has been calculated that a\nMoslem conscientiously performing his devotions recites the same form of\nprayer at least seventy-five times a day. In addition to these prayers,\nhowever, there are prayers called _witr_ to be performed after the night\nprayer; _dhuha_, the prayer used in the forenoon; and the prayer of night\nvigils, which take place between the last evening prayer and midnight. In\naddition to observing all the above mentioned prayers, those who would\nreach a high degree of perfection are recommended by Al-Ghazali, in\naccordance with his own practices at this period, to engage in certain\nadditional devotional exercises called _wird_. We may best note the\ncharacter of this mystical devotion, in which he spent whole days and\nnights, by quoting in substance from the _Ihya_ as follows:\n\n\u201cFrom many verses of the Koran it appears that the only way of becoming\nunited with God is constant intercourse with Him. This is the object of\nthe devotional services called _wird_ in which the believer can engage\nat all times of the day as well as the night. The _wirds_ to be observed\nduring the day are seven: First _wird_. The Moslem on rising early\nmentions the name of God, and praises Him, reciting certain petitions;\nwhile dressing, he recites the appointed petitions, cleans his teeth\nwith the _miswak_, performs the _Wudhu_, then prays two Sunna _raka\u02bes_\nof dawn.[40] After this he repeats a petition and goes to the mosque\nwith collected thoughts. He enters the mosque solemnly and respectfully\nwith the right foot first, saying the appointed petitions on entering\nand leaving. He enters the first rank of worshippers if there be room,\nand prays the two _raka\u02bes_ of dawn, if he has not done so already at\nhome; then two _raka\u02bes_ of \u2018Saluting the Mosque,\u2019 and sits down repeating\npetitions and praises, awaiting the assembling of the congregation.\nAfter having repeated the obligatory prayer of dawn, he remains sitting\nin the mosque till sunrise, meditating and repeating certain petitions,\nand praises a certain number of times, counting them by the rosary,\nand reciting portions of the Koran. [We know that the rosary was in\ngeneral use from a reference to it in the \u201cAssemblies\u201d of al-Hariri, and\nin Al-Ghazali\u2019s \u201cAlchemy of Happiness.\u201d] The second _wird_ is between\nsunrise and an advanced forenoon hour; the worshipper says a prayer of\ntwo _raka\u02bes_, and when the sun has risen the length of a lance above\nthe horizon two more _raka\u02bes_. This is the time when the believer may\nperform good works, such as visiting the sick, etc. When nothing of the\nkind requires his attention, he spends his time in repeating petitions,\nin _zikr_, meditation and reading the Koran. The third _wird_ is between\nmorning and the ascending of the sun; the believer, after taking care\nof his worldly affairs, engages in the devotional exercises as before\nmentioned. Between the time when the sun has become somewhat high and the\nnoon prayer, four _raka\u02bes_ between the _Azan_ and the _Ikama_ are said\nand portions of the Koran are recited; this is the fourth _wird_. The\nfifth, sixth and seventh occur after this until vespers. Finally there\nare the _wirds_ of the night which are five, divided and described as\nfollows:\u2014First night _wird_: after sunset, when the prayer of sunset has\nbeen performed, to the time when darkness has set in, the worshipper says\ntwo _raka\u02bes_, in which certain portions of the Koran are recited, then\nfour long _raka\u02bes_, and as much of the Koran as time allows. This _wird_\nmay be performed at home; but it is preferable to do so in the mosque.\nSecond night _wird_: this is from the darkness of the last _\u02bfIsha_ to\nthe time when people retire to sleep. This consists of three things: (1)\nthe obligatory _\u02bfIsha_ prayer; ten _raka\u02bes_, viz., four before it and\nsix after it; (2) performing a prayer of thirteen _raka\u02bes_, the last of\nwhich is the _witr_ prayer. In this about three hundred verses of the\nKoran are to be recited. (3) The _witr_ prayer before going to sleep,\nunless one is accustomed to rise in the night, when it may be performed\nlater on, which is more meritorious. Third night _wird_: this consists of\nsleep, and sleep may well be considered a devotional act, if enjoyed in\nthe proper way. Fourth night _wird_: this is from the time when the first\nhalf of the night is spent to when only one-sixth of it still remains. At\nthis time the believer ought to rise from sleep and perform the prayer of\n_tahajjud_. This prayer is also called the _hujud_. Mohammed mostly made\nit a prayer of thirteen _raka\u02bes_. Fifth night _wird_: this begins with\nthe last sixth of the night, called the _Sahar_, the early morning before\ndawn to the appearing of dawn.\u201d To these devotional exercises, described\nin the _Ihya_, it was considered meritorious to add four additional good\nactions: fasting, almsgiving, visiting the sick, attending funerals;\nand finally all this punctilious remembrance of God through prayer was\nsupplemented by what is called _dhikr_\u2014the special method of worship used\nby the Sufi saints.\n\nAl-Ghazali describes the method and effects of this practice in a\npassage which Macdonald has summarized as follows: \u201cLet the worshipper\nreduce his heart to a state in which the existence of anything and its\nnon-existence are the same to him. Then let him sit alone in some corner,\nlimiting his religious duties to what is absolutely necessary, and not\noccupying himself either with reciting the Koran or considering its\nmeaning or with books of religious traditions or with anything of the\nsort. And let him see to it that nothing save God most High enters his\nmind. Then, as he sits in solitude, let him not cease saying continuously\nwith his tongue, \u2018Allah, Allah,\u2019 keeping his thought on it. At last he\nwill reach a state when the motion of his tongue will cease, and it will\nseem as though the word flowed from it. Let him persevere in this until\nall trace of motion is removed from his tongue, and he finds his heart\npersevering in the thought. Let him still persevere until the form of the\nword, its letters and shape, is removed from his heart, and there remains\nthe idea alone, as though clinging to his heart, inseparable from it. So\nfar, all is dependent on his will and choice; but to bring the mercy of\nGod does not stand in his will or choice. He has now laid himself bare\nto the breathings of that mercy, and nothing remains but to wait what\nGod will open to him, as God has done after this manner to prophets and\nsaints. If he follows the above course, he may be sure that the light of\nthe Real will shine out in his heart. At first unstable, like a flash of\nlightning, it turns and returns; though sometimes it hangs back. And if\nit returns, sometimes it abides and sometimes it is momentary. And if it\nabides, sometimes its abiding is long, and sometimes short.\u201d\n\nSuch is the teaching of Al-Ghazali in regard to the true life of devotion\nand such we may believe was his own practice at Damascus and Jerusalem\nduring the years that followed his life of exile\u2014the endless repetition\nof God\u2019s great names and \u201cprayer without ceasing\u201d in the Moslem sense.\nOne wonders what part of the day remained for the literary work and\nteaching in which we know he was also engaged.[41]\n\nAn interesting story is told of his life at Jerusalem in these words:\n\u201cThere came together the Imams Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali and Ismail Al-Kakimi\nand Ibrahim Ash-Shibaki and Abu-l-Hasan Al-Basri, and a large number of\nforeign elders, in the Cradle of \u02beIsa (upon him be peace!) in Jerusalem,\nand he (Al-Ghazali, apparently) recited these two lines:\n\n    \u201c\u2018May I be thy ransom! were it not for love thou wouldst have\n        ransomed me, but by the magic of two eye-pupils thou hast\n        taken me captive.\n    I came to thee when my breast was straitened through love, and\n        if thou hadst known how was my longing, thou wouldst have\n        come to me.\u2019\n\nThen Abu-l-Hasan Al-Basri constrained himself to an ecstasy which\naffected those that were present, and eyes wept and garments were rent\nand Mohammed Al-Kazaruni died in the midst of the assembly in ecstasy.\u201d\n\nIn Jerusalem he is said to have written his _Risalat Al-Qudsiya_; and the\ndate of his visit there must have been shortly before A. H. 492, for in\nthat year Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders.[42]\n\nIt was natural for one of Al-Ghazali\u2019s temperament to desire to pay\nhomage also at the tomb of Abraham, whom Moslems delight to call the\n\u201cFriend of God.\u201d The religion of Islam is continually called the religion\nof Abraham in the Koran. Tradition locates the so-called Machpelah\nCave in the eastern part of the present-day Hebron, on the edge of the\nvalley, and the mosque which now stands there is supposed to enclose the\ngrave. Hebron is about seventeen miles southwest of Jerusalem. Before\nthe twelfth century the Cave of Machpelah began to attract visitors\nand pilgrims. \u201cBenjamin of Tudela relates: \u2018At Hebron there is a large\nplace of worship called \u201cSt. Abraham,\u201d which was previously a Jewish\nsynagogue. The natives erected there six sepulchres, which they tell\nforeigners are those of the Patriarchs and their wives, demanding money\nas a condition of seeing them. If a Jew gives an additional fee to\nthe keeper of the cave, an iron door which dates from the time of our\nforefathers opens, and the visitor descends with a lighted candle. He\ncrosses two empty caves, and in the third sees six tombs, on which the\nnames of the three Patriarchs and their wives are inscribed in Hebrew\ncharacters. The cave is filled with barrels containing bones of people,\nwhich are taken there as to a sacred place. At the end of the field of\nthe Machpelah stands Abraham\u2019s house with a spring in front of it.\u2019\u201d[43]\n\nThe mosque of Hebron, over the tomb of Abraham, consists at present of a\nquadrangular platform about seventy yards long by thirty-five wide. The\ntomb which it covers is one of the sites which few Christian eyes have\nseen. It is permitted to none but Moslems to approach nearer the entrance\nthan the seventh step of the staircase along the eastern wall.[44]\n\n[Illustration: The dome of the rock, Jerusalem, as seen from the Lutheran\nChurch.]\n\nHebron is one of the oldest cities in the world and legends of all sorts\nhave gathered about the place. Even in Al-Ghazali\u2019s day it was spoken of\nas the place of Adam\u2019s creation and death, the scene of Abel\u2019s murder,\nand the place where Abraham made his home.\n\nAfter Al-Ghazali\u2019s visit to Hebron he probably made his pilgrimage\nto Mecca. Whether the journey was made by sea or by land, we do not\nknow. In any case it was full of peril at that period. Very possibly\nAl-Ghazali took the long caravan journey, following the route of the\nDamascus pilgrimage in our day. It was considered proper, however, to\nvisit Mecca first, and Medina on the return journey. Al-Ghazali himself\nadvises this in his directions for the correct performance of the rites\nof pilgrimage.[45]\n\nIn what spirit he fulfilled the rites we know from one of his spiritual\nteachers whose text-book on the subject Al-Ghazali had mastered. \u201cA man\nwho had just returned from the pilgrimage came to Junayd. Junayd said:\n\u2018From the hour when you first journeyed from your home have you also\nbeen journeying away from all sins?\u2019 He said \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then,\u2019 said Junayd,\n\u2018you have made no journey. At every stage where you halted for the\nnight did you traverse a station on the way to God?\u2019 \u2018No,\u2019 he replied.\n\u2018Then,\u2019 said Junayd, \u2018you have not trodden the road, stage by stage.\nWhen you put on the pilgrim\u2019s garb at the proper place, did you discard\nthe qualities of human nature as you cast off your clothes?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then\nyou have not put on the pilgrim\u2019s garb. When you stood on \u02beArafat, did\nyou stand one moment in contemplation of God?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then you have not\nstood at \u02beArafat. When you went to Muzdalifa and achieved your desire,\ndid you renounce all sensual desires?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then you have not gone\nto Muzdalifa. When you circumambulated the Ka\u02beaba, did you behold the\nimmaterial beauty of God in the abode of purification?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then you\nhave not circumambulated the Ka\u02beaba. When you ran between Safa and Marwa,\ndid you attain to purity (_safa_) and virtue (_muruwwat_)?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then\nyou have not run. When you came to Mina, did all your wishes (_muna_)\ncease?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then you have not yet visited Mina. When you reached the\nslaughter place and offered sacrifices, did you sacrifice the objects of\nworldly desire?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then you have not sacrificed. When you threw the\npebbles, did you throw away whatever sensual thoughts were accompanying\nyou?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Then you have not yet thrown the pebbles, and you have not\nyet performed the pilgrimage.\u2019\u201d\n\nSuch was the mystical interpretation of the rites at Mecca taught by the\nSufis to their disciples.\n\nMecca, when Al-Ghazali made the pilgrimage, was under the rule of\nthe Sherif Abu Hashim (A. D. 1063-1094). Half a century earlier the\nKarmathians, perhaps the most fanatic of all Moslem sects, had besieged\nMecca, captured the city, murdered the pilgrims by thousands, and carried\naway the famous black stone to Bahrein on the Persian Gulf.[46] By taking\naway this sacred treasure they hoped to put an end to the pilgrimage,\nbut were disappointed. In A. D. 950 the stone was returned for a heavy\nransom.[47] It was because of the constant disputes between the Caliphs\nof Bagdad and Egypt that the defense of the holy cities was finally given\ninto the hand of the Sherifs.\n\nAbu Hashim was a time-server, and cared more for bribes than for\nreligion, according to the testimony of Arabian chroniclers. In A.\nD. 1070 he changed the name of the Fatimide Sultans for that of the\nAbbassides at Friday prayers, and received much bounty. In 1075 he sold\nthe same privilege to the Fatimides, and in 1076 to the Caliphs of\nBagdad. This conduct so enraged the Sultan of Bagdad that in 1091 he sent\nbands of Turkomans against Mecca.\n\nChronicles of the holy city during this period show that the pilgrimage\nwas accompanied by grave dangers because of Bedouin robbers as well as\ndisturbances in Mecca itself. Sometimes these uprisings were directed by\nAbu Hashim himself, as was the case in A. D. 1094.[48]\n\nJust about the time of Al-Ghazali\u2019s visit, the various buildings at\nMecca and the _Beit Allah_ itself, had been repaired and beautified. The\nfour _maqams_ or places of prayer for the orthodox sects as they now\nstand were built in A. H. 1074. The place of the Shafi\u02bf sect to which\nAl-Ghazali belonged, is directly over the well of Zem Zem, to which it\nserves as an upper chamber. The building, erected in 1072, is in use\nto-day. The great pulpit of white marble was sent to Mecca in A. H. 969\nby the Sultan of Egypt. It is still in use. Perchance Al-Ghazali ascended\nthese very stairs and addressed the pilgrims. In A. D. 1030 a violent\ntorrent swept over Mecca, and nearly ruined the Ka\u02beaba. The repairs were\nnot finished until 1040.[49]\n\nWith his religious pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina it seems that\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s life of strict retirement ended, except for his visit to\nAlexandria and beyond. Apparently he proposed to make a journey to Spain\nand the great Sultan of the West, Yusuf bin Tashfin, on whose behalf he\nhad given _Fatwas_ or religious decisions, but the news of the Sultan\u2019s\ndeath put an end to his plans, according to some authorities. Others say\nthat at this time he was summoned to teach again at Nishapur.\n\nThe details of his life during the mysterious ten years of his wanderings\nare most conflicting. According to \u02bfAbd al-Ghafir, a personal friend of\nAl-Ghazali, he went a second time to Mecca, afterwards to Syria, and\nthen wandered from shrine to shrine for nearly ten years. Next to \u201cThe\nConfessions,\u201d the best authority on his life is undoubtedly this same\n\u02bfAbd al-Ghafir. What he tells us of Al-Ghazali\u2019s life must have been\ngained from personal knowledge, or go back immediately to Al-Ghazali\nhimself. \u201cAccording to him, Al-Ghazali set out on pilgrimage to Mecca,\nthen went to Syria, and remained there wandering from place to place\nand shrine to shrine nearly ten years. At this time he composed several\nof his works, the _Ihya_ and books abbreviated from it, such as the\n_Arba\u02bein_ and the _Rasa\u02beil_; besides labouring at his own spiritual\nadvancement and growth through the religious exercises of the Sufis. Then\nhe returned to his home and lived there a retired life for some time,\nabsorbed in meditation, but gradually becoming more and more sought after\nas a teacher and guide to the spiritual life. At length Fakhr al-Mulk\n\u02beAli b. Nizam Al-Mulk Jamal Ash-Shuhada, who had previously been Wazir to\nBarqiyaruq, became Wazir to Sinjar the son of Malik Shah at Nishapur, and\nby him such pressure was put on Al-Ghazali that he finally consented to\nresume teaching in the Maymuna Nizamiyya Madrasa there.\u201d[50]\n\nWe have reference to but no detail of Al-Ghazali\u2019s visit to Cairo, the\ngreat centre of Moslem architecture and learning in the West, as Bagdad\nwas in the East. Nor, strange to say, have I found reference in his\nworks to this visit. It is possible that he was not received altogether\nwith favour by the religious leaders of Al-Azhar at the time, but his\nreputation was already world-wide, and many of his pupils at Bagdad and\nNishapur were from Egypt and North Africa.\n\nAt the time of Al-Ghazali\u2019s visit, Cairo was still the great centre\nof Arab civilization, and had all the glory which the Fatimid dynasty\nhad bestowed upon it. The splendid palaces of the Caliphs formed the\ncentral portion of the town. The three massive gates which still command\nadmiration at the present day, Bab Al-Futuh, Bab Al-Nasr and Bab\nAz-Zuwaila, led into the city. In A. D. 1087 the walls were rebuilt, and\nthese massive gateways constructed along with others which are no longer\nstanding. In the vault of the archways of these gates, there used to be\ntwo chambers, and these were used by the Egyptian sovereigns and their\nfriends to watch the various spectacles, especially the departure and\nreturn of the sacred carpet.\n\nThe intellectual and religious life of the city centred in the great\nmosque of Al-Azhar, which had been completed in A. D. 1012. Cairo was\nnot yet the economic centre for all Egypt which it became later, but it\nwas the seat of a splendid court, with military pageantry, as well as a\ncentre of religious learning. Ibn Tuwair and others have given us vivid\npictures of the ceremonial processions and festivals, the magazines,\ntreasuries, stables, and royal household.\n\nAs for Alexandria, where we _know_ Al-Ghazali lived for some time before\nhis return to Syria, it did not have a high reputation at that time for\nlearning. It was rather a port of trade, from which men passed on to Misr\n(Cairo) or went by sea to Syria. Hamadhani makes one of his characters\nsay:\n\n    \u201cI am of the citizens of Alexandria,\n    Of sound and pure stock among them,\n    The age and the people thereof are stupid,\n    Therefore I made my stupidity my steed!\u201d\n\nBut in Moslem tradition, Alexandria has high honour. Moslems show the\ntomb of Daniel the prophet, also that of Alexander the Great whose story\nis told in the Koran. Alexandria also boasts two celebrated Walis or holy\nmen. One is Mohammed al Busiri, the author of the poem called Al Burdah,\nuniversally celebrated; and the other Abu Abbas Al-Andalusi, at whose\ntomb prayer is never offered in vain. There is also a prophecy that when\nMecca falls into the hands of the infidels Alexandria will succeed to its\nhonours.[51]\n\nFrom Alexandria Al-Ghazali went to Damascus and then to Nishapur and from\nthere to Bagdad, or from Damascus direct to Bagdad, where he taught the\n_Ihya_ and preached. As-Subki tells us that the people crowded to hear\nhim, and that notes of his sermons to the number of 183 were taken by one\nof those present, who read them to Al-Ghazali before they were circulated.\n\nThe following story is told of his life at this time: Once while\nteaching the _Ihya_ at Bagdad, he began to quote: \u201cHe has made beloved\nthe homes of men, as abodes of desire which the heart has decreed;\nwhenever they remember their homes these remind them of the pledges of\nyouth there, and they long thither.\u201d Then he wept, and those present\nwept with him. Thereafter some one saw him in the open country with a\npatched dervish-garment on, a water-vessel and an iron-shod staff in\nhis hand,\u2014all in strange contrast to the states in which he had seen\nhim before, with three hundred pupils around him, including one hundred\nof the chief men of Bagdad. So he said, \u201cO Imam, is not the teaching of\nscience more fitting?\u201d But Al-Ghazali looked at him with red eyes and\nsaid, \u201cWhen the full moon of happiness rises in the firmament of will,\nthe sun of setting departs in the East of union.\u201d Then he recited, \u201cI\nabandoned the love of Layla and my happiness was far, and I returned\nto the companionship of my first alighting-place; then cried to me my\nlongings, \u2018Welcome! these are the alighting-places of her whom thou\nlovest, draw up and alight.\u2019\u201d\n\nOf his spiritual experiences during these ten years of retirement and\nwandering, and during the years that followed, when he taught others the\nway of the mystic, we will speak later.\n\nWe know that he left Bagdad, returned to Tus, his native place, and\nsettled down to study and contemplation. Strange to say, at this time of\nhis life he seems to have found the greatest delight in going back again\nto the study of Tradition, especially the collections of Al-Bokhari and\nof Muslim. All his biographers seem to agree in this. He had charge of a\n_madrasa_ and of the _khanka_ or monastery for Sufis. Every moment was\nfilled with study and devotion until in the fifty-fifth year of his life\n(lunar calendar) the end came.\n\nThe austerity and privations of his long wanderings doubtless wore down\nhis strength. One who had risen to so high a position of authority on\nreligious matters also had to pay the price of leadership in controversy\nwith opponents, and of their envy, and their slander, as we are told\nby al-Ghafir. This may have been, Macdonald thinks, one of the causes\nfor his removal from Nishapur to Tus. A friend remarks in regard to his\nattitude towards those who opposed his teaching and envied his influence:\n\u201cHowever much he met of contradiction and attack and slander, it made\nno impression on him, and he did not trouble himself to answer his\nassailants. I visited him many times, and it was no bare conjecture of\nmine that he, in spite of what I saw in him in time past of maliciousness\nand roughness towards people, and how he looked upon them contemptuously\nthrough his being led astray by what God had granted him of ease in word\nand thought and expression, and through the seeking of rank and position,\nhad come to be the very opposite and was purified from these stains. And\nI used to think that he was wrapping himself in the garment of pretense,\nbut I realized after investigation that the thing was the opposite of\nwhat I had thought, and that the man had recovered after being mad.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali died on Monday, the fourteenth of Jumada II, A. H. 505 (Dec.\n18th, 1111). His brother Ahmad (quoted by Murtadha from Ibn Jawzi\u2019s\n_Kitab ath-thabat \u02beind al-mamat_) gives the following account of his\ndeath: \u201cOn Monday, at dawn, my brother performed the ablution and prayed.\nThen he said, \u2018Bring me my grave-clothes,\u2019 and he took them and kissed\nthem and laid them on his eyes and said, \u2018I hear and obey to go in to the\nKing.\u2019 And he stretched out his feet towards Mecca, and was taken to the\ngood will of God Most High. He was buried at, or outside of, Tabran, the\ncitadel of Tus, and Ibn As-Sama\u02beni visited his grave there.\u201d\n\nLater biographers were not satisfied with the bare facts of his decease.\nMurtadha gives a far more interesting story. \u201cWhen death drew near to\nthe Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, he commanded his servant, an excellent\nand religious man, to dig his grave in the middle of his house, and to\nsummon the people of the neighbouring villages to attend his funeral;\nthat they should not touch him, but that a company of three men unknown\nin the region of Al-\u02beIraq would come out of the desert, that two of them\nwould wash him, and the third would undertake the prayer over him without\nthe advice or command of any one. Then, when he died, the servant did\naccording to all that he had commanded, and required the presence of the\npeople. And when the people gathered to attend the funeral, they saw\nthree men who had come out of the desert. Two of them began to wash the\ncorpse, while the third vanished and did not appear. But when they had\nwashed him and arranged him in the grave-clothes, and carried his bier\nand laid it on the edge of the grave, the third appeared wrapped in his\nrobe with a black border on both sides, turbaned with wool, and he prayed\nfor him and the people prayed with him. Then he gave the benediction and\ndeparted and hid from the people. And some of the excellent of the people\nof Al-\u02beIraq who were present at the funeral had noticed him carefully,\nbut did not know him until some of them heard a _Hatif_ in the night\nsaying to them, \u2018The man who led the people in prayer is Abu \u02beAbd Allah\nMohammed b. Ishaq Amghar, the Sharif. He came from the farthest Maghrib,\nfrom \u02beAyn al-Qatr, and those who washed the corpse are his comrades Abu\nShu\u02beayb Ayyub b. Sa\u02beid and Abu \u02beIsa Wajih.\u2019 And when they heard that they\njourneyed from Al-\u02beIraq to Sanhaja of the farthest Maghrib, and when\nthey had reached them and asked of them their prayers, they returned\nto Al-\u02beIraq and related it to the Sufis and published their miracle\n(_karama_). Then a company of them, when they heard that, went to visit\nthem and found them to be those whom they noticed carefully, and they\nasked of them their prayers. And this is a strange story.\u201d[52]\n\nAn equally remarkable story is told of the death of Al-Ghazali\u2019s younger\nbrother in the books of the Persian mystics.[53] The verses given might\nwell apply to Al-Ghazali himself and his views of life and death.\n\u201cMoghith related, on the authority of Kadiri tradition, how the famous\nAhmed-Al-Ghazali, native of Tus in Persia, said one day to his disciples,\n\u2018Go and bring me new and white garments.\u2019 They went; and on returning\nwith the objects required, found their master dead; by his side was a\npaper on which were written the following stanzas:\n\n    \u201c\u2018Tell my friends, who behold me dead,\n    Weeping and mourning my loss a while,\n    Think not this corpse before you myself:\n    That corpse is mine, but it is not I.\n    I am an undying life, and this is not my body,\n    Many years my house and my garment of change;\n    I am the bird, and this body was my cage,\n    I have wing\u2019d my flight elsewhere, and left it for a token.\n    I am the pearl, and this my shell,\n    Broken open and abandon\u2019d to worthlessness;\n    I am the treasure, and this was a spell\n    Thrown over me, till the treasure was released in truth.\n    Thanks be to God, who has delivered me,\n    And has assign\u2019d me a lasting abode in the highest.\n    There am I now the day conversing with the happy,\n    And beholding face to face unveiled Deity;\n    Contemplating the Mirror wherein I see and read\n    Past and present, and whatever remains to be.\n    Food and drink too are mine, yet both are one;\n    Mystery known to him who is worthy to know.\n    It is not \u201cwine sweet of taste\u201d that I drink;\n    No, nor \u201cwater,\u201d but the pure milk of a mother.\n    Understand my meaning aright, for the secret\n    Is signified by words of symbol and figure,\u2014\n    I have journey\u2019d on, and left you behind;\n    How could I make an abode of your halting-stage?\n    Ruin then my house and break my cage in pieces,\n    And let the shell go perish with kindred illusions;\n    Tear my garment, the veil once thrown over me;\n    Then bury all these, and leave them alike for I go.\n    Deem not death death, for it is in truth\n    Life of lives, the goal of all our longings.\n    Think lovingly of a God whose Name is love,\n    Who joys in rewarding, and come on secure of fear.\n    Whence I am, I behold you undying spirits like myself,\n    And see that our lot is one, and you as I.\u2019\u201d\n\nWe are indebted to the Rev. Dwight M. Donaldson of Mashad, Persia, for\nthe interesting photographs of the ruins of Tus and of the supposed tomb\nof Al-Ghazali. The mosque is very old and probably dates from the time\nof Al-Ghazali. The grave shown in the picture, however, _may_ not be the\ngrave of Al-Ghazali the mystic but of another celebrated Ghazali. For we\nread in As-Subqi (Vol. III, p. 36) that there was one called Ahmed ibn\nMohammed Abu Hamed Al-Ghazali, the older and earlier one. He says that\npeople have thrown doubt upon his very existence, but that after careful\ninquiry he has found mention of this man in several books, including the\n_Kitab Al Ansab_ of Ibn As-Sam\u02beani. He mentions the fact that this man\nalso lived in Khorasan, was celebrated for his learning, wrote books on\ntheological questions, and was buried at Tus, where his grave was well\nknown; and because of this people called him the Old Ghazali, and used to\ncome to his grave in order to obtain answers to their prayers. He thinks\nthat this Ghazali was either the uncle or the grand-uncle of Al-Ghazali,\nwhose biography we have written. Incidentally we may conclude from this\nstatement of As-Subqi that the name of Al-Ghazali was not given to him\nbecause his _father_ was a spinner of wool! It must have been an old\nfamily name.\n\nMr. Donaldson gives this interesting information: \u201cThe walls of the old\ncity of Tus still stand. It is one _farsakh_ around them, three and a\nthird miles. There are many fragments of towers and in nine places there\nare remains of gates. The wall was originally five yards wide. In the\nlargest cemetery the tombstone of Ahmad Ghazali may still be seen. This\ncemetery lies southwest from the city and while the bulk of it is now\nunder cultivation, the more distant part that lies on the higher ground\nbeyond the waterway has been kept a cemetery.\n\n\u201cThe picture I have enclosed of Ghazali\u2019s tomb is not as satisfactory\nas I would have liked. It shows that a large chip has been taken from\none corner of the grave. The stone is about two yards long, one-third\nyard wide, and one-third yard high. There are positive indications of an\neffort having been made to cut off the portion on which the name of Ahmed\nAl-Ghazali appears. It is the part that is chipped in the picture. About\nat the point where the chipping appears to begin there is a straight line\ncut about one inch deep across the top of the stone.\n\n\u201cOn the road that runs through the city from the southwest gate the old\nmosque is imposing even in its ruined condition. It stands eighteen yards\nhigh and the inner measurements show it to consist of a square base,\nfive yards high, then an octagonal structure eight yards high. (See\nillustration.)\n\n\u201cOutside the southwest gate an ancient bridge is still in use, as\ncaravans from Mashad come through the old city of Tus. This bridge has\neight arches, each four and one-half yards wide. The name of the stream\nis the _Kashf Rud_.\n\n\u201cThe fortress itself is interesting; it is surrounded by a moat and a\nwall, within which lies a large courtyard and the high approach to the\nfort itself. At present we could walk around the wall and approach the\nfort by a passage in the rear. In the courtyard they are now raising the\nbest water-melons we have eaten in Persia. Four gigantic corner fragments\nof the fort are now standing. In the midst of the d\u00e9bris of bricks within\nthese old walls we found interesting fragments of pottery.\u201d\n\nIn another letter from Mashad, Persia, dated January 17, 1917, the\nRev. Dwight M. Donaldson writes: \u201cThis week I made another trip to\nTus, carefully examining again the tombstone of Ghazali. As I wrote\nyou before, the stone has been badly worn and in addition to that has\nbeen mutilated. However, on the point of doubt as to whether the stone\nphotographed was really the one marking Mohammed Al-Ghazali\u2019s tomb, or\nthe tomb of another Ahmad Al-Ghazali, I can now say that I believe it is\nthe tomb of Abu Hamed ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed Al-Ghazali,\nfor the reason that we can clearly read on the corner of the top of the\nstone, the end which some one in times past attempted to cut off, the\nname \u200e\u200f\u063a\u0632\u0651\u0627\u0644\u064a\u200f\u200e and \u200e\u200f\u0628\u0648\u062d\u0627\u200f\u200e. And as one studies the stone he is almost\nwilling to declare that the name is fully intelligible with the exception\nof the initial _aleph_. The whole top is badly worn indeed, but the word\nthat my _mirza_ first read as Ahmad is clearly not Ahmad, but what it is\nwe cannot tell. The damage is too complete.\n\n\u201cYou will notice that Ghazzali appears in the stone to have been spelled\nwith a _tashdeed_ and yet the mark we have considered a tashdeed is not\nthe usual form (v instead of w).\u201d\n\nThis investigation, therefore, would seem to settle two points: that we\nhave at Tus the neglected and mutilated grave of the great mystic and\ntheologian, Al-Ghazali; and that on this grave the middle letter of the\nname is double. In view of the common usage, however, and in deference\nto the authorities of Moslems themselves, we have uniformly written\nGhazali.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nHis Creed and Credulity\n\n    \u201cThis man, (Al-Ghazali) if ever any have deserved the name,\n    was truly a \u2018divine,\u2019 and he may be justly placed on a level\n    with Origen, so remarkable was he for learning and ingenuity,\n    and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful and\n    worthy exposition of doctrine. All that is good, noble, and\n    sublime that his great soul had compassed he bestowed upon\n    Mohammedanism, and he adorned the doctrines of the Koran with\n    so much piety and learning that, in the form given them by him,\n    they seem, in my opinion, worthy the assent of Christians.\n    Whatsoever was most excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle or\n    in the Sufic mysticism he discreetly adapted to the Mohammedan\n    theology; from every school he sought the means of shedding\n    light and honour upon religion; while his sincere piety and\n    lofty conscientiousness imparted to all his writings a sacred\n    majesty. He was the first of Mohammedan divines.\u201d\n\n                                              \u2014_Dr. August Tholuck._\n\n\nV\n\nHIS CREED AND CREDULITY\n\nAlthough, according to his own testimony in his \u201cConfessions,\u201d Al-Ghazali\nwas troubled from his earliest years with doubt and scepticism, he was\nnot willing to yield to it, and his faith rose triumphant above all\nhis doubts. This is one of the outstanding facts in his biography. He\ncould say with the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews that \u201cfaith\nis the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not\nseen.\u201d Not only did he find God in nature and in his own conscience\nand consciousness, but he was a firm believer in revelation. Naturally\nthe only revelation to which Al-Ghazali turned as the basis, the very\nbed-rock of religious faith, was the Koran, the eternal, uncreated\nword of God according to Moslem teaching; and also to the life of the\nProphet Mohammed, his practices and his precepts handed down in orthodox\nTradition\u2014this also was a revelation from God.\n\nWhether he ever read the Old and New Testament is a question we consider\nunanswered. He did not draw his creed from this source.\n\nAl-Ghazali gives the distinction very clearly, almost as clearly as the\nEpistle of James, between faith and works. He was a dogmatic theologian\nand laid down, as we shall see in this chapter, with punctilious care\nevery point of dogma; but he was also a moralist and a man of high ideals\nwhich he sought to attain through prayer and fasting and pilgrimage, and\na life of utter devotion to the will of God. His faith was living and\npractical, not theoretical and scholastic. In his great work, the _Ihya_,\nhe discusses the whole subject of faith, and enumerates the following\nclasses of believers:\n\n\u201cHe who combines inner belief with outward confession and good works is a\ntrue believer and enters Paradise.\n\n\u201cHe who combines inner belief with outward confession and some good\nworks but commits one or more great sins, does not thereby cease to be a\nbeliever, though his faith is not of the highest degree. The Mu\u02betazila\ndeny that such a one can be considered a believer, but that nevertheless\nby committing deadly sins he does not become an unbeliever but is in an\nintermediate state between a believer and an infidel. An infidel is an\nimpious person and goes into everlasting hell-fire.\u201d\n\nThe opinions with regard to the person who combines inner belief with\noutward confession, but has no good works are divided. Abu Talibu\u2019l\nMakki says: \u201cGood works are part of the faith, and faith cannot exist\nwithout them.\u201d The Sunni doctors of Islam, however, reject this opinion\nas absolutely false, for they say that it is a truth accepted by general\nagreement, that a man who believes and confesses and dies before he has\ndone any good work, is a true believer and enters Paradise; that good\nworks cannot consequently be considered as a necessary part of faith, and\nthat faith can exist without them.\n\n\u201cHe who believes in his heart, but dies before he has either confessed\nor performed good works, is nevertheless a true believer and enters\ninto Paradise. Those who consider confession a necessary part of faith\nnaturally consider that such a one has died without faith, an opinion\nabsolutely contrary to the Sunni dogma.\n\n\u201cHe who believes in his heart, and has time and opportunity of\nconfessing, and knows that it is the duty of the Moslem to do so, and\ndoes not confess his faith, is nevertheless a believer in the sight\nof God, and will not be cast into everlasting hell-fire, for faith is\nthe mere belief, intellectual conviction and assent, and this belief\ndoes not cease to exist through the want of outward confession. Such a\nman is a believer in the sight of God, but an unbeliever in this world\nbefore the court of justice and with regard to the rights of Moslems.\nIn case of an impediment of the tongue, a sign with the hand is as\ngood as confession with the tongue. The sect of the Murji\u02bea go too far\nby saying that a believer, even if he act wickedly, will never enter\nhell-fire. _The orthodox doctrine on this subject is that every one,\neven the most perfect believer, will enter hell-fire, for no one is free\nfrom committing some sins, for which he must enter fire; only infidels,\nhowever, will remain in it forever._\u201d\n\n\u201cHe who confesses with the tongue saying: \u2018There is no God but God, and\nMohammed is His apostle,\u2019 but does not believe it in his heart is an\ninfidel in the sight of God, and will be cast into eternal hell-fire. In\nthis world, however, he is to be considered and treated as a believer and\na Moslem, for man cannot penetrate into the secrets of the heart, and\nthe confession of the mouth must be taken to be the interpreter of the\nthoughts of the heart. In order, however, to make a man a Moslem in this\nworld, before the law, in the sight of the Qadi, confession is necessary.\u201d\n\nNot only does he classify believers in this careful way, but he also\ndiscusses the question, in the first book of his _Ihya_, whether Islam\nis the same thing as _iman_ (faith) or not, and if these two are not\nthe same thing, can they exist separately or must they necessarily be\ncombined? \u201cSome say that Islam and _Iman_ are synonymous terms and that\nconsequently every believer is a Moslem and every Moslem a believer.\u201d\nThis is the opinion held by the orthodox school. Others say that they are\ndistinct things but joined together. Al-Ghazali answers this difficult\nquestion in this way: _Iman_ (Faith), from the linguistic point of\nview, means belief, intellectual conviction and assent; Islam means\nsubmission, subjection, obedience. The seat of _Iman_ is the heart or\nmind, and the tongue is its interpreter. Islam comprises belief with\nthe heart and confession with the tongue, and good works by the members\nof the body, and is consequently a more comprehensive term than _Iman_.\n_Iman_ is one of the component parts of Islam, and Islam, therefore,\nincludes it; but _Iman_, being a more restricted term, does not include\nIslam. From a linguistic point of view the two terms are therefore not\nsynonymous. From the point of view of the law and religion, and in a\ntheological sense the two terms are sometimes used as being synonymous,\nand sometimes as having different meanings and as being intermingled,\ncomprised in each other. _Iman_ and Islam are found in the individual who\nbelieves in his heart and outwardly observes the precepts of Islam; Islam\nexists separately in the individual, who only believes in his heart; but\nneither confesses, nor does good works, and Islam exists separately in\nhim who outwardly observes the precepts of Islam, without inner belief.\n\nWhat the faith of Islam meant to Al-Ghazali we know from all his works,\nespecially from the _Ihya_, which besides other topics gives a full\nexposition of Moslem belief in regard to the six articles of their creed\nand the five pillars of practice. The reader may judge for himself both\nthe contents and omissions of Al-Ghazali\u2019s _credo_ from the following\nbrief exposition which he wrote for his pupils:\n\n                            HIS CREED[54]\n\n    \u201cWe say\u2014and in God is our trust\u2014Praise belongeth unto God,\n    the Beginner, the Bringer-back, the Doer of what He willeth,\n    the Lord of the Glorious Throne and of Mighty Grasp, the\n    Guider of His chosen creatures to the right path and to the\n    true way, the Granter of benefits to them after the witness\n    to the Unity (_tawhid_) by guarding their articles of belief\n    from obscurities of doubt and opposition. He that bringeth\n    them to follow His Apostle, the Chosen one (_Al-Mustafa_) and\n    to imitate the traces of His Companions, the most honoured,\n    through His aid and right guidance revealed to them in His\n    essence and His works by His beautiful qualities which none\n    perceives, save he who inclines his ear. He is the witness who\n    maketh known to them that He in His essence is One without any\n    partner (_sharik_). Single without any similar, Eternal without\n    any opposite, Separate without any like. He is One, Prior\n    (_qadim_) with nothing before Him, from eternity (_azali_)\n    without any beginning, abiding in existence with none after\n    Him, to eternity (_abadi_) without any end, substituting\n    without ending, abiding without termination. He hath not ceased\n    and He will not cease to be described with glorious epithets;\n    finishing and ending, though the cutting off of the ages and\n    the terminating of allotted times have no rule over Him, but He\n    is the First and Last, the External and the Internal, and He\n    knoweth everything.\n\n    \u201cWe witness that He is not a body possessing form, nor a\n    substance possessing bounds and limits; He does not resemble\n    bodies, either in limitation or in accepting division. He is\n    not a substance and substances do not exist in Him; and He is\n    not an accident and accidents do not exist in Him, nay He does\n    not resemble an entity, and no entity resembles Him; nothing\n    is like Him and He is not like anything; measure does not\n    bound Him and boundaries do not contain Him; the directions do\n    not surround Him and neither the earth nor the Heavens are on\n    different sides of Him. Lo, He is seated firmly upon His throne\n    (_\u02bfarsh_), after the manner which He has said, and in the sense\n    in which He willed a being-seated firmly (_istawa_), which\n    is far removed from contact and fixity of location and being\n    established and being enveloped and being removed. The Throne\n    does not carry Him, but the Throne and those that carry it are\n    carried by the grace of His power and mastered by His grasp.\n    He is above the Throne and the Heavens and above everything\n    unto the limit of the Pleiades, with an aboveness which does\n    not bring Him nearer to the Throne and the Heavens, just as\n    it does not make Him further from the earth and the Pleiades.\n    Nay, He is exalted by degrees from the Throne and the Heavens,\n    just as He is exalted by degrees from the earth and the\n    Pleiades; and He, in spite of that, is near to every entity and\n    is \u2018nearer to a creature than the artery of his neck\u2019 (Koran\n    50, 15), and He witnesseth everything, since His nearness\n    does not resemble the nearness of bodies, just as His essence\n    does not resemble the essence of bodies. He does not exist in\n    anything, just as nothing exists in Him; He has exalted Himself\n    far therefrom that a place should contain Him, just as He has\n    sanctified Himself far therefrom that time should limit Him.\n    Nay, He was before He had created Time and Place and He is now\n    above that which He was above, and distinct from His creatures\n    through His qualities. There is not in His essence His equal,\n    nor in His equal His essence. He is far removed from change of\n    state or of place. Events have no place in Him, and mishaps do\n    not befall Him. Nay, He does not cease, through His glorious\n    epithets, to be far removed from changing, and through His\n    perfect qualities to be independent of perfecting increase.\n    The existence of His essence is known by reason; His essence\n    is seen with the eyes, a benefit from Him and a grace to the\n    pious, in the Abiding Abode and a completion in beatitude from\n    Him, through gazing upon His gracious face.\n\n    \u201cWe witness that He is living, powerful, commanding,\n    conquering; inadequacy and weakness befall Him not; slumber\n    seizes Him not, nor sleep. Passing away does not happen to\n    Him, nor death. He is Lord of the Worlds, the Visible and the\n    Invisible, that of Force and that of Might; He possesses Rule\n    and Conquest and Creation and Command; the heavens are rolled\n    in His right hand and the created things are overcome in His\n    grasp; He is separate in creating and inventing; He is one in\n    bringing into existence and innovating; He created the creation\n    and their works and decreed their sustenance and their terms of\n    life; not a decreed thing escapes His grasp and the mutations\n    of things are not distant from His power; the things which He\n    hath decreed cannot be reckoned and the things which He knoweth\n    have no end.\n\n    \u201cWe witness that He knoweth all the things that can be known,\n    comprehending that which happeneth from the bounds of the earth\n    unto the topmost heavens; no grain in the earth or the heavens\n    is distant from His knowledge. Yea, He knows the creeping of\n    the black ant upon the rugged rock in a dark night, and He\n    perceives the movement of the mote in the midst of the air; He\n    knows the secret and the concealed and has knowledge of the\n    suggestions of the minds and the movements of the thoughts and\n    the concealed things of the inmost parts, by a knowledge which\n    is prior from eternity; He has not ceased to be describable by\n    it, from the ages of the ages, not by a knowledge which renews\n    itself and arises in His essence by arrival and removal.\n\n    \u201cWe witness that He is a Willer of the things that are, a\n    Director of the things that happen; there does not come\n    about in the world seen or unseen, little or much, small or\n    great, good or evil, advantage or disadvantage, faith or\n    unbelief, knowledge or ignorance, success or loss, increase or\n    diminution, obedience or rebellion, except by His will. What\n    He wills is, and what He wills not is not. Not a glance of one\n    who looks, or a slip of one who thinks is outside of His will;\n    He is the creator, the Bringer back, the Doer of that which\n    He wills. There is no opponent of His command and no repeater\n    of His destiny and no refuge for a creature from disobeying\n    Him, except by His help and His mercy, and no strength to a\n    creature to obey Him except by His will. Even though mankind\n    and the _Jinn_ and the Angels and the _Shaytans_ were to unite\n    to remove a single grain in the world or to bring it to rest\n    without His will, they would be too weak for that. His will\n    subsists in His essence as one of His qualities; He hath not\n    ceased to be described through it as a Willer, in His infinity\n    of the existence of things at their appointed times which He\n    hath decreed. So they come into existence at their appointed\n    times even as He has willed in His infinity without precedence\n    or sequence. They happen according to the agreement of His\n    knowledge and His will, without exchange or change in planning\n    of things, nor with arranging of thoughts or awaiting of time,\n    and therefore one thing does not distract Him from another.\n\n    \u201cAnd we witness that He is a Hearer and a Seer. He hears and\n    sees and no audible thing is distant from His hearing, and no\n    visible thing is far from His seeing, however fine it may be.\n    Distance does not curtain off His hearing and darkness does not\n    dull His seeing; He sees without eyeball or eyelid, and hears\n    without earholes or ears, just as He knows without a brain and\n    seizes without a limb and creates without an instrument, since\n    His qualities do not resemble that quality of created things,\n    just as His essence does not resemble the essences of created\n    things.\n\n    \u201cAnd we witness that He speaks, commanding, forbidding,\n    praising, threatening, with a speech from all eternity, prior,\n    subsisting in His essence, not resembling the speech of created\n    things. It is not a sound which originates through the slipping\n    out of air, or striking of bodies; nor is it a letter which is\n    separated off by closing down a lip or moving a tongue. And the\n    Koran and the _Tawrat_ (the Law of Moses) and the _Injil_ (the\n    Gospel) and the _Zabbur_ (the Psalms) are His books revealed to\n    His Apostles. And the Koran is repeated by tongues, written in\n    copies, preserved in hearts; yet it in spite of that, is prior\n    subsisting in the essence of God, not subject to division and\n    separation through being transferred to hearts and leaves.\n    And Musa heard the speech of God without a sound and without a\n    letter, just as the pious see the essence of God, in the other\n    world without a substance or an attribute.\n\n    \u201cAnd since He has those qualities, He is living, Knowing,\n    Powerful, a Willer, a Hearer, a Seer, a Speaker, through Life,\n    Power, Knowledge, Will, Hearing, Seeing, Speech, not by a thing\n    separated from His essence.\n\n    \u201cWe witness that there is no entity besides Him, except what is\n    originated from His action and proceeds from His justice, after\n    the most beautiful and perfect and complete and just of ways.\n    He is wise in His actions, just in His determinations; there is\n    no analogy between His justice and the justice of creatures,\n    since tyranny is conceivable in the case of a creature, when he\n    deals with the property of some other than himself, but tyranny\n    is not conceivable in the case of God. For He never encounters\n    any property of some other than Himself so that His dealing\n    with it might be tyranny. Everything besides Him, consisting\n    of men and _Jinn_ and Angels and _Shaytans_ and the heavens\n    and the earth and animals and plants and inanimate things\n    and substance and attribute and things perceived and things\n    felt, is an originated thing, which He created by His power\n    before any other had created it, after it had not existed,\n    and which He invented after that it had not been a thing,\n    since He in eternity was an entity by Himself, and there was\n    not along with Him any other than He. So He originated the\n    creation thereafter, by way of manifestation of His power, and\n    verification of that which had preceded of His Will, and of\n    that which existed in eternity of His Word; not because He has\n    any lack of it or need of it. And He is gracious in creating\n    and in making for the first time and in imposing of duty\u2014not\n    of necessity\u2014and He is generous in befitting; and well-doing\n    and gracious helping belong to Him, since He is able to bring\n    upon His creatures different kinds of punishment and to test\n    them with different varieties of pains and ailments. And if\n    He did that it would be justice on His part, and would not be\n    a vile action or tyranny in Him. He rewardeth His believing\n    creatures for their acts of obedience by a decision which is of\n    generosity and of promise and not of right and of obligation,\n    since no particular action towards any one is incumbent upon\n    Him, and tyranny is inconceivable in Him, and no one possesses\n    a right against Him. And His right to acts of obedience is\n    binding upon the creatures because He has made it binding\n    through the tongues of His prophets, not by reason alone. But\n    He sent apostles and manifested their truth by plain miracles,\n    and they brought His commands and forbiddings and promisings\n    and threatenings. So, belief in them as to what they have\n    brought is incumbent upon the creation.\n\n    \u201cThe second Word of Witnessing is witnessing that the\n    apostolate belongs to the apostle, and that God sent the\n    unlettered Qurayshite prophet, Mohammed, with his apostolate\n    to the totality of Arabs and foreigners and Jinn and men.\n    And He abrogated by his law the other Laws except so much of\n    them as He confirmed; and made him excellent over the rest of\n    the prophets and made him the Lord of Mankind and declared\n    incomplete the Faith that consists in witnessing the Unity,\n    which is saying, \u2018There is no god except God,\u2019 so long as there\n    is not joined that of witnessing to the Apostle, which is\n    saying \u2018Mohammed is the Apostle of God.\u2019 And He made obligatory\n    upon the creation belief in Him, as to all which He narrated\n    concerning the things of this world and the next. And then He\n    would not accept the faith of a creature, so long as he did not\n    believe in that which the Prophet narrated concerning things\n    after death. The first of these is the question of Munkar and\n    Nakir; these are two awful and terrible beings who will cause\n    the creature to sit up in his grave, complete, both soul and\n    body; and they will ask him, \u2018Who is thy Lord, and what is thy\n    religion (_din_), and who is thy Prophet?\u2019 They are the two\n    testers in the grave and their questioning is the first testing\n    after death. And that he should believe in the punishment of\n    the grave\u2014that it is a Verity and that its judgment upon the\n    body and the soul is just, according to what God wills. And\n    that he should believe in the Balance\u2014it with the two scales\n    and the tongue, the magnitude of which is like unto the stages\n    of the heavens and the earth. In it, deeds are weighed by the\n    power of God Most High; and its weights in that day will be\n    the weight of motes and mustard seeds, to show the exactitude\n    of its justice. The leaves of the good deeds will be placed in\n    a beautiful form in the scale of light; and then the Balance\n    will be weighed down by them according to the measure of their\n    degree with God, by the grace of God. And the leaves of evil\n    deeds will be cast in a vile form into the scale of darkness,\n    and the Balance will be light with them, through the justice of\n    God. And that he should believe that the Bridge (_as-Sirat_)\n    is a Verity; it is a bridge stretched over the back of Hell\n    (_Jahannam_), sharper than a sword and finer than a hair. The\n    feet of the unbelievers slip upon it, by the decree of God,\n    and fall with them into the Fire. But the feet of believers\n    stand firm upon it, by the grace of God, and so they pass into\n    the Abiding Abode. And that he should believe in the Tank\n    (_Hawdh_), to which the people shall go down, the Tank of\n    Mohammed from which the believers shall drink before entering\n    the Garden and after passing the Bridge. Whoever drinks of it a\n    single draught will never thirst again thereafter. Its breadth\n    is a journey of a month; its water is whiter than milk and\n    sweeter than honey; around it are ewers in numbers like the\n    stars of heaven; into it flow two canals from _Al-Kawthar_\n    (Koran 108). And that he should believe in the Reckoning\n    and in the distinctions between men in it, him with whom it\n    will go hard in the Reckoning and him to whom compassion\n    will be shown therein, and him who enters the Garden without\n    reckoning,\u2014these are the honoured (_muqarrab_). God Most\n    High will ask whomsoever He will of the prophets, concerning\n    the carrying of His message, and whomsoever He will of the\n    unbelievers, concerning the rejection of the messengers; and\n    He will ask the innovators (_Mubtadi\u02bes_) concerning the Sunna;\n    and the Moslems concerning works. And that he should believe\n    that the attestors of God\u2019s Unity (_muwahhids_) will be brought\n    forth from the Fire, after vengeance has been taken on them, so\n    that there will not remain in Hell an attestor of God\u2019s Unity.\n    And that he should believe in the intercession (_shafa\u02bea_)\n    of the prophets, next of the learned (_\u02bfulama_), next of the\n    martyrs, next of the rest of the believers\u2014each according to\n    his dignity and rank with God Most High. And he who remains of\n    the believers, and has no intercessor, shall be brought forth\n    of the grace of God, whose are Might and Majesty. So there\n    shall not abide eternally in the Fire a single believer, but\n    whoever has in his heart the weight of a single grain of faith\n    shall be brought forth therefrom. And that he should confess\n    the excellence of the Companions\u2014May God be well pleased with\n    them\u2014and their rank; and that the most excellent of mankind,\n    after the Prophet is Abu Bakr, next Umar, next Uthman, next\n    Ali\u2014May God be well pleased with them; And that he should think\n    well of all the Companions and should praise them like as he\n    praises God, whose are Might and Majesty, and His Apostles. All\n    this is that which has been handed down in tradition from the\n    Prophet and in narratives from the followers. He who confesses\n    all this, relying upon it, is of the People of the Truth and\n    the Company of the Sunna, and hath separated himself from the\n    band of error and the sect of innovation (_bid\u02bea_). So we ask\n    from God perfection of certainty and firm standing in the Faith\n    (_din_) for us and for all Moslems through His compassion.\u2014Lo!\n    He is the Most Compassionate!\u2014and may the blessing of God be\n    upon our Lord Mohammed and upon every chosen creature.\u201d\n\nThe above is Doctor Macdonald\u2019s careful translation of what Al-Ghazali\ntaught was involved when Moslems say: _There is no God but Allah, and\nMohammed is Allah\u2019s Apostle._ Surely he gave this shortest of all creeds\nits full significance and value.\n\nIt is necessary, however, not only to see in it the faith of Al-Ghazali\nbut his credulity as well, if we desire to understand the man and\nhis times. Once his early scepticism was overcome, he was always and\neverywhere an orthodox Moslem, and therefore swallowed the Traditions\nand the Koran apparently without any philosophic doubt. He believed that\nMohammed was the greatest of all the prophets, and that, so he says, \u201cGod\nhas established Mohammed\u2019s prophetic character by miracles, such as the\nsplitting of the moon, and the praising of him by stones, the gushing\nout of water from between his fingers. One of the greatest miracles,\nproving his divine mission, is the Koran, for none of the Arabs were able\nto produce anything like it. Another sign of his prophetic character\nis his being able to foretell things which are to come to pass, such\nas his victorious entry into Mecca, the defeat of the Greeks and their\nsubsequent victories.\u201d (See the special chapter in the _Ihya_ on this\nsubject.)\n\nHe was a predestinarian in the fullest sense. In one place he writes:\n\u201cWhen God Almighty let His hands pass over the back of Adam and gathered\nmen into His two hands, He placed some of them in His right hand and the\nothers in His left; then He opened both His hands before Adam, and Adam\nlooked at them and saw them like imperceptible atoms. Then God said:\n\u2018These are destined for Paradise and these are destined for hell-fire.\u2019\nHe then asked them: \u2018Am I not your Lord?\u2019 And they replied: \u2018Certainly,\nwe testify that Thou art our Lord.\u2019 God then asked Adam and the angels to\nbe witnesses to the act; after this God replaced them into the loins of\nAdam. They were at that time purely spiritual beings without bodies. He\nthen caused them to die, but gathered them and kept them in a receptacle\nnear His throne. When the germ of a new being is placed in the womb of\nthe mother, it remains there till its body is sufficiently developed; the\nsoul in the same is then dead yet. When God Almighty breathes into the\nspirit, He restores to it its most precious part of which it had been\ndeprived while preserved in the receptacle near the throne. This is the\nfirst death and the second life. Then God places man in this world till\nhe has reached the term fixed for him.\u201d\n\nThe great Mystic was also superstitious. Some of his books deal with\nmagical formul\u00e6 taken from the Koran and the medicinal use of its text\nor of the names of God. One of the most celebrated magic squares used on\namulets, etc., is called the \u201cSquare of Al-Ghazali\u201d or _Al-Buduh_. It may\ninterest in conclusion to give an account of this form of magic, approved\nby Al-Ghazali, because it is one of the things by which he is best known\namong the masses in the world of Islam.\n\nIn the older Arabic books on magic this formula plays a comparatively\nminor part; but after it was taken up by Al-Ghazali and cited in his\n_Munkidh_ (pp. 46 and 50 of ed. of Cairo, 1303) as an inexplicable,\nbut certain assistance in cases of difficult labour, it came to be\nuniversally known as \u201cthe three-fold talisman, or seal, or table of\nAl-Ghazali\u201d (_al-wakf_, _al-khatam_, _al-jadwal_, _al-muthallath\nlil-Ghazali_) and finally has become the starting point for the whole\n\u201cScience of Letters\u201d (_\u02bfIlm ul-huruf_) (_e. g._, Cf. Al-Buni\u2019s Shems ul\nMu\u02bfarif, A. H. 622). Al-Ghazali is said to have developed the formula,\nunder divine inspiration (_ilham_), from the combinations of letters\nwhich open Suras xix. and xlii. of the Koran, and which by themselves are\nalso used as talismans.[55] Others trace the formula back to Adam, from\nwhom it passed down to Al-Ghazali.[56]\n\nFor the popular mind _Buduh_ has become a Jinn whose services can be\nsecured by writing his name either in letters or numbers. The uses of\nthe word are most varied to invoke both good and bad fortune. It is used\nagainst menorrhagia, against pains in the stomach, to render oneself\ninvisible, against temporary impotence, etc. Lane\u2019s Cairo magician also\nused it with his ink mirror (\u201cModern Egyptians,\u201d chap. xii.). We find\nthe same in magical treatises. It is also engraved upon jewels and metal\nplates or rings which are carried as permanent talismans, and it is\ninscribed at the beginning of books as a preservative. But by far the\nmost common use is to ensure the arrival of letters and packages.[57]\nNo letter from one pious Moslem to another is ever posted in the Near\nEast without putting the figure 8642 in Arabic on the outside of the\nenvelope where it is sealed. And one may see thousands of children in\nEgypt who have never heard of Al-Ghazali and cannot read the letters of\nhis name wearing his magic square on lead or silver amulet to protect\nthem from the hideous power of the Child-Witch (Um-as-Subyan). In the\nAzhar University men study his creed but in the villages they follow\nhis credulity and to all the _fellahin_ of Egypt _Buduh_ has become a\nguardian Angel!\n\n    +---+---+---+\n    | 4 | 9 | 2 |\n    +---+---+---+\n    | 3 | 5 | 7 |\n    +---+---+---+\n    | 8 | 1 | 6 |\n    +---+---+---+\n\nEach letter stands for the number as indicated.\n\n    +---+---+---+\n    | \u200e\u200f\u062f\u200f\u200e | \u200e\u200f\u0637\u200f\u200e | \u200e\u200f\u0628\u200f\u200e |\n    +---+---+---+\n    | \u200e\u200f\u062c\u200f\u200e | \u200e\u200f\u0647\u200f\u200e | \u200e\u200f\u0632\u200f\u200e |\n    +---+---+---+\n    | \u200e\u200f\u062d\u200f\u200e | \u200e\u200f\u0627\u200f\u200e | \u200e\u200f\u0648\u200f\u200e |\n    +---+---+---+\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nHis Writings\n\n    \u201cI saw the Prophet in a dream, and he was contending with Moses\n    and Jesus regarding the superiority of excellence of the Imam\n    Al-Ghazali, and saying to them, \u2018Have you had in your sects\n    such a learned and righteous man?\u2019 alluding to Al-Ghazali,\n    and they both replied, \u2018No.\u2019 The Shaikh, the Imam, one\n    acquainted with God, the Master, the support of religious law\n    and truth, Abu\u2019l-\u02beAbbas al-Mursi said, when mention was made\n    of Al-Ghazali, \u2018Testimony has been already borne to his great\n    and extreme veracity, and it is sufficient for you (to know)\n    that it was he regarding whom the Prophet contended with Moses\n    and Jesus, _and to whose great and extreme veracity the most\n    truthful have borne testimony_.\u2019\u201d\n\n                                    \u2014_Ad-Damiri\u2019s Hayat al-Hayawan._\n\n    \u201cVerily I saw in the Gospel of Jesus (on him be peace) that he\n    said: From the moment the dead is placed on the bier until he\n    rests on the edge of the open grave God Most High asks of him\n    forty questions.\u201d\n\n                  \u2014_Al-Ghazali in Risalat Ayyuha \u2019l-walad (sec. 5)._\n\n\nVI\n\nHIS WRITINGS\n\nMore by far is known of Al-Ghazali from his writings than from the\nrecords of his life. The meagre facts of the biographers and even the\nspelling of his name, as we have seen, are disputed. His pen, however,\nleft so large a legacy that many of his works are still found only in\nrare manuscripts, and have never been published. Moslem writers mention\nninety-nine works, and Brockelmann in his \u201cHistory of Arabic Literature\u201d\ncatalogues sixty-nine which are still in existence. They include systems\nof theology, eschatology, works on philosophy, lectures on mysticism, on\nethics, and on canon law.\n\nMany have assigned to Al-Ghazali the highest position among all Moslem\nwriters. Ismael Ibn Mohammed Al Hadrami says: \u201cMohammed the son of\nAbdullah was the Prince of all the Prophets; Mohammed the son of Idris\nAl-Shafi\u02be was the Prince of Imams; but Mohammed the son of Mohammed, the\nson of Mohammed Al-Ghazali, was the Prince of Writers.\u201d\n\nWe have interesting evidence of Al-Ghazali\u2019s position as a writer even\nin his own day in the precious relic shown in our illustration. In\nthe Arabic Museum at Cairo there is a _maqlama_ or pen-case which once\nbelonged to Al-Ghazali. It was presented to the Museum by M. Kyticas\nand is made of brass overlaid with silver. It bears the following\ninscription: \u201c_Made for the library of our Master, the most great and\nnoble Imam, our revered Leader, the Mouthpiece of verity, the greatest\nScholar of the world, the King of wise men, the Stay of all living, the\nTreasury of truth, the most illustrious among his contemporaries, the\nRestorer of religion_, [an illegible word] _Hujjat ul-Islam, Mohammed\nAl-Ghazali._\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Pen case of Al Ghazali, made of brass inlaid with silver,\npreserved in the Arab Museum, Cairo.]\n\nThis bronze is the oldest piece of damascened metal work and the only\nexample of that epoch with _naskhi_ inscription in the possession of the\nMuseum. That the case was not made at a later period and presented to\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s library _after_ his death is evident from the fact that it\nwas the custom to present a book or celestial globe to a library, but\nnot a pen-case or even an inkstand. Then, too, the word \u201c_al-marhum_,\u201d\nmeaning \u201cdeceased,\u201d does not appear on it as it does on other objects\nwhich were offered in memory of a deceased person. An objection to the\nauthenticity of the bronze is the use of silver in a pen-case designed\nto be used by a Sufi doctor pledged in some measure to an ascetic life.\nBut this objection may be answered by stating that the case was not made\nto the order of Al-Ghazali personally, but by his disciples in order to\nobtain his good-will and patronage.[58]\n\nWe need not, moreover, be surprised at the apparent lack of modesty\nwhich the inscription on the pen-case indicates. Judging from other\ninstances of this period, Al-Ghazali himself might well have written the\ninscription.\n\nAn almost complete list of Al-Ghazali\u2019s writings as well as of the\ntranslations of his works into other languages, especially Hebrew,\nLatin, French, German, and English, is given in the appendix.[59] Before\nwe speak of some of his more important works a summary will interest\nthe reader. The _Jawahir al-Koran_ (Jewels of the Koran) contains\nobservations on some of the verses of the Koran which have special value;\nthe _\u02beAqida_ is a statement of the articles of the Moslem faith, and\nwas published by Pococke in his Specimen; the Precious Pearl (Al-Durrat\nAl-Fakhira) is a treatise on the last judgment and the end of the world,\n_i. e._, his eschatology\u2014and has been translated and published by L.\nGautier. The morality and theology of the mystics are codified in the\n_Ihya \u02bfulum id-din_ (Revivification of the Religious Sciences). The\n_Mizan Al-\u02bfamal_ (The Balance of Works) has been translated into Hebrew\nby Ibrahim bin Hasdai of Barcelona, and published by Goldenthal. The\n_Kimiya as-sa\u02beada_ (Alchemy of Happiness) is a popular lecture founded\non mysticism; this work which was originally written in Persian, has\nbeen twice translated into English, by H. A. Homes in 1873 and more\nrecently by Claud Field. _Ayyuha \u2019l-walad_ (O Child!) is a celebrated\nmoral treatise, which has been translated into German and published\nby Hammer-Purgstall. Among works on jurisprudence, his treatises on\nShafi\u02beite law have earned great reputation in the Moslem world; his\n_Basit_, _Wasit_, and _Wajiz_ are all abridgments of them. In the domain\nof philosophy, the _Tahafut al-Falasifa_ (Collapse of the Philosophers)\nis an attack on the adherents of the Greek Philosophy; it has been edited\nby DeBoer. The _Maqasid al-Falasifa_ (Aims of the Philosophers) is a sort\nof introduction to the above. The text has been published by G. Beer,\nand a Latin translation by Gondisalvi is in existence, which was printed\nin Venice in 1506. _Al-Munqidh min ad-Dalal_ (The Deliverer from Error),\nwritten after the author commenced his life as a teacher at Nishapur for\nthe second time, describes the development of his philosophy. It was\ntranslated and published by Schmolders in his \u201cEssay on the Schools of\nPhilosophy Among the Arabs\u201d; a second and greatly improved translation\nwas published in the _Journal Asiatique_ for 1877, by the learned savant,\nBarbier de Meynard. More recently it appeared in English under the title\n\u201cThe Confessions of Al-Ghazali.\u201d It is one of his shortest but most\nfamous books and can be compared with the \u201cConfessions\u201d of St. Augustine,\nor John Bunyan\u2019s \u201cGrace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.\u201d Several of\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s numerous works are very brief, in the shape of epistles or\ntractates.\n\nAmong his shorter works the following may be mentioned: _Al-\u02beAdab fi\nDin_, a short treatise on the ethics of politeness, prepared for the use\nof his pupils. It speaks of the ideal pupil, the ideal teacher, of the\nethics of eating, drinking, marriage and the religious life. A smaller\nwork already mentioned is the _Risala Ayyuh\u2019 Al-Walad_ (\u201cO Child!\u201d). In\nit he defines faith and works and distinguishes between them. A curious\npassage occurs in the introduction which reflects on Al-Ghazali\u2019s\naccuracy of statement, or at least raises the question as to which\n\u201cGospel\u201d he refers to. He says: \u201cO my child, live as you please for you\nare already dead; love whom you wish, for you are bound to be separated;\nand do what you will, for you are sure to be judged for it. Verily I saw\nin the Gospel of Jesus (upon Him be prayers and peace) that He said,\n\u2018From the hour in which the dead is put upon the bier until the time when\nhe rests on the edge of the grave God will ask him forty questions, the\nfirst of which is, O my servant, you have purified yourself to appear\nbefore men many years and not for one hour have you purified yourself\nfor my gates, and every day a voice was sounded in your ears saying,\n\u201cWhat you do for others why do you not do for me who surrounds you with\nmy mercy!\u201d but you were deaf and not willing to hear.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn his \u201cAlchemy of Happiness\u201d there is a beautiful chapter on \u201cKnow\nThyself.\u201d The parable there used regarding man\u2019s soul and the enemies\nthat lay siege against it reminds one very much of Bunyan\u2019s \u201cHoly War.\u201d\nThe shortest of his works, as far as I am aware, is called _Al-Qawa\u02bfid\nAl-\u02beAshara_ (The Ten Articles); this has been frequently reprinted. It\nconsists of ten principles of faith and conduct, and is scarcely longer\nthan an ordinary letter. Of a similar character is _Risalat-ut-Tair_\nthe parable of the birds. His most celebrated treatise on ethics and\nconduct is entitled _Mizan ul \u02bfAmal_. It might be compared to the book\nof Ecclesiastes or the first chapters of the book of Proverbs. In the\nintroduction Al-Ghazali shows the folly of those who neglect to secure\nthe happiness of their immortal souls as well as the peril of those who\ndespise faith in the world to come. The true way of happiness consists in\nknowing the right and doing it. The soul is a unit and its various powers\nare knit together and are interdependent. The path of the mystic unites\ntrue faith with true practice. He also speaks of the possibility of\nchange of character through religious devotion and mentions the virtues\nthat are to be cultivated and the vices to be shunned on this pathway to\nGod and to true happiness.\n\nTo emphasize the importance of life with its brevity and the supreme\nimportance of eternity Al-Ghazali says: \u201cSuppose we imagine that the\nwhole world is filled with dust and that a little bird should come and\nsnatch up one atom of dust every thousand years. We know that there\nwould be an end of its task, but nothing would have been taken away from\nthe everlasting character of that eternity which has no end.\u201d Although\nthe moral teaching of this book is very noble, it is after all based\nentirely on the principle of salvation by works. There is no hint of the\npossibility of the transformation of character through regeneration of\nthe heart, nor is the way pointed to the victorious life by overcoming\ntemptation through a power that is not our own.\n\nOf all his writings none is celebrated more justly than his greatest\nwork \u201cThe Revival of Religious Sciences\u201d (_Ihya \u02bfulum id Din_). It is\na veritable encyclop\u00e6dia of Moslem teaching and ethics and covers the\nwhole range of Moslem thought. Many editions of this work have been\nprinted and commentaries written on it, the most celebrated of which\nis by Mohammed-uz-Zubeidi Al-Murtadha, in ten large volumes. The work\nitself consists of four volumes of ten books each and has a total of\nover one thousand closely printed pages. Although widely read in its\noriginal form, popular demand has called forth several abbreviated\ncompendia of the work. One of them entitled \u201cA Homily for Believers,\u201d by\nMohammed Jamal-ud-Din of Damascus, is used as a text-book on Islam in the\nTheological Seminary of the American Mission in Cairo.\n\nThe first part of the original work is entitled \u201cThings that pertain to\nworship\u201d; the second part, \u201cThings that pertain to practice\u201d; the third\npart, \u201cThings that destroy the soul,\u201d _i. e._, the vices; the fourth\npart, \u201cThings that deliver the soul,\u201d _i. e._, the virtues. The contents\nare as follows:\n\n                    \u201cTHINGS THAT PERTAIN TO WORSHIP\u201d\n\n    I. _The Book of Knowledge_, which has seven divisions:\n\n        1. The Benefits of Learning.\n\n        2. What Kind of Knowledge is Forbidden and Permitted.\n\n        3. Theological Learning and Nomenclature.\n\n        4. Conditions of Debate and Controversy.\n\n        5. The Relation of Teacher and Pupil.\n\n        6. The Dangers of Learning.\n\n        7. The Mind and its Uses.\n\n    II. _The Book of Dogma_, which has four divisions:\n\n        1. The Moslem Creed.\n\n        2. Degrees of Faith.\n\n        3. God, His Being, Attributes, Work.\n\n        4. Faith and Islam.\n\n    III. _The Book of the Mysteries of Purity_, which has three\n    divisions:\n\n        1. Purification from Unclean Objects.\n\n        2. Purification from Unclean States.\n\n        3. Purification from Unclean Matters that cling to\n        the Body (finger-nails, ears, etc.).\n\n    IV. _The Book of the Mysteries of Prayer_, which has seven\n    divisions:\n\n        1. The Benefits of Prayer.\n\n        2. Outward Observance of Prayer.\n\n        3. Conditions of Prayer.\n\n        4. The Imam.\n\n        5. Friday Prayers.\n\n        6. Miscellaneous Matters.\n\n        7. Special Prayers.\n\n    V. _The Book of the Mysteries of Almsgiving_, which has four\n    divisions:\n\n        1. Kinds of Alms.\n\n        2. Conditions of Giving.\n\n        3. To Whom.\n\n        4. How they are Observed.\n\n    VI. _The Book of the Mysteries of Fasting_, which has three\n    divisions:\n\n        1. Its Necessity.\n\n        2. Its Mysteries.\n\n        3. Obedience through Fasting.\n\n    VII. _The Book of the Mysteries of the Pilgrimage_, which has\n    three divisions:\n\n        1. Its Benefits and Character.\n\n        2. The Order of Procedure.\n\n        3. Its Inward Significance.\n\n    VIII. _The Book of the Perusal of the Koran._\n\n    IX. _The Book of Zikr and Prayer._\n\n    X. _The Book of the Night Meditation._\n\n                   \u201cTHINGS THAT PERTAIN TO PRACTICE\u201d\n\n    I. The Ethics of Eating and Drinking.\n\n    II. The Ethics of Marriage.\n\n    III. The Ethics of Trade.\n\n    IV. Things that are Allowed and Forbidden.\n\n    V. Ethics of Friendship and Conversation.\n\n    VI. The Life of Seclusion.\n\n    VII. The Ethics of Journeying.\n\n    VIII. The Ethics of Music and Poetry.\n\n    IX. On Favours and Offenses.\n\n    X. The Ethics of True Living and the Virtues of the Prophet.\n\n                     \u201cTHINGS THAT DESTROY THE SOUL\u201d\n\n    I. The Wonders of the Heart.\n\n    II. The Exercise of the Soul.\n\n    III. The Dangers of the Two Desires, namely, of the Appetite\n    and of Lust.\n\n    IV. The Evils of the Tongue.\n\n    V. The Evils of Anger and Envy.\n\n    VI. On Despising the World.\n\n    VII. On Despising Property and Greed.\n\n    VIII. On Despising the Love of Honour and Hypocrisy.\n\n    IX. On Despising Vanities.\n\n                     \u201cTHINGS THAT DELIVER THE SOUL\u201d\n\n    I. The Book of Repentance.\n\n    II. The Book of Patience and Thankfulness.\n\n    III. The Book of Fear.\n\n    IV. The Book of Poverty and Asceticism.\n\n    V. The Book of the Unity of God.\n\n    VI. The Book of Love.\n\n    VII. The Book of Good Intent and Sincerity.\n\n    VIII. The Book of Self-examination.\n\n    IX. The Book of Meditation.\n\n    X. The Book of the Remembrance of Death.\n\nEspecially the third and fourth parts of his great work show us\nAl-Ghazali as a mystic and a preacher of righteousness. His ten books\non \u201cThings that deliver the soul\u201d furnish material from which it would\nnot be difficult to collect a beautiful anthology or a daily calendar of\nspiritual thoughts. Such a rosary of pearls from Al-Ghazali\u2019s works might\nwell be used for devotion by Christians as well as by Moslems.\n\n[Illustration: A facsimile page of the Ihya (Vol. II, page 180, Cairo\nEd.). It gives a diagram of the prayer _kibla_ and the rules to be\nobserved in facing it correctly.]\n\nAnother most interesting book is that on the names of God, entitled\n_Al-Maksad ul-Asna Sharh-Asma\u02be-Allah ul Husna_, \u201cThe Highest Aim: the\nExplanation of the Beautiful Names of God.\u201d The book is divided into\nthree parts of which the first deals philosophically with the meaning of\nthe word \u201cname\u201d and its distinction from the naming of the thing and the\nthing named itself: also how it is possible for God to have many names\nand yet to be one essence. The second part of the book is the longest\nand treats of the ninety-nine names of God in order showing how they are\ncomprehended in the seven attributes and the one essence. The third part\nis brief and shows that there are really more than ninety-nine names, but\nthat this was the number fixed upon for good reasons. And finally there\nis a section telling how God may and may not be described.\n\nAl-Ghazali teaches in this book _that the imitation of God\u2019s attributes\nis the highest happiness for the believer_. There are three degrees\nin the knowledge of God, and in this respect he says: \u201cThe virtues of\nthe righteous are the faults of the Saints\u201d; by which he means that\nthe nearer we approach to God the more perfect is our standard of\ncharacter. The three degrees of knowledge are (1) intellectual, (2) that\nof admiration and attempted imitation, (3) that of actual acquirements\nof God\u2019s attributes such as the angels. Nearness to God is by rank and\ndegree, not in regard to position or place. He quotes with approval the\nfamous saying of Junaid: \u201cNo one knows God save God Himself Most High,\nand therefore even to the best of His creatures He has only revealed His\nnames, in which He hides Himself.\u201d He says that two statements are true\nin regard to God and the believer. The true believer must say, \u201cI know\nnothing but God,\u201d and \u201cI know nothing of God.\u201d\n\nThe last book Al-Ghazali wrote was the _Minhaj al-\u02beAbidin_ or \u201cGuide of\nTrue Worshippers.\u201d It is said to have been written for those who could\nnot understand the _Ihya_ and deals with the creed and ritual of Islam\nfrom the standpoint of the mystic. Our illustration shows in facsimile\nthe first page of this celebrated work from a recent Cairo edition. On\nthe margin of the text we have the Beginner\u2019s Guide, already spoken of.\nThese two works of Al-Ghazali are very popular and have recently had an\nincreasing circulation.\n\nThe _Minhaj_ shows that Al-Ghazali at the close of his life had adopted\nthe vocabulary of the mystics even for popular teaching. The various\nchapters are called \u201cstages\u201d in the progress of the soul towards\nsalvation and peace. The first stage is that of knowledge, then follows\nrepentance, a list of the hindrances on the road to God, things that\ndelay the soul in its onward progress, such as the world and its\nallurements, the flesh, the devil, the senses. Other hindrances are the\ncares of gaining a living, the perplexities and troubles of life, while\nthe last stages in the road of the mystic are those of praise to God\nunder all circumstances, and earnest endeavour to attain to the reality\nof the experience of His presence.\n\nSo difficult is the road which Al-Ghazali describes that he says: \u201cSome\nseekers can only finish these stages in seventy years, some in twenty,\nsome in ten. Others there are, however, whose souls are so enlightened,\nso free from the care and perplexity of the world, that they finish the\njourney and arrive at the goal in a year, a month, what do I say, in\nan hour; so that they awaken like the Companions of the Cave, and the\nchange they see in themselves and those about them is to them as a dream.\u201d\n\nHis teaching on prayer as given in the _Ihya_ certainly rises very\nhigh above that of the ritualist who puts all his attention on the\npunctiliousness of outward observance. \u201cPrayers are of three degrees, of\nwhich the first are those that are simply spoken with the lips. Prayers\nare of the second kind when with difficulty, and only by a most resolute\neffort, the soul is able to fix its thoughts on divine things without\nbeing disturbed by evil imaginations; they are of the third kind when\none finds it difficult to turn away the mind from dwelling on divine\nthings. But it is the very marrow of prayer when He who is invoked takes\npossession of the soul of the suppliant, and the soul of him who prays\nis absorbed into God, to whom he prays, and, his prayer ceasing, all\nconsciousness of self has departed, and to such a degree that all thought\nwhatsoever of the praying is felt as a veil between the soul and God.\nThis state is called by the Sufis \u2018absorption,\u2019 for the reason that the\nman is so absorbed that he takes no thought of his body, or of anything\nthat happens externally, or even of the movements of his own soul, but\nis first engaged in going towards his Lord, and finally is wholly in his\nLord. If even the thought occurs that he is absorbed in the Absolute it\nis a blemish, for that absorption only is worthy of the name, though they\nwill be called, as I well know, but foolish babbling by raw theologians,\nare yet by no means without significance. For consider: The condition of\nwhich I speak resembles that of a person who loves any other object, such\nas wealth, honour, or pleasure. We see such persons so carried away with\ntheir love, and others with their anger, that they do not hear one who\nspeaks to them, nor see those passing before their eyes. Nay, so absorbed\nare they in their passion that they do not perceive their absorption; you\nnecessarily turn it away from that which is the object of it.\u201d\n\nElsewhere Al-Ghazali says: \u201cThe commencement of this life is the going to\nGod; then follows the finding Him, when the absorption takes place. This\nat first is momentary, as the lightning swiftly glancing upon the eye,\nbut afterwards, confirmed by use, it introduces the soul into a higher\nworld, where, the most pure essential essence meeting it, fills the\nsoul with the images of the spiritual world, while the majesty of Deity\ndiscovers itself.\u201d\n\nThe evident sincerity and the moral earnestness of Al-Ghazali shown in\nhis works and in the extracts which we have quoted, surely explains\nin a large degree why his influence has been so deep and permanent,\nfar greater than that of the merely intellectual philosophers, such as\nAverroes. While he discouraged scholastic philosophy, he encouraged\nmoral philosophy. The reader will remember how he carried a book of\nethics with him on his journeys. After his death several famous ethical\ntreatises were composed which derived much from him. Claud Field says\n\u201cthe most important of these is the \u2018Akhlaq-i-Jalali,\u2019 by Jalaluddin\nAsa\u02bead Aldawani, which has been ably translated into English by Mr. W.\nF. Thompson. The \u2018Akhlaq-i-Jalali\u2019 itself is largely a translation into\nPersian from the Arabic, the original of which appeared in the tenth\ncentury under the name of \u2018Kitab-ut-Taharat.\u2019 Two centuries after it was\ntranslated into Persian by Abu Nasr, and named \u2018Akhlaq Nasiri,\u2019 enriched\nwith some important additions from Avicenna. In the fifteenth century\nit assumed a still further improved form under its present name, the\n\u2018Akhlaq-i-Jalali.\u2019\u201d[60]\n\nThat Al-Ghazali was a careful student of nature is evident in all his\nwritings. Those portions of the Koran which deal with natural theology\nand the proof of God\u2019s existence from the starry heavens, from the\nfertile ground, the animal creation, and the sea with its terrors,\nespecially seem to appeal to him. One of his books is entitled _Al Hikmat\nfi Makhlukat Allah_ (The Wisdom of God Shown in the Marvels of Creation).\nIt is one of his shorter writings but full of beautiful passages on the\nglory of the starry heavens, the earth and the sea, and the four primal\nelements. One long chapter is devoted to embryology and the physical\nwonders of the human frame. Another is on birds, another on quadrupeds\nand on fishes. The conclusion of the whole treatise is the argument from\ndesign, for the goodness and greatness of the Creator as shown in His\nworks. What he says in regard to the benefits to be obtained from gazing\ninto the starry vault may be compared with David\u2019s words in the eighth\nand the nineteenth Psalms. Says Al-Ghazali: \u201cTo look up into the vault of\nheaven drives away anxiety, removes the whisperings of Satan, takes away\nidle fear, reminds us of God, brings the heart to magnify Him, banishes\nevil thoughts, cures pessimism, comforts the passionate, delights the\nlover, and it is the best _Kibla_ for those who call to God in prayer.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali was also a dogmatic theologian and controversialist. He wrote\na commentary on the Koran in forty volumes, never printed; and a dozen\nbooks against various heretics, including one entitled: \u201cThe Best Reply\nto Those Who Have Tampered with the Gospel.\u201d Al-Ghazali, who was himself\ncursed for alleged heresy, is memorable among the theologians of Islam\nin that by his breadth of sympathy he forbade the cursing of Yazid, the\nnotorious slayer of Hussein, Mohammed\u2019s grandson, and gave his opinion in\nthese words: \u201cIt is forbidden to curse a Moslem: Yazid was a Moslem. It\nis not certain that he slew Al-Husain, and it is forbidden to think ill\nof a Moslem. We cannot be certain that he ordered his death; really we\ncannot be certain of the cause of the death of any great man, especially\nat such a distance of time. We have also to remember the party spirit\nand false statements in this particular case. Again, if he did kill him,\nhe is not an unbeliever because of that; he is only disobedient to God.\nAgain, he may have repented before he died. Further, to abstain from\ncursing is no crime. No one will be asked if he ever cursed Satan; if he\nhas cursed him he may be asked, Why? The only accursed ones of whom we\nknow are those who die infidels.\u201d[61]\n\nAmong his books against the philosophers we must mention three which are\nclosely related to one another. They are the _Maqasid-ul-Falasifa_, a\nstatement of the true teachings of the philosophers and a presentation\nof their views of the world; the _Tahafut ul Falasifa_ which overthrows\ntheir views and shows that they are untenable to those who would follow\nIslam with heart and mind; the _Qawa\u02beid_, which shows the truths that\nmust be built up to take the place of the errors of the philosophers. In\nthe first-named book, according to Macdonald, he \u201csmites the philosophers\nhip and thigh, turns their own weapons against them and goes to the\nextreme of intellectual scepticism; seven hundred years before Hume he\ncuts the bond of causality with the edge of his dialectic and proclaims\nthat we can know nothing of cause or effect, but simply that one thing\nfollows another.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s great work \u201cThe Revival of Religious Sciences,\u201d caused\ngreat scandal in Andalusia. There the intolerance of the learned passed\nall bounds because of the narrowness of their views. Their theology was\nlimited to minute knowledge of Canon Law. They had no place for the\nreligion which Ghazali preached, which was personal and passionate, a\nreligion of the heart. When he attacked contemporary theologians busy\nwith questions of legality and the externals of religion, he touched\nthese pharisees of the law at the quick and they not only squirmed but\nscreamed loudly. According to Dozy, \u201cthe Kady of Cordova, Ibn Hamdin,\ndeclared that any man who read Al-Ghazali\u2019s book was an infidel ripe for\ndamnation, and he drew up a _fatwa_ condemning all copies of the book to\nthe flames. This _fatwa_, signed by the _Fakihs_ of Cordova, was formally\napproved by \u02beAli. Al-Ghazali\u2019s book was accordingly burnt in Cordova\nand all the other cities of the Empire, and possession of a copy was\ninterdicted on pain of death and confiscation of property.\u201d\n\nBut this opinion was not shared by Moslems elsewhere. In his lifetime and\nespecially after his death his works against philosophy and his great\nexposition of Islam found ever larger circles of readers and commentators.\n\nHe has been accused, and not without good reason, both by Moslem writers\nand European critics, of carelessness and inaccuracy in his quotations\nand references to other books.[62] One of the charges brought against him\nby his assailants is that he falsified Tradition. Macdonald\u2019s judgment\nis very charitable when he says that \u201che quoted from memory too freely,\nbecause he was a man of too large a calibre to watch his quotations and\nthey were loose to the end of his life.\u201d\n\nAs-Subqi in his Tabakat-ash-Shafa\u02beiya al Kubra devotes a special section\nto what is entitled \u201cA List of all the Traditions given by Al-Ghazali\nin his _Ihya_ which have no _isnad_, or pedigree, _i. e._, Traditions\n_quoted by him as authoritative and yet which from the standpoint of\nMoslem criticism are on this account absolutely worthless_.\u201d This section\nof the book referred to covers many pages and by actual count I found\nover six hundred Traditions each catalogued by reference to the chapter\nin which they occur. Now we have no reason to doubt that As-Subqi (d.\n771 A. H.) was an admirer of Al-Ghazali and esteemed his teaching, yet\nwhat shall we say when in this collection of the lives of the saints so\nstrong an indictment is made of Al-Ghazali\u2019s inaccuracy by one of his own\ndisciples?\n\nWhen reading this collection of \u201ctrue sayings\u201d of the Prophet (which are\nafter all often ascribed to him without any authority or foundation)\none is shocked both at the credulity and the lack of love for veracity\nin this greatest of all Moslem apologists. If even Al-Ghazali handled\nTradition so carelessly as to ascribe to Mohammed so much that is\naltogether puerile, fabulous and often immoral, what confidence can we\nput in other and later tradition-mongers and how can we clear Al-Ghazali\nfrom the charge of using pious falsehood?\n\nWe add another fact of great interest in regard to his writings.\nAl-Ghazali exercised a commanding influence on Jewish thought in the\nMiddle Ages. In the appendix is a list of some of the translations of\nhis books made in Hebrew. Jewish students of philosophy, including\nMaimonides, drew many of their theories from the _Maqasid_ and his other\nworks. Al-Ghazali\u2019s attacks on philosophy were imitated by Judah ha-Levy\nin his _Cuzari_; but it was chiefly his ethical teaching rather than\nthrough his philosophy that Al-Ghazali attracted the Jewish thinkers.\nBroyde says, \u201cHe approached the ethical ideal of Judaism to such an\nextent that some supposed him to be actually drifting in that direction,\nand his works were eagerly studied and used by Jewish writers. Abraham\nibn Ezra borrowed from Al-Ghazali\u2019s _Mizan al \u02bfAmal_ his comparison\nbetween the limbs of the human body and the functionaries of a king,\nand used it for the subject of his beautiful admonition _Yeshene Leb_;\nAbraham ibn Dawud borrowed from the same work the parable used by\nAl-Ghazali to prove the difference in value between various branches of\nscience; and Simon Duran cites in his _Keshet_ a passage from the _Mozene\nha-\u02beIyyunim_, which he calls _Mozene ha-Hokmah_.\u201d[63]\n\nThe translations of his works into Hebrew were made as early as the\nthirteenth century. Not less than _eleven_ Hebrew commentaries are known\non the _Maqasid_. \u201cJohanan Alemanno recommends Ghazali\u2019s hermeneutic\nmethods, and compares the order and graduation of lights in Ghazali\u2019s\ntheory with those of the theory of the cabalists.\u201d\n\nIn regard to science, Al-Ghazali\u2019s views were naturally those of his\ncontemporaries. His world was built on the Ptolemaic system. There are\nfour elements only. Existence has three modes: the world of sense, the\nworld of God\u2019s eternal decree, and the world of ideals or of God\u2019s power.\nIn dreams and visions we are in contact with the two other worlds.\nAl-Ghazali avoids the difficulties of concrete Moslem teaching by this\nmethod. There may be things which are real and actual and yet do not\nbelong to the world of sense.[64]\n\nDoctor Macdonald admirably summarizes his influence on Islam as\nfour-fold. \u201cFirst of all he led men back from mere scholastic dogma to\na living contact with the Koran and the Traditions as the true source\nof Islam. He might be called a Biblical theologian in our modern use\nof the word, understanding by \u2018Bible\u2019 always the Moslem bible, namely\nthe Koran. Nearly every paragraph of his _Ihya_ begins with a Koran\nquotation, and his interpretation of the book is not a slavish following\nof the earlier commentators but a spiritual interpretation of the text.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the second place he reintroduced into Islam the element of fear. In\nthe earliest days, as for example in the Koran itself, the terrors of the\nday of judgment and the horrors of hell operated in order to lead men to\nrepentance. Al-Ghazali emphasized this part of the Moslem teaching to the\nutmost, witness his little book _Al-Durra al-Fakhira_, which has to this\nday great acceptance among pious Moslems.\u201d\n\nIn the third place mysticism, already existing in Islam, but looked\nupon in many quarters as heretical, received its birthright through\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s life and teachings, and from his day on held an assured\nposition in orthodox Islam.\n\nLastly, he brought philosophy within the range of the ordinary mind,\nwarning the people against its dangers as well as showing them its\nfundamental principles and above all illustrating through his writings\nhow true philosophy and true Islam are not contradictory. In this respect\nhe resembles Raymond Lull who also desired to use philosophy as the\nhandmaid of Christianity.[65]\n\nMacdonald thinks that of these four phases of his work and influence the\nfirst and the third were undoubtedly the most important. These alone made\nhim a reformer of the first rank in the history of Islam.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nHis Ethics\n\n    \u201cThe religion of Christ contains whole fields of morality and\n    whole realms of thought which are all but outside the religion\n    of Mohammed. It opens humility, purity of heart, forgiveness\n    of injuries, sacrifice of self to man\u2019s moral nature; it\n    gives scope for toleration, development, boundless progress\n    to his mind; its motive power is stronger, even as a friend\n    is better than a king and love higher than obedience. Its\n    realized ideals in the various paths of human greatness have\n    been more commanding, more many-sided, more holy, as Averroes\n    is below Newton, Haroun below Alfred, and \u02beAli below St. Paul.\n    Finally, the ideal life of all is far more elevating, far more\n    majestic, far more inspiring even as the life of the founder of\n    Mohammedanism is below the life of the Founder of Christianity.\u201d\n\n                           \u2014_\u201cLife of Mohammed,\u201d R. Bosworth Smith._\n\n\nVII\n\nHIS ETHICS\n\nMartensen defines Christian ethics as \u201cthe science of morals conditioned\nby Christianity.\u201d But the three fundamental concepts of Christian ethics\nare all of them challenged by the teaching of Islam. The Mohammedan idea\nof the Highest Good, of Virtue and of the Moral Law are not in accord\nwith those of Christianity. This is evident both from the character of\nMohammed himself and from his recorded sayings. Ideal virtue is to be\nfound through imitation of Mohammed. And the moral law is practically\nabrogated because of loose views as to its real character, its teaching\nand finality. \u201cThe ethics of Islam bear the character of an outwardly\nand crudely conceived doctrine of righteousness; conscientiousness in\nthe sphere of the social relations, faithfulness to conviction and to\none\u2019s word, and the bringing of an action into relation to God, are its\nbright points; but there is a lack of heart-depth, of a basing of the\nmoral in love. The highest good is the very outwardly and very sensuously\nconceived happiness of the individual.\u201d[66]\n\nThis statement needs no proof to those who know Islam from its\noriginal sources, the Koran and Tradition. Professor Margoliouth uses\nlanguage which is strong but not unfair when he says in regard to the\nsaints of the Moslem calendar\u2014that is the companions and followers of\nMohammed\u2014\u201cThose who recount the history of Islam have to lay aside all\nordinary canons of morality, else the picture would have no lights; they\ncould not write at all if they let themselves be shocked by perfidy or\nbloodthirstiness, by cruelty or lust, yet both the Koran and Tradition\nforbid the first three, and assign some limits to the fourth.\u201d A stream\ncannot rise higher than its source; a tower cannot be broader than its\nfoundation. The measure of the moral stature of Mohammed is the source\nand foundation of all moral ideals in Islam. His conduct is the standard\nof character. We need not be surprised, therefore, that the ethical\nstandard is so low even in Al-Ghazali, although he ofttimes rises high\nabove the Koran and the Prophet.\n\nIn nearly every one of his books on morals the Prophet of Arabia is held\nup as the highest ideal of character. In his \u201cPrecious Pearl,\u201d however,\nthere is a passage quoted from a tradition in which he pays this high\ntribute to Jesus Christ (page 24, Cairo Edition), \u201c_Go to Jesus, on Him\nbe peace, for He is the truest of those who were sent as apostles, and\nwho knew most of God, and the most ascetic in life of them all, and the\nmost eloquent of all in wisdom, perchance He will intercede for you._\u201d\nThe quotation, however, refers to the day of resurrection when the\nvarious nations seek God\u2019s favour and forgiveness.\n\nWhen we consider the age in which Al-Ghazali lived and his Moslem\neducation in ethics, Macdonald says,[67] \u201cthe position of Al-Ghazali is a\nsimple one. All our laws and theories upon the subject, the analysis of\nthe qualities of the mind, good and bad, the tracing of hidden defects to\ntheir causes, and the methods of combating these causes,\u2014all these things\n[Al-Ghazali teaches] we owe to the saints of God to whom God Himself has\nrevealed them. Of these there have been many at all times and in all\ncountries,\u2014God has never left Himself without a witness,\u2014and without them\nand their labours and the light which God has vouchsafed to them we could\nnever know ourselves. Here as everywhere, comes out clearly Al-Ghazali\u2019s\nfundamental position that the ultimate source of all knowledge is\nrevelation from God. It may be major revelation, through accredited\nprophets who come forward as teachers, divinely sent and supported by\nmiracles and by the evident truth of their message appealing to the human\nheart; or it may be minor revelation\u2014subsidiary and explanatory\u2014through\nthe vast body of saints of different grades to whom God has granted\nimmediate knowledge of Himself. Where the saints leave off, the prophets\nbegin; and, apart from such teaching, man, even in physical science,\nwould be groping in the dark.\u201d\n\nBut we must add to this clear statement of Al-Ghazali\u2019s theory of ethics,\n_lest it be wholly misunderstood_, that the revelation referred to is\nthe Koran and that \u201cthe saints\u201d were the Moslem saints of the early\nCaliphate, and their followers.\n\nMoslem doctors of jurisprudence, including Al-Ghazali, define sin as\n\u201ca conscious act of a responsible being against known law.\u201d Therefore\nsins of ignorance and of childhood are not reckoned as real sin. They\ndivide sin into \u201cgreat\u201d and \u201clittle\u201d sins. Some say there are seven\ngreat sins: idolatry, murder, false charge of adultery, wasting the\nsubstance of orphans, taking interest on money, desertion from _Jihad_\nand disobedience to parents. Others say there are seventeen, and include\nwine-drinking, witchcraft and perjury among them. The lack of all\ndistinction between the ceremonial and the moral law is very evident in\nthe traditional sayings of Mohammed, which are, of course, at the basis\nof ethics. Take one example: \u201cThe Prophet, upon him be prayers and peace,\nsaid, One _dirhem_ of usury which a man takes knowing it to be so is\nmore grievous than thirty-six fornications, and whosoever has done so is\nworthy of hell-fire.\u201d\n\nOrthodox Moslems divide sins into greater and lesser. Al-Ghazali quotes\none who said, \u201cThere are no greater and lesser sins, but everything\nwhich is contrary to God\u2019s will is a great sin,\u201d but gives Koran\npassages contradicting this and then escapes the moral difficulty by\nshowing that the smaller sins may become great if we continue in them:\n\u201clike the dropping of water wearing away a stone\u201d; and \u201cwhen the servant\nof God reckons his sin great, God reckons it small, and when he reckons\nit small, then God reckons it great.\u201d\n\nHe divides the sins which overcome the heart into four classes: egoistic,\nsatanic, brutal and cruel. Under the first he puts pride, conceit,\nboasting, selfishness, etc.; envy, hatred, deceit, malice, corruption and\nunbelief, belong to the second; while greed, gluttony, lust, adultery,\nsodomy, theft, and the robbing of orphans are classed as brutal sins; and\nanger, passion, abuse, cursing, murder, robbery, etc., are cruel.\n\nYet in all of Al-Ghazali\u2019s works on ethics and many of his smaller\ntreatises are on this subject, there is no clear distinction made between\nthe ritual and the moral law. In fact one word used for ethics in Arabic\n(_\u02beadab_) refers to propriety of conduct, etiquette, politeness, and\ndecency in outward behaviour, reverence in the presence of superiors,\nrather than to the keeping of the ten commandments or of the principles\nthat are fundamental to noble character. This becomes very clear when we\nstudy the contents, for example, of one of his shorter books entitled\n_Al-\u02beAdab fi Din_ (Ethics in Religion).\n\nThe book begins by giving the basis of ethical teaching in these words:\n\u201cPraise be to God who created us and perfected our creation, and taught\nus morals and beautified our morals, and honoured us by sending His\nProphet Mohammed (upon whom may God\u2019s blessing rest), and hath taught\nus how to honour him. Truly the most perfect element in character and\nthe most elevated, and the best of good works, and the most glorious, is\ncorrect behaviour as regards religion, which teaches what a true believer\nshould know of the work of the Lord of the worlds and the Creator of the\nprophets and apostles; and God hath taught us and clearly enlightened us\nconcerning this in the Koran, and hath given us the example of conduct\nin his Prophet Mohammed according to his Traditions. He is our example,\nand likewise are his companions and immediate followers. These have shown\nus what it is necessary for us to follow in their conduct, which we have\nhere recorded for all those who would follow.\u201d\n\nThe paragraphs or sections of this handbook are entitled: Ethics of the\nbeliever in the presence of God; of the teacher; of the pupil; of those\nwho hear the Koran read; of the reader; of the school-teacher; of those\nwho seek to understand Tradition; of the scribe; of the preacher; of\nthe ascetic; of the nobleman; ethics of sleeping; of night-watching;\nof fulfilling a call of nature; of the bath; of washing; of entering\nthe mosque; of the call to prayer; of prayer; of intercession; of the\nFriday sermon; of the feast-days; of conduct during an eclipse; of\nconduct during drought; of sickness; of funerals; of almsgiving; of the\nrich and the poor; of fasting; of pilgrimage; of the merchant; of the\nmoney-changer; of eating and drinking; of marriage (this has several\nsubdivisions); of sitting by the wayside; of the child with its parents;\nof the parent with the child; of brothers; of neighbours; of the master\nwith the servant; of the Sultan with his subjects; of the Judge; of\nthe witness; of the prisoner. The final chapter of this interesting\ntreatise deals with miscellaneous maxims on polite behaviour under all\ncircumstances.\n\nA translation of the section on eating, which is about the same length as\nthe other paragraphs, will give a clear idea of the contents: \u201cOne should\nwash one\u2019s hands before partaking of food and after, and pronounce the\nname of God before beginning to eat, and eat with the right hand. Take\nsmall portions from the dish, chew the food thoroughly, and do not look\ninto the faces of the other guests while you are eating; nor should you\nrecline nor eat to excess beyond the demands of hunger; and you should\nask to be excused as soon as you have had enough, so that your guest\nmay not be embarrassed or any one who has greater need. And one should\neat from the edge of the platter and not from the middle, and wipe his\nfingers after the meal, and return praise to God. Nor should one mention\ndeath at dinner for fear of bringing bad luck upon those who are present.\u201d\n\nAll this is interesting and important, for the Moslem child, as table\netiquette. Obedience, humility in outward behaviour, reverence in the\nmosque, respect \u201cto those above us in age or station,\u201d and many other\nsocial virtues are likewise commended. But the omissions of the Book\nsurprise us. There is nothing on truth, heart-purity, moral courage or\nthe nobility of chivalry\u2014_the things that make a man_.\n\nOne section of the _Ihya_ (Vol. III, p. 96 ff.) deals with the question\nas to when lies are justifiable, and clearly shows that according to\nAl-Ghazali, in the realm of truth at least, the end justifies the means.\n\u201cKnow,\u201d he says, \u201cthat a lie is not _haram_ (wrong) in itself, but only\nbecause of the evil conclusions to which it leads the hearer, making\nhim believe something that is not really the case. Ignorance sometimes\nis an advantage, and if a lie causes this kind of ignorance it may be\nallowed. It is sometimes a duty to lie. Maimun Ibn Muhran said, \u2018A lie\nis sometimes better than truth: for instance, if you see a man seeking\nfor another in order to kill him, what do you reply to the question as to\nwhere he is? Of course you will reply thus, for such a lie is lawful. We\nsay that the end justifies the means.\u2019\n\n\u201cIf lying and truth both lead to a good result, you must tell the truth,\nfor a lie is forbidden in this case. If a lie is the only way to reach a\ngood result, it is allowable (_hallal_). A lie is lawful when it is the\nonly path to duty. For example, if a Moslem flees from an unjust one and\nyou are asked about him, you are obliged to lie in order to save him.\nIf the outcome of war, reconciliation between two separated friends, or\nthe safety of an oppressed depends on a lie, then a lie is allowed. In\nall cases we must be careful not to lie when there is no necessity for\nit, lest it be _haram_ (wrong). If a wicked person asks a man about his\nwealth he has to deny having any; and so if a sultan asks a man about a\ncrime he has committed, he has to deny it and say, \u2018I have not stolen,\u2019\nwhen he did steal; \u2018nor done any vice,\u2019 when he has done. The Prophet\nsaid, \u2018He who has done a shameful deed must conceal it, for revealing one\ndisgrace is another disgrace.\u2019 A person must deny the sins of others as\nwell. Making peace between wives is a duty, even by pretending to each of\nthem that she is loved the most, and by making promises to please her.\n\n\u201cWe must lie when truth leads to unpleasant results, but tell the truth\nwhen it leads to good results. Lying for one\u2019s pleasure, or for increase\nof wealth, or for fame is forbidden. One wife must not lie for her\nhusband to tease another wife. Lying is allowed in persuading children to\ngo to school; also false promises and false threats.\u201d\n\nWe get another view of Al-Ghazali\u2019s ethics in his teaching regarding\neducation. There is a special section in the _Ihya_ (Vol. III, p. 53)\nwhich deals with the education of boys and the improvement of their\nmorals. It is not surprising that nothing is said as regards the\neducation of girls, for even now many Moslem authorities consider it\ninadvisable that they should be taught to read and write. The chapter\nreferred to begins as follows:\n\n\u201cIt is most important to know how to bring up a boy, for a boy is a trust\nin the hands of his father, and his pure heart is a precious jewel like\na tablet without inscription. It is therefore ready to receive whatever\nimpression is applied. If he learns to do good and is taught it, he grows\nup accordingly, and is happy in this world and the next and his parents\nand teachers will have the reward for their action. But if he learns evil\nand grows up in neglect like the dumb cattle, he will turn away from the\ntruth and perish, and his sin will be on the neck of his guardian. Allah\nhas said, \u2018O ye who believe, guard yourselves and your family from the\nfire; and even as the father would guard his son from the fire of this\nworld, by how much the more should he guard him from the fire of the\nworld to come? He will guard him from it by chastising him and educating\nhim and teaching him the best virtues. To this end he will only give his\nboy to be nursed by a good, pious woman who eats the proper food, for the\nmilk from forbidden food has no blessing in it.\u2019\u201d\n\nHe then goes on to show that the education of a child consists in\nteaching him table manners, the avoidance of unclean food, gluttony and\nimpoliteness. He advises parents to dress their children simply and not\nin costly clothing. To quote once more:\n\n\u201cAfter teaching him these things it is wise to send him to school where\nhe shall learn the Koran and the pious traditions, and the tales of\nthe righteous and their lives, in order that a love of the pious may\nbe imprinted in his heart; and he should be kept from reading erotic\npoetry and prevented from mixing with those people of education who think\nthat this sort of reading is profitable and elevating, because, on the\ncontrary, it produces in the hearts of children the seeds of corruption.\nWhenever the boy shows a good character or an act which is praiseworthy,\nhe must be honoured for it and rewarded, so that he will be happy; and\nthis should especially be done in the presence of others. If, on the\ncontrary, he should act otherwise once and again, it is necessary to take\nno notice of it, nor to lay bare his fault, as though you imagine no one\nwould dare to do such a thing, especially if the boy himself conceals\nit, and has determined to hide it; for exposing would only make him more\nbold in the future. If he should repeat the fault, he can be punished in\nsecret.\u201d\n\nSuch is the strange ethical teaching\u2014a mingling of good and bad advice\u2014on\nthe part of one who has always been considered as the pillar of\northodoxy and one of the great authorities on Moslem morals.\n\nThe ethics of marriage holds a large place in Moslem literature, and\nalso in the works of Al-Ghazali. Marriage is enjoined upon every Moslem,\nand celibacy is discouraged. \u201cMarriage,\u201d said Mohammed the Prophet, \u201cis\nmy custom, and he who dislikes it does not belong to my people.\u201d And in\nanother tradition: \u201cMarriage is one-half of true religion.\u201d Even the\nmembers of the ascetic orders in Islam are generally married. The vow of\ncelibacy was therefore not known among the mystics. Marriage is defined\nby Moslem jurists as \u201ca contract by which the husband obtains possession\nof the wife and is allowed to enjoy her, if there be no legal impediment\npreventing the same.\u201d \u201cMarriage,\u201d says Al-Ghazali himself, \u201cis a kind of\nslavery, for the wife becomes the slave of her husband and it is her duty\nto obey him absolutely in everything he requires of her, except in what\nis contrary to the laws of Islam.\u201d\n\nIn the selection of a wife, Al-Ghazali advises his disciples to look\nfor the following qualifications: (1) piety, (2) good character, (3)\nbeauty, (4) a moderate dowry, (5) ability to bear children, (6) that she\nbe a virgin, (7) of a good family, (8) that she be not of near relation.\nThe duties of the husband to the wife and the duties of the wife to her\nhusband are given in detail by Al-Ghazali in his _Ihya_ and in some\nof his other works. The husband, according to this teaching, ought to\nmaintain _a golden mean_ in dealing with his wife in twelve points,\nthat is, he means that there should be no excess of kindness or excess\nof harshness in any of these particulars: (1) the marriage feast; (2)\nbehaviour; (3) playfulness or caressing; (4) maintaining his dignity; (5)\njealousy; (6) pecuniary allowance; (7) teaching; (8) granting every wife\nher rights (in the Moslem sense); (9) chastisement; (10) the rules of\ncohabitation; (11) childbirth; (12) divorce. In one place he says if the\nwife be disobedient and obstinate, the husband has the right to punish\nher and force her to obey him, but he must proceed gradually, exhort,\nadmonish, threaten, abstain from intercourse with her for three days,\nbeat her so as to let her feel the pain, but be careful not to wound her\nin the face, make her blood flow abundantly or break a bone! The teaching\nof Al-Ghazali on divorce and slavery is so thoroughly Moslem that much\nof it is untranslatable. Suffice it to say that he agrees with other\ndoctors of Moslem law in excusing onanism and other sins under certain\ncircumstances, and even indicates that it may become a duty if practiced\nin order to escape from greater sins.[68]\n\nIn spite of his Islamic conception of the sexual relation, Al-Ghazali\ncertainly inspires our respect by what he says on the kindly treatment of\nthe wife and the evil of divorce. Only one would like to know whether he\nhimself had more than one wife and whether she was a worthy helpmeet to\nher husband and he to her. His biographers are silent.\n\n\u201cA man should remain on good terms with his wife. This does not mean that\nhe should never cause her pain, but that he should bear any annoyance she\ncauses him, whether by her unreasonableness or ingratitude, patiently.\nWoman is created weak, and requiring concealment; she should therefore\nbe borne with patiently, and kept secluded. The Prophet said, \u2018He who\nbears the ill-humour of his wife patiently will earn as much merit as Job\ndid by the patient endurance of his trials.\u2019 On his deathbed also he was\nheard to say, \u2018Continue in prayer and treat your wives well, for they are\nyour prisoners.\u2019\n\n\u201cWise men have said, \u2018Consult women, and act the contrary to what they\nadvise.\u2019 In truth there is something perverse in women, and if they are\nallowed even a little license, they get out of control altogether, and\nit is difficult to reduce them to order again. In dealing with them one\nshould endeavour to use a mixture of severity and tenderness, with a\ngreater proportion of the latter. The Prophet said, \u2018Woman was formed of\na crooked rib; if you try to bend her, you will break her; if you leave\nher alone, she will grow more and more crooked; therefore treat her\ntenderly.\u2019[69]\n\n\u201cThe greatest care should be taken to avoid divorce, for, though divorce\nis permitted, yet God disapproves of it, because the very utterance of\nthe word \u2018divorce\u2019 causes a woman pain, and how can it be right to pain\nany one? When divorce is absolutely necessary, the formula for it should\nnot be repeated thrice all at once, but on three different occasions.\nA woman should be divorced kindly, not through anger and contempt, and\nnot without a reason. After divorce a man should give his former wife a\npresent, and not tell others that she has been divorced for such and such\na fault. Of a certain man who was instituting divorce proceedings against\nhis wife it is related that people asked him, \u2018Why are you divorcing\nher?\u2019 He answered, \u2018I do not reveal my wife\u2019s secrets.\u2019 When he had\nactually divorced her, he was asked again, and said, \u2018She is a stranger\nto me now; I have nothing to do with her private affairs.\u2019\u201d\n\nAll the relations of life, its pleasures and duties pass under review in\nbooks on _\u02beAdab_. Every detail of outward conduct is regulated by what is\nsaid to have been the practice of the Prophet. How to eat a pomegranate\ncorrectly, how to take a bath, how to use the _Miswak_, or tooth-brush,\nhow to behave towards Jews and Christians, and what ornaments are\nallowed\u2014all this comes under the head of Moslem Ethics. We give the\nreader one striking example.\n\nIn his work, \u201cThe Alchemy of Happiness,\u201d there is a chapter concerning\n\u201cMusic and Dancing as Aids to the Religious Life.\u201d The question of\nmusical instruments was discussed as earnestly in the days of Al-Ghazali\nas it has been more recently among Christians who dread the desecration\nof God\u2019s house by the \u201ccist of whistles.\u201d There was much dispute among\ntheologians as to the lawfulness of music and dancing as religious\nexercises. The Sufis had already introduced the practice. The following\nparagraphs show Al-Ghazali\u2019s common sense, keen humour, and at the same\ntime his rather doubtful conclusion; for he even justifies erotic poetry\nif sung for the glory of God:\n\n\u201cThe heart of man has been so constituted by the Almighty that, like a\nflint, it contains a hidden fire which is evoked by music and harmony,\nand renders man beside himself with ecstasy. These harmonies are echoes\nof that higher world of beauty which we call the world of spirits; they\nremind man of his relationship to that world, and produce in him an\nemotion so deep and strange that he himself is powerless to explain it.\nThe effect of music and dancing is deeper in proportion as the nature on\nwhich they act are simple and prone to emotion; they fan into a flame\nwhatever love is already dormant in the heart, whether it be earthly and\nsensual, or divine and spiritual....\n\n\u201cPassing over the cases where music and dancing rouse into a flame evil\ndesires already dormant in the heart, we come to those cases where they\nare quite lawful. Such are those of the pilgrims who celebrate the\nglories of the House of God at Mecca in song, and thus incite others to\ngo on pilgrimage, and of minstrels whose music and songs stir up martial\nardour in the breasts of their auditors and incite them to fight against\nthe infidels. Similarly, mournful music which excites sorrow for sin and\nfailure in the religious life is lawful; of this nature was the music of\nDavid. But dirges which increase sorrow for the dead are not lawful, for\nit is written in the Koran, \u2018Despair not over what you have lost.\u2019 On the\nother hand, joyful music at weddings and feasts and on such occasions as\na circumcision or the return from a journey is lawful....\n\n\u201cThe states of ecstasy into which the Sufis fall vary according to the\nemotions which predominate in them\u2014love, fear, desire, repentance, etc.\nThese states, as we have mentioned above, are often the result not only\nof hearing verses of the Koran, but erotic poetry. Some have objected to\nthe reciting of poetry, as well as of the Koran, on these occasions; but\nit should be remembered that all the verses of the Koran are not adapted\nto stir the emotions\u2014such, for instance, as that which commands that a\nman should leave his mother the sixth part of his property and his sister\nthe half, or that which orders that a widow must wait four months after\nthe death of her husband before becoming espoused to another man. The\nnatures which can be thrown into religious ecstasy by the recital of such\nverses are peculiarly sensitive and very rare.\u201d They certainly are!\n\nThe inconsistencies and contradictions in Al-Ghazali\u2019s theory of conduct\nsurprise us when we peruse his works. Sometimes he leads us to high\nmountain ranges whose summits are gilded with the light of heaven, the\ngreat truths of Theism, the ideals of eternity; and again he plunges us\ninto the sloughs of sensuous and worldly discussion\u2014themes unworthy of\nhis pen.\n\nLet us get back to the mountain tops where the air is healthier.\nAl-Ghazali, whatever may have been his failure in other respects, had\nhigh ideals for the attainment of morals from the Moslem standpoint.\nIn his \u201cThe Alchemy of Happiness\u201d he says, \u201cWhen in the crucible of\nabstinence the soul is purged from carnal passions it attains to the\nhighest, and in place of being a slave to lust and anger becomes endued\nwith angelic qualities. Attaining that state, man finds his heaven in\nthe contemplation of Eternal Beauty, and no longer in fleshly delights.\nThe spiritual alchemy which operates this change in him, like that which\ntransmutes base metals into gold, is not easily discovered, nor to be\nfound in the house of every old woman.\u201d\n\nAnd in the attainment of this ideal he is sure that there must be a fight\nfor character. The goal is not to be reached by easy stages. The warfare\nagainst passion is real and costs sacrifice. He gives us a picture of\nthis Holy War almost in the language of John Bunyan. \u201cFor the carrying\non of this spiritual warfare by which the knowledge of oneself and of\nGod is to be obtained, the body may be figured as a kingdom, the soul\nas its king and the different senses and faculties as constituting an\narmy. Reason may be called the vizier, or prime minister, passion the\nrevenue-collector, and anger the police-officer. Under the guise of\ncollecting revenue, passion is continually prone to plunder on its own\naccount, while resentment is always inclined to harshness and extreme\nseverity. Both of these, the revenue-collector and the police-officer,\nhave to be kept in due subordination to the king, but not killed or\nexpelled, as they have their own proper functions to fulfil. But if\npassion and resentment master reason, the ruin of the soul infallibly\nensues. A soul which allows its lower faculties to dominate the higher is\nas one who should hand over an angel to the power of a dog or a Mussalman\nto the tyranny of an unbeliever.\u201d\n\nThe struggle is, therefore, between the flesh and the spirit. Like St.\nPaul, Al-Ghazali must have experienced that which he describes: \u201cThe good\nthat I would I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do.\u201d He is\nconscious of the inner struggle between the higher and the lower natures\nin man. Again and again he contrasts the body and the soul as to their\neternal value in their struggle for supremacy. Both are of God, His gift\nto us; both show His wisdom and His power; but there is no comparison\nwhen we try to estimate their real values.\n\n\u201cThe body, so to speak, is simply the riding animal of the soul, and\nperishes while the soul endures. The soul should take care of the body,\njust as a pilgrim on his way to Mecca takes care of his camel; but if\nthe pilgrim spends his whole time in feeding and adorning his camel, the\ncaravan will leave him behind, and he will perish in the desert.\u201d[70]\n\nThe four leading virtues\u2014the mothers of all other good\nqualities\u2014Al-Ghazali says are \u201cWisdom, temperance, bravery, and\nmoderation (or the golden mean of conduct).\u201d[71] This classification he\nhas borrowed from Plato with so much else on the theory of conduct. He\nexplains all these virtues in terms of the Koran and illustrates them\nfrom the lives of Mohammed and the early saints of Islam as well as the\nlater mystics.\n\nHe is at his best when he speaks of vices and their opposite virtues. No\none can read his chapter against pride and boasting without seeing that\nhe gives us again a page from his own experience. He begins by quoting\nthe saying of the Prophet, \u201cNo one shall enter paradise in whose heart\nthere is the weight of a grain of mustard seed of pride.\u201d And another\nsaying, \u201cSaid God Most High, \u2018Pride is my mantle and majesty is my cloak,\nand whosoever takes away one of them from me I will cast him into hell,\nand I care not.\u2019\u201d Another saying attributed to Mohammed is evidently\ntaken from the Gospel, \u201cWhoso humbleth himself before God, God will exalt\nhim, and whosoever is proud God will bring him low.\u201d His definition of\nhumility is beautiful: \u201cTrue humility is to be subject to the truth and\nto be corrected by it even though thou shouldst hear it from a mere boy\non the street.\u201d In this connection he quotes also a saying of Jesus:\n\u201cSaid the Messiah (upon Him be peace), \u2018Blessed is he to whom God has\ntaught His book. He shall never die in his pride.\u2019\u201d\n\nPride is shown in different ways. Al-Ghazali enumerates pride of\nknowledge, of worship, of race and blood, of beauty and dress, of wealth,\nof bodily strength, of leadership. He quotes Mohammed as an example of\nhumility, and also Abi Saeed el Khudri, who said, \u201cOh, my son, eat unto\nGod and drink unto God and dress unto God. But whatsoever thou doest\nof all of these and there enters into them pride or hypocrisy it is\ndisobedience. Whatever you do in your house do it yourself as did the\nApostle of God, for he used to milk the goats and patch his sandals and\nsew his cloak and eat with the servants and buy in the bazaar, nor did\nhis pride forbid him carrying his own packages home; and he was friendly\nto the rich and to the poor and he gave greetings himself first to every\none whom he met, etc.\u201d\n\nIt is noteworthy that when he rises to the highest ethical teaching he\nbases his remarks on the sayings (mostly apocryphal) of Christ, which we\ncollate in our final chapter. Al-Ghazali tried hard but failed to find in\nMohammed the ideals of his own heart. This is the tragedy of Islam.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nAl-Ghazali as a Mystic\n\n    \u201cMysticism is religion, and supplies a refuge for men of\n    religious minds who find it no longer possible for them to\n    rest on \u2018external authority\u2019\u2014as George Tyrrell both expounded\n    and illustrated for us. Once turn away from revelation and\n    little choice remains to you but the choice between Mysticism\n    and Rationalism. There is not so much choice between these\n    things, it is true, as enthusiasts on either side are apt to\n    imagine. The difference between them is very much a matter of\n    temperament, or perhaps we may even say of temperature. The\n    Mystic blows hot, the Rationalist cold. Warm up a Rationalist\n    and you inevitably get a Mystic; chill down a Mystic and you\n    find yourself with a Rationalist on your hands. The history\n    of thought illustrates repeatedly the easy passage from one\n    to the other. Each centers himself in himself, and the human\n    self is not so big that it makes any large difference where\n    within yourself you take your center. Nevertheless just because\n    Mysticism blows hot, its \u2018eccentricity\u2019 is the more attractive\n    to men of lively religious feeling.\u201d\n\n                                     \u2014_Benjamin B. Warfield, in the\n                                      \u201cPrinceton Theological Review.\u201d_\n\n\nVIII\n\nAL-GHAZALI AS A MYSTIC\n\nOne of the earliest mystics in Islam was Rabia\u02be, who was buried in\nJerusalem. She was a native of Busrah and died at Jerusalem as early as\nthe second century of Islam. Her tomb, according to Ibn Khallikan, was\nan object of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, and was probably visited by\nAl-Ghazali. The following verses are quoted from her in the _Ihya_ (vol.\niv. p. 298):\n\n    \u201cTwo ways I love Thee: selfishly,\n    And next, as worthy is of Thee.\n    \u2019Tis selfish love that I do naught\n    Save think on Thee with every thought:\n    \u2019Tis purest love when Thou dost raise\n    The veil to my adoring gaze.\n    Not mine the praise in that or this,\n    Thine is the praise in both, I wis.\u201d\n\nThe Moslem mystics, or _Sufis_, however, received their name through Abu\nKhair, who lived at the end of the second century of the Hegira. His\ndisciples wore a woolen garment, and from the word _suf_, which means\nwool, they obtained their name. In the next century, al-Junaid (A. H.\n297), one of Al-Ghazali\u2019s favourite authorities, was the great leader\nof the movement, which spread throughout Islam. It was a reaction from\nthe barren monotheism and the rigid ritualism of Islam. This kind of\northodoxy did not meet the needs of the more imaginative mind of the\nEastern races who accepted Islam. The preachers of the new doctrine\ntravelled everywhere and mixed with men of all conditions. In this way\nthey adopted ideas from many sources, although always professing to base\ntheir teaching on the Koran and Tradition.\n\nAccording to Nicholson, the Mystics of Islam borrowed not only from\nChristianity and Neoplatonism, but from Gnosticism and Buddhism. Many\nGospel texts and sayings of Jesus, most of them apocryphal, are cited\nin the oldest Sufi writings. From Christianity they took the use of the\nwoollen dress, the vows of silence, the litanies (_Zikr_), and other\nascetic practices. Their teaching also has many interesting parallels\nwhich Nicholson summarizes as follows: \u201cThe same expressions are applied\nto the founder of Islam which are used by St. John, St. Paul, and later\nmystical theologians concerning Christ. Thus, Mohammed is called the\nLight of God, he is said to have existed before the creation of the\nworld, he is adored as the source of all life, actual and possible, he is\nthe Perfect Man in whom all the divine attributes are manifested, and\na Sufi tradition ascribes to him the saying, \u2018He that hath seen me hath\nseen Allah.\u2019 In the Moslem scheme, however, the Logos doctrine occupies\na subordinate place, as it obviously must when the whole duty of man is\nbelieved to consist in realizing the unity of God.\u201d[72]\n\nNeoplatonism gave them the doctrine of emanation and ecstasy. The\nfollowing version of the doctrine of the seventy thousand veils, as\nexpounded to Canon Gairdner by a modern dervish, shows clear traces of\nGnosticism. \u201cSeventy Thousand Veils separate Allah, the One reality,\nfrom the world of matter and of sense. And every soul passes before his\nbirth through these seventy thousand. The inner half of these are veils\nof light: the outer half, veils of darkness. For every one of the veils\nof light passed through, in this journey towards birth, the soul puts\noff a divine quality; and for every one of the dark veils, it puts on\nan earthly quality. Thus the child is born weeping, for the soul knows\nits separation from Allah, the one Reality. And when the child cries\nin its sleep, it is because the soul remembers something of what it\nhas lost. Otherwise, the passage through the veils has brought with it\nforgetfulness (_nisyan_): and for this reason man is called _insan_.\nHe is now, as it were, in prison in his body, separated by these thick\ncurtains from Allah. But the whole purpose of Sufism, the Way of the\ndervish, is to give him an escape from this prison, an apocalypse of the\nSeventy Thousand Veils, a recovery of the original unity with The One,\nwhile still in this body.\u201d[73]\n\nIn regard to Buddhist influence, Professor Goldziher has called attention\nto the fact that in the eleventh century the teaching of Buddha exerted\nconsiderable influence in eastern Persia, especially at Balkh, a city\nfamous for the number of Sufis who dwelt in it. From the Buddhists came\nthe use of the rosary (afterwards adopted by Christians in Europe), and\nperhaps also the doctrine of _fana_ or absorption into God.\n\n\u201cWhile _fana_,\u201d says Nicholson, \u201cin its pantheistic form is radically\ndifferent from Nirvana, the terms coincide so closely in other ways\nthat we cannot regard them as being altogether unconnected. _Fana_\nhas an ethical aspect: it involves the extinction of all passions and\ndesires. The passing away of evil qualities and of the evil actions\nwhich they produce is said to be brought about by the continuance of\nthe corresponding good qualities and actions.\u201d[74] The cultivation\nof character by the contemplation of God in a mystical sense was the\nreal goal. To know God was to be like Him and to be like Him ended in\nabsorption or ecstasy.[75] One of their favourite sayings was that\nattributed to God by the Prophet, \u201cI was a hidden treasure and I desired\nto be known, so I created the creation in order that I might be known.\u201d\nJust as the universe is the mirror of God\u2019s being, so the heart of man is\nto the Sufi the mirror of the universe. If he would know God or Truth he\nmust look into his own heart.\n\nTo quote Al-Ghazali himself: \u201cThe aim which the Sufis set before them is\nas follows: To free the soul from the tyrannical yoke of the passions, to\ndeliver it from its wrong inclinations and evil instincts, in order that\nin the purified heart there should only remain room for God and for the\ninvocation of His holy name.\n\n\u201cAs it was more easy to learn their doctrine than to practise it,\nI studied first of all those of their books which contain it: _The\nNourishment of Hearts_, by Abu Talib of Mecca, the works of Hareth el\nMuhasibi, and the fragments which still remain, of Junaid, Shibli, Abu\nYezid, Bustami and other leaders (whose souls may God sanctify). I\nacquired a thorough knowledge of their researches, and I learned all\nthat was possible to learn of their methods by study and oral teaching.\nIt became clear that the last stage could not be reached by mere\ninstruction, but only by transport, ecstasy, and the transformation of\nthe moral being\u201d (p. 41, \u201cConfessions\u201d).\n\n\u201cAmong the teachings of the Sufis was that of the pre\u00ebxistence of\nMohammed the Prophet in the Essence of Light. According to the\nTraditions, \u2018I was a prophet while Adam was yet between earth and\nclay,\u2019 and \u2018There is no prophet after me,\u2019 Sufis hold that Mohammed\nwas a prophet even before the creation and that he still holds office.\nThis identification of Mohammed with the Primal Element explains\nthe names sometimes given him, such as Universal Reason, the Great\nSpirit, the Truth of Humanity, the Possessor of the Ray of Light\u2014the\nNur-i-Muhammadi\u2014from God\u2019s own splendour.\u201d[76]\n\nAbsorption in God, therefore, or union with Him is the goal of all the\nSufi teachings and practices. The entire negation of self clears the\nway for the apprehension of the Truth. This journey towards God has its\nstages which are generally given as eight in number: service, love,\nabstraction, knowledge, ecstasy, truth, union, extinction. Some of the\nSufis went so far as to set aside external religion, and showed an utter\nindifference to the ritual as well as to the moral law. Al-Ghazali was\nnot of their number. He teaches, however, that the ordinary theologian\ncannot enter on the mystic path, for he is still in bondage to dogma and\nwanders about in darkness. Prayer, fasting, pilgrimage in all their\nrequirements and the details of their observations have, therefore, a\ntwofold significance; the outward and formal one which is understood by\nthe common people, and the spiritual, real, esoteric significance which\nis only grasped by those who give themselves entirely to God.\n\nAl-Ghazali was thoroughly aware of the dangers of Sufism both in its\ncreed by way of becoming pantheistic, and in its antinomian practices. He\nsaw that divorce between religion and morals would be disastrous and must\ntherefore have been shocked by such verses as those of Omar Khayyam:\n\n    \u201cKhayyam! why weep you that your life is bad;\n    What boots it thus to mourn? Rather be glad.\n    He that sins not can make no claim to mercy;\n    Mercy was made for sinners\u2014be not sad.\u201d\n\nHis teaching regarding sin and repentance was, as we shall see later,\naltogether more fundamental.\n\nFrom the earliest times pantheistic Sufism found a home in Khorasan\namong the Moslems. The old idea of incarnation emerged when the Shiah\nsect separated itself and paid such high veneration to Ali. The sect of\nthe Khattahiyah worshipped the Imam Jafar Sadik as God. Others believed\nthat the divine spirit had descended upon Abdallah Ibn Amr. In Khorasan\nthe opinion was widely spread that Abu Muslim, the great general who\noverturned the dynasty of the Ommeyads and set up that of the Abbassides,\nwas an incarnation of the spirit of God. In the same province under Al\nMansur, the second Abbasside Caliph, a religious leader named Ostasys\nprofessed to be an emanation of the Godhead. He collected thousands of\nfollowers, and the movement was not suppressed without much fighting.\nUnder the Caliph Mahdi a self-styled Avatar named Ata arose, who on\naccount of a golden mask which he continually wore was called Mokanna,\nor \u201cthe veiled prophet.\u201d He also had a numerous following, and held the\nCaliph\u2019s armies in check for several years, till in A. D. 779, being\nclosely invested in his castle, he, with his whole harem and servants,\nput an end to themselves.\n\nWhat Al-Ghazali himself thought of these speculations of the Sufis\nand the danger of this kind of mysticism we learn from his book: \u201cThe\nspeculations of the Sufis may be divided into two classes: to the first\ncategory belong all the phases about love to God and union with Him,\nwhich according to them compensate for all outward works. Many of them\nallege that they have attained to complete oneness with God; that for\nthem the veil has been lifted; that they have not only seen the Most High\nwith their eyes, but have spoken with Him, and so far as to say \u2018The Most\nHigh spoke thus and thus.\u2019 They wish to imitate Hallaj, who was crucified\nfor using such expressions, and justify themselves by quoting his saying,\n\u2018I am the Truth.\u2019 They also refer to Abu Yazid Bistami, who is reported\nto have exclaimed, \u2018Praise be to me!\u2019 instead of \u2018Praise be to God!\u2019\nThis kind of speculation is extremely dangerous for the common people,\nand it is notorious that a number of craftsmen have left their occupation\nto make similar assertions. Such speeches are highly popular, as they\nhold out to men the prospect of laying aside active work with the idea of\npurging the soul through mystical ecstasies and transports. The common\npeople are not slow to claim similar rights for themselves and to catch\nup wild and whirling expressions. As regards the second class of Sufi\nspeculation, it consists in the use of unintelligible phrases which by\ntheir outward apparent meaning and boldness attract attention, but which\non closer inspection prove to be devoid of any real sense.\u201d\n\nNot only did Al-Ghazali realize the danger on the side of pantheism,\nbut he was aware that such religious enthusiasm often led to gross\nhypocrisy. In his _Ihya_ he mentions \u201cthat the prophet commanded that\nwhoever did not feel moved to tears at the recitation of the Koran should\npretend to weep and to be deeply moved\u201d; for, adds Al-Ghazali sagely,\n\u201cin these matters one begins by forcing oneself to do what afterwards\ncomes spontaneously.\u201d Moreover, the fact that religious excitement was\nlooked upon as the mark of a fervent mind and devout intensity, vastly\nincreased the number of those who claimed mystic illumination. He divides\nthe ecstatic conditions which the hearing of poetical recitations\nproduces into four classes. The first, which is the lowest, is that\nof the simple sensuous delight in melody. The second class is that of\npleasure in the melody and of understanding the words in their apparent\nsense. The third class consists of those who apply the meaning of the\nwords to the relations between man and God. To this class belongs the\nwould-be initiate into Sufism. He goes on to say, \u201cHe has necessarily\na goal marked out for him to aim at, and this goal is the knowledge of\nGod, meeting Him and union with Him by the way of secret contemplation,\nand the removal of the veil which conceals Him. In order to compass\nthis aim the Sufi has a special path to follow; he must perform various\nascetic practices and overcome certain spiritual obstacles in doing so.\nNow when, during the recitation of poetry, the Sufi hears mention made of\nblame or praise, of acceptance or refusal, of union with the Beloved or\nseparation from Him, of lament over a departed joy or longing for a look,\nas often occurs in Arabic poetry, one or the other of these accords with\nhis spiritual state and acts upon him like a spark on tinder, to set his\nheart aflame. Longing and love overpower him and unfold to him manifold\nvistas of spiritual experience.\n\n\u201cThe fourth and highest class is that of the fully initiated who have\npassed through the stages above mentioned, and whose minds are closed to\neverything except God. Such an one is wholly denuded of self, so that he\nno longer knows his own experiences and practices, and, as though with\nsenses sealed, sinks into the ocean of the contemplation of God. This\ncondition the Sufis characterize as self-annihilation (_Fana_).\u201d (\u201cThe\nConfessions.\u201d)\n\nElsewhere he compares this highest condition of ecstasy of the human soul\nto a clear mirror\u2014of course he means the mirror of the ancients made of\npolished brass or bronze\u2014which reflects the colours of anything towards\nwhich it is directed. Again and again he comes back to this metaphor in\nhis books. Sin is like rust on the mirror of the soul. Light is reflected\nin it, but the rays are no longer clear, until by repentance the rust of\nguilt and passion are removed.\n\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s mysticism was always accompanied by orthodox insistence on\nthe six articles of faith and the five pillars of practice, through which\nalone the soul can receive its fundamental impulse towards God.\n\nYet Al-Ghazali\u2019s mysticism leads him to emphasize always the spiritual\nside of worship. The mere form is nothing in itself. The author of the\nMasnavi had mastered Al-Ghazali and absorbed his spirit when he wrote:\n\n    \u201cFools laud and magnify the mosque,\n    While they strive to oppress holy men of heart.\n    But the former is mere form, the latter spirit and truth.\n    The only true mosque is that in the hearts of saints.\n    The mosque that is built in the heart of the saints\n    Is the place of worship of all, for God dwells there.\u201d\n\nWhat he says on the imitation of God is based almost literally on\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s book describing God\u2019s attributes.\n\n    \u201cGod calls Himself \u2018Seeing,\u2019 to the end that\n    His eye may every moment scare you from sinning.\n    God calls Himself \u2018Hearing,\u2019 to the end that\n    You may close your lips against foul discourse.\n    God calls Himself \u2018Knowing,\u2019 to the end that\n    You may be afraid to plot evil.\n    These names are not mere accidental names of God,\n    As a negro may be called _Kafur_ (white);\n    They are names derived from God\u2019s essential attributes,\n    Not mere vain titles of the First Cause.\u201d\n\nAbu Sa\u02beid bin Abu \u2019l-Khair, also of Khorasan (A. H. 396-440), was one of\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s teachers in the school of mysticism. When he was asked what\na Sufi was he said: \u201cWhatever is in thy head, forget it; whatever is in\nthy hand, give it away; and whatever happens to thee, disregard it.\u201d\n\nIn regard to the rise of Sufic teaching, its origin and character, Dr.\nC. Snouck Hurgronje remarks: \u201cThe lamp which Allah had caused Mohammed\nto hold up to guide mankind with its light, was raised higher and higher\nafter the Prophet\u2019s death, in order to shed its light over an ever\nincreasing part of humanity. This was not possible, however, without its\nreservoir being replenished with all the different kinds of oil that had\nfrom time immemorial given light to those different nations. The oil of\nmysticism came from Christian circles, and its Neoplatonic origin was\nquite unmistakable; Persia and India also contributed to it. There were\nthose who, by asceticism, by different methods of mortifying the flesh,\nliberated the spirit that it might rise and become united with the origin\nof all being; to such an extent that with some the profession of faith\nwas reduced to the blasphemous exclamation: \u2018I am Allah.\u2019\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Facsimile title page of the last book Ghazali wrote,\nentitled \u201cMinhaj Al-\u02beAbidin.\u201d On the margin this Cairo edition gives\nanother of his celebrated works, \u201cBadayat-al-Hadaya.\u201d]\n\nBut he goes on to say that although many went to such extremes and in\ntheir pantheistic ideas lost sight of the moral law and the restriction\nof conduct it was Al-Ghazali who rescued Islam to a large degree from\nthis danger. He recommended moral perfection of the soul by asceticism\nas the only way through which men could approach nearer to God. \u201cHis\nmysticism wished to avoid the danger of pantheism, to which so many\nothers were led by their contemplations, and which so often engendered\ndisregard of the revealed law, or even of morality.\u201d\n\nIt is therefore from the days of Al-Ghazali that ethical mysticism\nobtained its birthright in the world of Islam together with law and\ndogma. These now form the sacred trio of religious sciences, and are\ntaught in every great centre of Moslem learning. For dogma other writers\nare more authoritative. For Moslem law there is the study of the great\nwriters of the four Schools, but in matters of ethics Al-Ghazali still\nholds his own.\n\nTo quote once more from Hurgronje: \u201cThe ethical mysticism of Al-Ghazali\nis generally recognized as orthodox; and the possibility of attaining\nto a higher spiritual sphere by means of methodic asceticism and\ncontemplation is doubted by few. The following opinion has come to\nprevail in wide circles: the Law offers the bread of life to all the\nfaithful, the dogmatics are the arsenal from which the weapons must be\ntaken to defend the treasures of religion against unbelief and heresy,\nbut mysticism shows the earthly pilgrim the way to Heaven.\u201d[77]\n\nIn one particular, however, this ethical teaching is utterly\ndisappointing. Al-Ghazali\u2019s mysticism is not for the multitude. It is\nesoteric, for a particular class who are filled with religious pride that\nthey, in this respect, are not as other men. Even the noblest minds in\nIslam restrict true religious life to an aristocratic minority, and, like\nthe Pharisees of old, consider the ignorance of the multitude an evil\nthat cannot be remedied. The teaching of Al-Ghazali was intended not for\nthe masses but for the initiates.\n\nIt is remarkable that while he founded a cloister for Sufis at Tus and\ntaught and governed there himself during the closing years of his life,\nhe left no established order behind him. Professor Macdonald thinks that\nin his time the movement towards continuous corporations and brotherhoods\nhad not yet begun. But this is a mistake, for in the _Kashf-al-Mahjub_\n(A. H. 456) we already find a list of the various schools of Dervishes\nand their peculiar methods of devotion. Al-Ghazali\u2019s _teaching_, however,\nis popular among all the Dervish orders of to-day.\n\nA special study has been made of one of Al-Ghazali\u2019s esoteric works on\nmysticism entitled _Mishkat al-Anwar_, by Canon W. H. T. Gairdner, in\nwhich he answers the critics of this work, and shows conclusively that\nwhatever may have been Al-Ghazali\u2019s method he was sincere. We borrow from\nthis interesting and scholarly paper two paragraphs to illustrate the\nmethod of Al-Ghazali:\n\n\u201cIn expounding the tradition of the Seventy Thousand Veils with\nwhich Allah had veiled Himself from the vision of man, Ghazali finds\nopportunity to graduate various religions and sects according as they\nare more, or less, thickly veiled from the light; _i. e._, according\nas they more or less nearly approximate to Absolute Truth (al-Haqq\u2014the\nReal\u2014Allah). The veils which veil the various religions and sects from\nthe Divine Light are conceived of as twofold in character, light\nveils and dark veils, and the principle of graduation is according as\nthe followers of these religions and sects are veiled (_a_) by dark\nveils, (_b_) by dark and light mixed, or (_c_) by light veils only. The\nrecital closes with a short passage which tells us that the Attainers\n(_al-wasilun_) have had the Sufi doctrine of _kashf_ in its most explicit\nand striking form.\n\n\u201c(_a_) Those veiled by pure darkness, called here the _mulhida_, are\nthose who deny the existence of Allah and of a Last Day. They have two\nmain divisions, those who have inquired for a cause to account for the\nworld and have made Nature that cause; and those who have made no such\ninquiry. The former are clearly the Naturists or _dahriya_ who were the\nvery abomination of desolation to Ghazali. It is curious that nothing\nfurther is said of their evil conduct, and it is entirely characteristic\nof medi\u00e6val thought that the deepest damnation is thus reserved for false\nopinion, rather than for evil life. Evil doers form the second division\n(which, however, is not definitely said to be higher than the first),\ncomposed of those who are too greedy and selfish so much as to look for\na cause, or in fact to think of anything except their vile selves. These\nwe might style the Egotists; they are ranged in ascending order into (1)\nseekers of sensual pleasure, (2) seekers of dominion, (3) money-grubbers,\n(4) lovers of vain-glory. In the first he has the ordinary sensual herd\nin view, as well as the philosophers of sensualism; their veils are\nthe veils of the bestial attributes, while those of the second are the\nferocious ones (saba\u02beiya). The denotation of the latter class is quaintly\ngiven as Arabs, some Kurds and very numerous Fools. The third and fourth\nsubdivisions do not call for comment.\n\n\u201cMounting from these regions of unmitigated darkness we come to (_b_),\nthose veiled by light and darkness mixed. Ghazali\u2019s idea of the dark\nveils in general may be gathered from a comparison of this and the\nprevious section. In this section the dark veils are shown to be the\nfalse conceptions of deity, which the human mind is deluded into making\nby the gross and limited elements in its own constitution, namely (in\nascending order) by the Senses, the Phantasy or Imagination and the\nDiscursive Reason. The dark veils of the previous section were the\nunmitigated egotism and materialism which employed these faculties for\nself and the world alone, without a thought of deity. The light veils,\naccordingly, are the true but partial intuitions whereby man rises to\nthe idea of deity, or to a something at least higher than himself.\nThese intuitions are no more than partial, because they fix upon some\none aspect or attribute of deity,\u2014majesty, beauty, and so forth,\u2014and\nbelieving it to be all in all proceed to deify all majestic, beautiful,\netc., things. Thus they half reveal, half conceal, Allah, and so are\nliterally veils of light.\u201d[78]\n\nDoes not this remind us of St. Paul\u2019s words: \u201cNow we see through (in) a\nglass darkly but then face to face, etc.\u201d? Did Al-Ghazali borrow from the\nGospel here also?\n\nIt has been pointed out by Margoliouth and others that Mohammedan Sufism\nis largely based on Christian teaching. This is especially true in\nthe case of Abu Talib, Al-Ghazali\u2019s favourite writer on this subject.\n\u201cSometimes the matter is taken over bodily; thus the Parable of the Sower\nis told by the earliest Sufi writer. Abu Talib takes over the dialogue\nin the Gospel eschatology between the Saviour and those who are taunted\nwith having seen Him hungry and refused Him food; only for the questioner\nhe substitutes Allah, and for \u2018the least of these\u2019 his Moslem brother.\nNot a few of the Beatitudes are taken over sometimes with the name of\ntheir author. Commonplaces which are found in Christian homiletic works\nreappear with little or no alteration in the Sufi sermons. In the Acts of\nThomas, the Apostle, when employed by a king to build a palace, spends\nthe money in charity to the poor. Presently the king\u2019s brother dies, and\nfinds that a wonderful palace has been built for the king in Paradise\nwith the Alms which Thomas bestowed in his name. This story reappears\nin the doctrine of Abu Talib that when a poor man takes charity from the\nwealthy, he is thereby building him a house in Paradise.\u201d[79]\n\nNot only in Qut-ul-Qulub, the famous book of Abu Talib, but in all\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s works we have numerous quotations and references to the\nGospels apocryphal or genuine, as we shall see later.\n\nAl-Ghazali prescribed forms for morning and evening prayer which do\nnot differ greatly from the prayers recommended in Christian manuals\nof devotion. His teaching on prayer is an effort to spiritualize the\nceremony, and in this he follows the teaching of the older Sufis.\nAbsorption in God during prayer was their ideal. To avoid distraction\nmen were advised to pray towards a blank wall, lest any architectural\nornament might distract their attention. Others boasted that they could\nattain to absorption under any circumstances. \u201cThere were saints who when\nthey started their _salat_ told their women-folk that they might chatter\nas much as they liked and even beat drums; they were too much absorbed\nin prayer to hear, however loud the noise. When one of them was saying\nhis _salat_ in the Mosque of Basrah a column fell, bringing down with it\nan erection of four storeys; he continued praying, and when after he had\nfinished the people congratulated him on his escape, he asked, what from?\nGreat names were quoted for the practice of praying hastily, and so\nshortening the time taken by the devotion as to give Satan no chance of\ndistracting the thoughts.\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali, however, believed in reverence and emphasized outward and\ninward preparation for this act of devotion. \u201cPrayer,\u201d says he, \u201cis a\nnearness to God and a gift which we present to the King of kings even\nas one who comes from a distant village brings it before the ruler. And\nyour gift is accepted of God and will be returned to you on the great day\nof judgment, so that you are responsible to present it as beautiful as\npossible.\u201d He quotes with approval a saying of Mohammed: \u201cTrue prayer is\nto make one\u2019s self meek and humble,\u201d and adds that the presence of the\nheart is the soul of true prayer and that absent-mindedness destroys all\nits value.\n\n\u201cTrue prayer,\u201d he continues, \u201cconsists of six things: the presence of the\nheart, understanding, magnifying God, fear, hope, and a sense of shame.\u201d\nHe then treats successively these elements of true prayer, showing in\nwhat they consist, how they are occasioned and how they may be secured.\nWe secure the presence of our hearts by a deep sense of the eternal.\nWhat he says in regard to God\u2019s greatness may well be compared with such\npassages as the eighth Psalm, \u201cWhat is man that Thou art mindful of him?\u201d\nOur sense of shame is quickened, he says, by remembering our shortcomings\nin worship. The only way we can secure the presence of the heart in\nprayer is by drawing our thoughts away from outward diversions and from\nthose within. We should not pray in the public streets, for there our\nmind is diverted. If we can pray towards a dead wall on which there is\nnothing to see it will be helpful. But the inward withdrawal of the heart\nis still more important.\n\nWhat he says about the true _kibla_ is also worth quoting. \u201cIt is the\nturning away of your outward gaze from everything save the direction of\nthe holy house of God. Do you not then think that the turning aside of\nyour heart from all other things to the consideration of God Most High\nis required of you? It certainly is. Nothing else is required of you in\nprayer than this, so that I would say the face of your heart must turn\nwith the face of your body; and even as no one is able to face the house\nof God save by turning away from every other direction, so the heart does\nnot truly turn towards God save by being separated from everything else\nthan himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen you stand up to pray,\u201d he says, \u201cremember the day when you must\nstand before God\u2019s throne and be judged. Be clear of hypocrisy in prayer.\nDo not follow those who profess to worship the face of God and at the\nsame time seek the praise of men.... Flee from the devil, for he is as\na devouring lion. How can any one who is pursued by a lion or an enemy\nwho would devour him or kill him say, \u2018I take refuge with God from them\nin this castle or in this fort,\u2019 and still linger without entering the\nfort? Surely this will not profit him. The only way to secure protection\nis to change his place. In like manner whoever follows his lusts, which\nare the lurking place of Satan and the abomination of the Merciful, the\nmere saying, \u2018I take refuge in God\u2019 will not profit. Whosoever takes his\npassions for a God he is under the reign of the devil and not in the safe\nkeeping of his Lord.\u201d\n\nHe gives a long spiritual interpretation of the _fatihah_ which is\nbeautiful. \u201cAt the conclusion of your formal prayer,\u201d he says, \u201coffer\nyour humble petitions and thanksgivings and expect an answer and join\nin your petition your parents and the rest of true believers. And when\nyou give the final _salaams_ remember the two angels who sit on your\nshoulders.\u201d\n\nIn the giving of alms he says seven things are required: promptness,\nsecrecy, example\u2014(and in this connection he quotes a Tradition ascribed\n_to the Prophet_ about the left hand not knowing what the right hand\ndoeth)\u2014absence of boasting or pride, the gift must not be spoken of as\ngreat, our best is demanded, for God is supremely good and He will only\ntake the best, and we must give our alms to the right persons. Of these\nhe mentions six classes: the pious, the learned, the righteous, the\ndeserving poor, those in need because of sickness or family distress,\n_and relatives_. With him, charity _ends_ at home.\n\n[Illustration: A Mihrab or prayer-niche made of cedar wood and dating\nfrom the Eleventh Century. (Cairo Museum.)]\n\nIt is clear, however, from Al-Ghazali\u2019s teaching that only Moslems are\nintended in his classification of those who may receive the _Zakat_.\nThere is no universal brotherhood in Islam. Jews and Christians are\noutside the pale, save as they have \u201cthe rights of neighbours.\u201d\n\nChristians might well regard Al-Ghazali\u2019s mystical method of reading the\nKoran in their perusal of the Scriptures. He tells us we must regard\neight things: the greatness of the revelation; the majesty of the\nSpeaker; the need of a prepared heart; meditation; understanding the\ncontent of the passage, not twisting its meaning; we are to make the\napplication to ourselves; and finally we must read it so that its effect\nmay show in our lives. By the word Koran, he says, \u201cwe mean not the\nreading but the following of the teaching, for the movement of the tongue\nin pronouncing the words is of little value. The true reading is when the\ntongue and the mind and the heart are associated. The part of the tongue\nis to pronounce the words clearly in chanting. The part of the mind is\nto interpret the meaning. The part of the heart is to translate it into\nlife. So that the tongue chants and the mind interprets and the heart is\na preacher and a warner.\u201d\n\nThe greatest chapter of his _opus magnum_ is undoubtedly that on\nRepentance. It may well be compared with the fifty-first Psalm or the\nseventh chapter of St. Paul\u2019s Epistle to the Romans. That Al-Ghazali\nhimself had a deep sense of sin, no one can doubt. He was not a Pharisee\nbut an earnest seeker after God. He teaches clearly that all the\nprophets, including Mohammed, were sinners, although he nowhere mentions\nany sinfulness in Jesus Christ.\n\nOne of the most important passages is that in which he speaks of the\nbenefit of asking pardon. It reads as follows: \u201cSaid Mohammed the Prophet\n(upon him be peace): \u2018Verily, I ask forgiveness of God and repent towards\nHim every day seventy times.\u2019\u201d He said this, so says Al-Ghazali, although\nGod had already testified, \u201cWe have forgiven thee, thy former and thy\nlatter sins.\u201d \u201cSaid the Prophet of God, \u2018Truly a faintness comes over my\nheart until I ask God forgiveness every day one hundred times.\u2019 And said\nthe Prophet (on him be peace), \u2018Whosoever says when he goes to sleep,\n\u201cI ask forgiveness of the Great God, than whom there is no other, the\nliving, and I repent of my sins three times,\u201d God will forgive him his\nsins even though they were as the foam of the seas or its sands piled up,\nor as the numbers of the leaves on the trees or the days of the world.\u2019\nAnd said the Prophet of God (upon him be peace), \u2018Whosoever says that\nword I will forgive his sins though he deserts the army.\u2019\u201d Al-Ghazali\nrelates a story of one Hudhifa, who said, \u201cI was accustomed to speak\nsharply to my wife, and I said, \u2018O, Apostle of God, I am afraid lest my\ntongue should cause me to enter the fire,\u2019 and then the Prophet of God\n(upon whom be peace) said, \u2018Where art thou in asking for forgiveness\ncompared with me, for I ask forgiveness of God every day one hundred\ntimes.\u2019 And \u02beAyesha said (may God give her His favour), concerning the\nProphet, \u2018He said to me, \u201cIf you have committed a sin ask forgiveness\nof God and repent to Him, for true repentance for a sin is turning away\nfrom it and asking forgiveness.\u201d\u2019 And the Apostle of God (upon whom be\npeace) was accustomed to say when he asked for forgiveness: \u2018O God,\nforgive my sin and my ignorance and my excess in what I have done, and\nwhat Thou knowest better than I do. O God, forgive me my trifling and\nmy earnestness, my mistakes and my wrong intentions and all that I have\ndone. O God, forgive me that which I have committed in the past and that\nwhich I will commit in the future, and what I have hidden and what I have\nrevealed and what Thou knowest better than I do, Thou who art the first\nand the last and Thou art the Almighty.\u2019\u201d[80] How different all this\nis from the present day superficial teaching about the sinlessness of\nMohammed which is current in popular Islam.\n\nSince Al-Ghazali tells this about Mohammed and _his_ need for\nforgiveness, he naturally deals with repentance in no superficial fashion\nbut as one who has tasted the bitterness of remorse and has discovered\nhis own inability to meet the demands of the Moral Law. His book on\nrepentance has the following sections: (1) The reality of repentance.\n(2) The necessity for repentance. (3) True repentance expected by God.\n(4) Of what a man should repent, namely, the character of sin. (5) How\nsmall sins become great. (6) Perfect repentance, its conditions and its\nduration. (7) The degree of repentance. (8) How to become truly penitent.\n\nOne can only give a summary of his teaching. He rises far above the\nKoran. In fact in some cases his proof texts, when we consider the\ncontext, are a terrible indictment of the Prophet.[81]\n\nHe says the necessity of repentance always and for all men is evident\nbecause no one of the human race is free from sin. \u201cFor even though in\nsome cases he is free from outward sin of his bodily members, he is not\nfree from sin of the heart; though free from passion he is not free from\nthe whisperings of Satan and forgetfulness of God, or of coming short of\nthe knowledge of God and His attributes and His works.\u201d All this is a\nfailure of attainment and has its reasons; but if a man should forsake\nthe causes of this forgetfulness and employ himself with the opposite\nvirtues it would be a return to the right way; and the significance of\nrepentance is the return. You cannot imagine that any one of us is free\nfrom this defect, for we only differ in degrees, but the root undoubtedly\nexists in us. Of course he ignores original sin, being a Moslem, but\nhe makes a great deal of the effect that unrepented sin causes; but it\nenters deeper and deeper into the heart until the image of God on the\nmirror of the human soul is effaced.\n\nAnother illustration he uses is that of the heart as a goodly garment\nwhich has been dragged through filth and needs to be washed again with\nsoap and water. \u201cUsing the heart in the exercise of our passions makes\nit filthy. We must therefore wash it in the water of tears and by the\nrubbing of repentance. It is for you to rub it clean and then God will\naccept it.\u201d How near and yet how far from the teaching of David and\nIsaiah and St. Paul! Did Al-Ghazali ever hear some pious Jew quote\nIsaiah\u2019s statement that \u201call our righteousnesses are as filthy rags\u201d?\n\nTrue repentance has a twofold result according to this Moslem theologian.\nAlthough he does not touch the deeper problem of how God can be just and\njustify the sinner, he teaches that the result of the forgiveness of our\nsins is that \u201cwe stand before God as though we had none,\u201d and that \u201cwe\nattain a higher degree of righteousness.\u201d The cross of Christ is the\nmissing link in Al-Ghazali\u2019s creed. He comes very close to Christianity\nand yet always misses the heart of its teaching. He is groping towards\nthe light but does not grasp the hand of a friend or find a Redeemer. It\nis all a righteousness by works and an attainment of the knowledge of God\nby meditation without justification through an atonement.\n\nYet Al-Ghazali\u2019s teaching on \u201cthe Practice of the Presence of God\u201d is\nvery much like that of Brother Lawrence in his celebrated Essay. In his\n\u201cBeginner\u2019s Guide to Religion and Morals\u201d (Al Badayet) he writes: \u201cKnow,\ntherefore, that your companion who never deserts you at home or abroad,\nwhen you are asleep or when you are awake, whether you are dead or alive,\nis your Lord and Master, your Creator and Preserver, and whensoever you\nremember Him He is sitting beside you. For God Himself hath said, \u2018I am\nthe close companion of those who remember me.\u2019 And whenever your heart\nis contrite with sorrow because of your neglect of religion He is your\ncompanion who keeps close to you, for God hath said, \u2018I am with those who\nare broken-hearted on my account.\u2019 And if you only knew Him as you ought\nto know Him you would take Him as a companion and forsake all men for\nHis sake. But as you are unable to do this at all times, I warn you that\nyou set aside a certain time by night and by day for communion with your\nCreator that you may delight yourself in Him and that He may deliver you\nfrom evil.\u201d[82] At times, especially when he speaks of the _veils_ that\nhide reality and God, we are reminded of the lines of Whitehead on \u201cthe\nSecond Day of Creation\u201d:\n\n    \u201cI gaze aloof at the tissued roof\n    Where time and space are the warp and woof,\n      Which the King of Kings, like a curtain flings,\n      O\u2019er the dreadfulness of eternal things.\n    But if I could see, as in truth they be,\n    The glories that encircle me,\n      I should lightly hold this tissued fold\n      With its marvellous curtain of blue and gold;\n    For soon the whole, like a parched scroll,\n    Shall before my amaz\u00e8d eyes unroll,\n      And without a screen at one burst be seen\n      The Presence in which I have always been.\u201d\n\nBut Al-Ghazali did not know God\u2019s nearness through the Incarnation of\nChrist. The hoped-for Vision of God was always full of fear and dread of\njudgment. The _fear_ of God was the beginning and end of wisdom. What he\nunderstood by the fear of God is clear from the following passage taken\nfrom the \u201cRevival of Religious Sciences\u201d: \u201cBy the fear of God I do not\nmean a fear like that of women when their eyes swim and their hearts\nbeat at hearing some eloquent religious discourse, which they quickly\nforget and turn again to frivolity. That is no real fear at all. He who\nfears a thing flees from it, and he who hopes for a thing strives for\nit, and the only fear that will save thee is that fear that forbids\nsinning against God and instils obedience to Him. Beware of the shallow\nfear of women and fools, who, when they hear of the terrors of the Lord,\nsay lightly, \u2018We take refuge in God,\u2019 and at the same time continue\nin the very sins which will destroy them. Satan laughs at such pious\nejaculations. They are like a man who should meet a lion in a desert,\nwhile there is a fortress at no great distance away, and when he sees the\nravenous beast, should stand exclaiming, \u2018I take refuge in God.\u2019 God will\nnot protect thee from the terrors of His judgment unless thou really take\nrefuge in Him.\u201d\n\nIncluded with his fear of God there was always a fear of death which\ncan best be described as medi\u00e6val or early Moslem. Towards the close of\nhis life he composed a short work on eschatology called \u201cThe Precious\nPearl.\u201d It is no less lurid in its terrible pictures of death and the\njudgment than some of his older works. In it he says: \u201cWhen you watch a\ndead man and see that the saliva has run from his mouth, that his lips\nare contracted, his face black, the whites of his eyes showing, know that\nhe is damned, and that the fact of his damnation in the other world has\njust been revealed to him. But if you see the dead with a smile on his\nlips, a serene countenance, his eyes half-closed, know that he has just\nreceived the good news of the happiness which awaits him in the other\nworld....\n\n\u201cOn the day of Judgment, when all men are gathered before the throne\nof God, their accounts are all cast up, and their good and evil deeds\nweighed. During all this time each man believes he is the only one with\nwhom God is dealing. Though peradventure at the same moment God is taking\naccount of countless multitudes whose number is known to Him only. Men do\nnot see each other or hear each other speak.\u201d\n\nIn summing up the character of the Mystic Claud Field says: \u201cAs St.\nAugustine found deliverance from doubt and error in his inward experience\nof God, and Descartes in self-consciousness, so Ghazali, unsatisfied with\nspeculation and troubled by scepticism, surrenders himself to the will of\nGod. Leaving others to demonstrate the existence of God from the external\nworld, he finds God revealed in the depths of his own consciousness and\nthe mystery of his own free will.... He is a unique and lonely figure\nin Islam, and has to this day been only partially understood. In the\nMiddle Ages his fame was eclipsed by that of Averroes, whose commentary\non Aristotle is alluded to by Dante, and was studied by Thomas Aquinas\nand the schoolman. Averroes\u2019 system was rounded and complete, but\nGhazali was one of those \u2018whose reach exceeds their grasp\u2019; he was always\nstriking after something he had not attained, and stands in many respects\nnearer to modern mind than Averroes. Renan, though far from sympathizing\nwith his religious earnestness, calls him \u2018the most original mind among\nArabian philosophers.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe disciple of Al-Ghazali is perhaps of all Moslems the nearest to\nthe Gospel, and we may hope that when his works are carefully studied\nand compared with the teaching of Christianity many may find in him a\nschoolmaster to lead them to Christ. Educated Moslems of to-day may\nwell heed the warning with which Al-Ghazali closes his \u201cConfessions\u201d:\n\u201cThe knowledge of which we speak is not derived from sources accessible\nto human diligence, and that is why progress in mere worldly knowledge\nrenders the sinner more hardened in his revolt against God. True\nknowledge, on the contrary, inspires in him who is initiated in it more\nfear and more reverence, and raises a barrier of defense between him\nand sin. He may slip and stumble, it is true, as is inevitable with one\nencompassed by human infirmity, but these slips and stumbles will not\nweaken his faith. The true Moslem succumbs occasionally to temptation\nbut he repents and will not persevere obstinately in the path of error.\nI pray God the Omnipotent to place us in the ranks of His chosen, among\nthe number of those whom He directs in the path of safety, in whom\nHe inspires fervour lest they forget Him; whom He cleanses from all\ndefilement, that nothing may remain in them except Himself; yea of those\nwhom He indwells completely, that they may adore none beside Him.\u201d\n\nBeing a Moslem, Al-Ghazali was either too proud to search for the true\nhistorical facts of the Christian religion, or perhaps it would be more\ncharitable to say that he had no adequate opportunity, in spite of his\nquotations and misquotations from the \u201cGospels.\u201d Otherwise he could\nhave found there what would have met his heart-hunger and satisfied his\nsoul\u2014the manifestation of God not in some intangible principle, but in a\nliving person, in Jesus Christ, who \u201cis the image of the invisible God,\nthe first born of every creature. For by Him were all things created that\nare in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether\nthey be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; in Him are\nall things, and by Him all things consist.\u201d (Colossians 1: 15-17.) Those\nwho dwell in Christ and in whom He dwells are a part of His spiritual\nbody. They are the branches of the living Vine. They are one in life and\npurpose, although they remain conscious evermore of their own individual\nexistence; they are fitted progressively for a deeper communion with God.\nTo such a conception the Sufi never attained. Al-Ghazali admits that no\nman has seen God at any time, but he failed to realize that \u201cthe Only\nBegotten, Who is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared Him.\u201d The\nartificial glory of Mohammed in his case, as for centuries afterwards,\nhid the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus\nChrist. Yet not altogether, as the next chapter will make clear.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nJesus Christ in Al-Ghazali\n\n    Jesus, the very thought of Thee\n      With sweetness fills my breast;\n    But sweeter far Thy face to see,\n      And in Thy presence rest.\n\n    Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,\n      Nor can the memory find,\n    A sweeter sound than Thy blest name,\n      O Saviour of mankind!\n\n    O hope of every contrite heart!\n      O joy of all the meek!\n    To those who fall, how kind Thou art!\n      How good to those who seek!\n\n    But what to those who find? Ah! this\n      Nor tongue nor pen can show:\n    The love of Jesus\u2014what it is\n      None but His loved ones know.\n\n                \u2014_Bernard of Clairvaux\u2014almost\n                  a contemporary (1091-1152)._\n\n\nIX\n\nJESUS CHRIST IN AL-GHAZALI\n\nJesus Christ is the Touch-Stone of character, the Master of all spiritual\nleaders and the one supreme and infallible Judge who can pronounce\nan unerring verdict concerning the truth of any religious system or\nteaching. What place has Jesus in the teaching of the greatest of all\nMoslem theologians, what place had He in the heart of this great mystic,\nthis seeker after God, who, whatever else he may have been, was utterly\nsincere in his search? Al-Ghazali, as a student of the Koran, must have\nnoticed that in this book Christ occupies a high place; no fewer than\nthree of the chapters of the Koran, namely, that of Amram\u2019s Family\n(Surah III), that of The Table (Surah V), and that of Mary (Surah XIX),\nderive their names from references to Jesus Christ and His work. The\nvery fact that Jesus Christ has a place in the literature of Islam,\nand is acknowledged by all Moslems as one of their greater prophets\nin itself therefore challenges comparison between Him and Mohammed.\nDid Al-Ghazali ever meet this challenge and in how far did he compare\nMohammed with Christ? It is our purpose in this chapter to answer the\nquestion by collating all the important references in the _Ihya_ and his\nother works and then to draw some conclusions both as to his sources and\nhis opinions. The reader may judge for himself how far Al-Ghazali is a\nschoolmaster to lead Moslems to Christ.\n\nWe search in vain among all his works for a sketch of the life of Christ\nor of His teaching. Al-Ghazali doubtless had read and was probably well\nacquainted with the only popular work known which gives a connected\naccount of the life of Jesus Christ according to Moslem sources,\nnamely, _Kitab qusus al Anbiya_ by _Ibn Ibrahim Ath-Tha\u02belabi_, a doctor\nof theology of the Shafi School, who died in A. H. 427 (A. D. 1036).\nThe fabulous character of this mass of traditions has been shown in a\ntranslation of the section which deals with Jesus Christ.[83] Al-Ghazali\ndoes not give altogether the same stories as are given by Ath-Tha\u02belabi\nbut gives a great number of other incidents and reported sayings, many\nof which resemble those found in the Gospels and others which are wholly\napocryphal.\n\nThe question again arises where did Al-Ghazali gain this knowledge of the\nGospel? Did he have access to a Persian or Arabic translation; or was\nall this material which we have collated, the result of hearsay, gathered\nfrom the lips of Christian monks and Jewish rabbis? It is perfectly\nclear that he was acquainted with Old Testament tradition even more than\nwith that of the New Testament. There are scores of passages in which he\nrefers to the teachings of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the lives of\nthe Old Testament Prophets. We have already referred to translations of\nthe Bible into Arabic before the time of Al-Ghazali in our first chapter.\nThere is a tradition that \u201cthe People of the Book used to read the Torah\nin Hebrew and interpret it in Arabic to the followers of Islam.\u201d Another\ntradition says that \u201cKa\u02beab the Rabbi brought a book to Omar the Caliph\nand said, \u2018Here is the Torah, read it.\u2019\u201d[84] We learn from the Jewish\nEncyclop\u00e6dia that \u201cThe _fihrist_ of al-Nadim mentions an Ahmed ibn Abd\nAllah ibn Salam who translated the Bible into Arabic, at the time of\nHaroun ar-Rash\u00eed, and that _Fahr ud-Din ar-Razi_ mentions a translation\nof Habbakuk by the son of _Rabban At-Tabari_. Many of the Arabic\nHistorians as At-Tabari, Mas\u02beudi, Hamza, and Biruni cite passages and\nrecount the early history of the Jews in a most circumstantial manner.\nIbn Kutaibah, the historian (d. 889), says that he read the Bible; and\nhe even made a collection of Biblical passages in a work which has been\npreserved by Ibn Jauzi of the twelfth century.\u201d The first important\nArabic translation is that of Sa\u02beadia Gaon (892-942). The influence of\nthis translation was in its way as great as that of Gaon\u2019s philosophical\nwork.\n\nA version of the Psalms was made by Hafiz al-Quti in the tenth century\nand from internal evidence we know that the author had been Christian.\nAnother translation of the Old Testament in Arabic was made by the Jews\nin Cairo in the middle of the eleventh century. The translation of\nSa\u02beadia had become a standard work in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, by\nthe end of the tenth century, and it was revised about A. D. 1070.[85]\nAs regards Persian translations of the Bible we learn from the Jewish\nEncyclop\u00e6dia that according to Maimonides, the Pentateuch was translated\ninto Persian many hundred years previous to Mohammed. But this statement\ncannot be further substantiated. In regard to Arabic versions of the\nGospels we have already given Dr. Kilgour\u2019s statement.\n\nIs it not probable that one or other of these versions of the Gospel was\nknown to Al-Ghazali? Does he not himself state: \u201cI have _read_ in the\nGospel\u201d? Not only does he reproduce the stories and sayings of Christ\nfrom the Gospels but in some cases, as the reader will see, the very\nwords of the text. It is true that there is much apocryphal matter also\nof which the canonical Gospels know nothing. We are in ignorance and we\nmust remain in ignorance whence Al-Ghazali derived this material; or did\nhe invent it even as the men of his day invented stories about Mohammed?\n\nIn the _Ihya_ we find the following incidents, real and apocryphal,\nregarding the life of Christ on earth as a prophet and saint.[86] We\nbegin with Al-Ghazali\u2019s witness to His sinlessness: \u201cIt is said that\nthe devil (may God curse him) appeared to Jesus and said, \u2018Say there is\nno God but God.\u2019 He replied: \u2018The word is true but I will not repeat it\nafter you.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 23.) Again: \u201cIt is related that when Jesus was\nborn, the devils came to Satan and said: \u2018All the idols have fallen on\ntheir faces.\u2019 He said: \u2018This has happened on your account.\u2019 Then he flew\nuntil he reached the regions of the earth; there he found Jesus had been\nborn and the angels were protecting him. So he returned to the devils\nand said to them: \u2018Truly a Prophet was born yesterday. No woman has ever\ngiven birth before to a child when I was not present except in this\ncase.\u2019 And that is why men now despair of worshipping idols.\u201d (Vol. III,\np. 26.)\n\n\u201cIt is related that Jesus one day was pillowing his head on a stone; and\nthe devil passed by and said: \u2018O Jesus, now you have shown your love for\nthe world!\u2019 Then Jesus picked up the stone, threw it at him and said:\n\u2018Take it and the world.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 26.) We find this reference to\nthe days of His youth in Nazareth: \u201cSome one said to Jesus: \u2018Who gave you\nyour education?\u2019 He replied: \u2018No one. But I beheld the ignorance of the\nfoolish despicable and so I departed from it.\u2019\u201d \u201cJesus the Prophet was\nof those who were especially favoured. Among the proofs of it is this\nthat he called down peace upon himself, for he said: \u2018Peace be on me the\nday I was born and the day I shall die and the day I shall be raised up\nalive.\u2019 And this was because of his peace of mind and his loving kindness\ntowards men. But as for John the son of Zachariah (on him be peace),\nhe took the place of awe and fear towards God and did not utter these\nwords until after they were repeated to him by his Creator, who said:\n\u2018Peace be upon him the day he was born and the day he died and the day he\nwas raised again.\u2019\u201d This is an interesting critical comment on the two\npassages referred to, which occur in the same chapter of the Koran, and I\nhave never seen them used elsewhere as an argument for the superiority of\nChrist to John. (Vol. IV, p. 245.)\n\nAl-Ghazali gives Jesus the usual titles given Him in the Koran, namely,\nSon of Mary, Spirit of God, Word of God, Prophet and Apostle. But these\nlatter titles mean little because he endorses the strange Moslem theory\nthat there have been no less than 124,000 prophets since the world began.\nIn his book \u201c_Al-Iqtasad_\u201d he devotes a long argument to prove to the\nJews that Jesus was indeed a prophet, basing it upon his teaching and\nmiracles (pp. 83-86). In his _Jawahir ul-Koran_ he even classes Mary the\nVirgin with the prophets and gives the list of these worthies in the\nfollowing curious order: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Zachariah,\nJohn, Jesus, Mary, David, Solomon, Joshua, Lot, Idris, Khudra, Shu\u02beaib,\nElijah, and Mohammed!\n\nRegarding the fasting of our Lord, Al-Ghazali says: \u201cIt is related that\nJesus (on him be peace) remained for sixty days without eating, engaged\nin prayer; then he began to think of bread and behold a loaf of bread\nappeared between his hands; then he sat weeping because he had forgotten\nhis prayers. And behold an old man came to him and Jesus said: \u2018God bless\nyou, O servant of God. Call upon God Most High, for I too was in a sad\ncondition and I thought of bread until my prayer departed.\u2019 Then the\nold man prayed: \u2018O God, if thou knowest any occasion when the thought\nof bread entered my head when I was praying do not forgive me!\u2019 Then he\nsaid to Jesus: \u2018When anything is brought to me to eat I eat it without\neven thinking what it is.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 61.) The following story seems\nto be based on the injunction of the Gospel \u201cto pluck out the eye\u201d that\noffends: \u201cIt is related of Jesus (on him be peace) that he once went out\nto pray for rain and when the people gathered together Jesus said to\nthem, \u2018Whosoever of you hath committed a sin let him turn back,\u2019 so they\nall turned away and there was no one left in the cave with him save one.\nAnd Jesus said unto him, \u2018Have you any sin?\u2019 He replied: \u2018By God, I do\nnot know of any except that one day when I was praying a woman passed by\nme and I looked upon her with this eye and when she had passed I put my\nfinger in my eye and plucked it out and followed her to ask her pardon.\u2019\nThen Jesus said to him, \u2018Call upon God that I may believe in your\nsincerity.\u2019 Then the man prayed and the heavens were covered with clouds\nand the rain poured down.\u201d (Vol. II, p. 217.)\n\nThe following stories are related of the miracle-working Christ: \u201cSaid\nthe disciples to Jesus: \u2018What do you think of the _dinar_-piece (money)?\u2019\nThey said: \u2018We think it is good.\u2019 He said: \u2018But as for me I value it and\nashes the same.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 161.) \u201cIt was said to the Prophet that\nJesus (upon him be peace) used to walk upon the water. He replied: \u2018Had\nhe still more striven after holiness, he would have walked on the air.\u2019\u201d\n(Vol. IV, p. 71.) \u201cIt is related that a certain robber waylaid travellers\namong the children of Israel for forty years. Jesus passed by that way\nand behind him walked a saint of the worshippers of the people of Israel,\none of his disciples. Said the robber to himself: \u2018This is the Prophet\nof God who passes by and with him one of his disciples. If I should come\ndown I would be the third.\u2019\u201d He then goes on to say that the robber\ntried to show his humility by following not Christ but his disciple.\nJesus rebukes them both because of their sins. (Vol. IV, p. 110.) \u201cIt\nis related that Jesus (on him be peace) passed by a blind man who was\na leper and lame of both feet because of paralysis and his flesh was\nconsumed by leprosy, and he was saying: \u2018Praise be to God who has kept me\nin good health and saved me from many things which have befallen others\nof his creatures.\u2019 Then Jesus said to him: \u2018O thou friend, from what kind\nof affliction do I see that you are free?\u2019 and he replied: \u2018O Spirit of\nGod, I am better than those in whose heart God has not put anything of\nhis knowledge and his grace.\u2019 And Jesus said: \u2018You have spoken truly.\nStretch forth your hand,\u2019 and he stretched forth his hand and became of\nperfect health both as to his body and his appearance, for God had taken\naway all his sickness. So he accompanied Jesus and worshipped with him.\u201d\n(Vol. IV, p. 250.)\n\nAl-Ghazali often pictures the power of Jesus to heal the sick, for Christ\nas the Merciful One appeals to Moslems always and everywhere. We have for\nexample in the _Masnavi-i-Ma\u02beanavi_ this beautiful picture which can be\nfound in prose, section by section in Al-Ghazali too.\n\n    \u201cThe house of \u02beIsa was the banquet of men of heart,\n    Ho! afflicted one, quit not this door!\n    From all sides the people ever thronged,\n    Many blind and lame, and halt and afflicted,\n    To the door of the house of \u02beIsa at dawn,\n    That with his breath he might heal their ailments.\n    As soon as he had finished his orisons,\n    That holy one would come forth at the third hour.\n    He viewed these impotent folk, troop by troop,\n    Sitting at his door in hope and expectation;\n    He spoke to them, saying, \u2018O stricken ones!\n    The desires of all of you have been granted by God:\n    Arise, walk without pain or affliction.\n    Acknowledge the mercy and beneficence of God!\u2019\n    Then all, as camels whose feet are shackled,\n    When you loose their feet in the road,\n    Straightway rush in joy and delight to the halting-place\n    So did they run upon their feet at his command.\u201d\n\nMany of the miracles, however, are puerile, as in this story: \u201cA certain\nman accompanied Jesus the Son of Mary (upon him be peace) and said:\n\u2018I would like to be with you as your companion.\u2019 So they departed and\narrived at the bank of a river and sat down and took their meal. Now they\nhad three loaves, so they ate two and one remained. Then Jesus arose and\nwent to the river to drink and returning did not find the remaining loaf.\nHe said to the man: \u2018Who took the loaf?\u2019 He replied: \u2018I know not.\u2019 So he\ndeparted with his companion and saw a gazelle with her two young, and\nJesus called one of them and it came to him and he killed it and prepared\nit and they ate together. Then he said to the young gazelle: \u2018Get up by\nGod\u2019s will,\u2019 and it arose and departed. And he turned to the man and\nsaid: \u2018I ask you in the name of Him who worked this miracle before your\neyes, who took the loaf?\u2019 He answered: \u2018I know not.\u2019 So they departed to\na cave and Jesus (upon whom be peace) began to collect the pebbles on the\nsand and said: \u2018Become bread by God\u2019s permission!\u2019 and they became bread;\nthen he divided them into three parts and said: \u2018A third is for me, a\nthird is for you and a third is for the man who took the loaf,\u2019 and the\nman said: \u2018I am he who took the loaf.\u2019 Jesus replied: \u2018Take all of it and\ndepart from me.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 188.) This story is related by Al-Ghazali\nin his chapter on greed and covetousness to show that he who loves this\nworld cannot be a companion of the saints!\n\nThat Jesus was gentle in word and conduct seems to be the lesson taught\nin the following two stories: \u201cIt is related of Jesus that once a pig\npassed by him and he said to it: \u2018Go in peace.\u2019 They said to him: \u2018O\nSpirit of God, why do you say this to a pig?\u2019 He replied: \u2018I dislike to\naccustom my tongue to use any evil words.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 87.) \u201cIt is\nrelated that Jesus with his disciples once passed the carcase of a dog.\nSaid the disciples: \u2018How noisome is the smell of this dog.\u2019 Said Jesus\n(on him be peace): \u2018How beautiful is the shine of his white teeth,\u2019 as\nif he wanted to rebuke them for abusing the dog and to warn them not to\nmention anything of what God has created save at its best.\u201d (Vol. III, p.\n150.) This incident is given by Jallal ud Din in poetic form:\n\n    \u201cOne evening Jesus lingered in the market-place,\n    Teaching the people parables of truth and grace,\n    When in the square remote a crowd was seen to rise\n    And stop with loathing gestures and abhorring cries.\n    The Master and His meek disciples went to see\n    What cause for this commotion and disgust could be,\n    And found a poor dead dog beside the gutter laid:\n    Revolting sight! at which each face its hate betrayed.\n    One held his nose, one shut his eyes, one turned away,\n    And all among themselves began aloud to say,\n    \u2018Detested creature! he pollutes the earth and air!\u2019\n    \u2018His eyes are bleared!\u2019 \u2018His ears are foul!\u2019 \u2018His ribs are bare!\u2019\n    \u2018In his torn hide there is not a decent shoe-string left!\u2019\n    \u2018No doubt the execrable cur was hung for theft!\u2019\n    Then Jesus spake and dropped on him this saving breath:\n    \u2018Even pearls are dark before the whiteness of his teeth!\u2019\u201d\n\nWe add the following quotations which set forth the poverty, humility\nand homelessness of the Christ taken from Al-Ghazali\u2019s \u201cPrecious Pearl\u201d:\n\u201cConsider Jesus Christ, for it is related of him that he owned nothing\nsave one garment of wool which he wore for twenty years and that he took\nnothing with him on all his wanderings save a cruse and a rosary and a\ncomb. One day he saw a man drinking from a stream with his hands, so he\ncast away the cruse and did not use it again. He saw another man combing\nhis beard with his fingers so he threw away his comb and did not use it\nagain. And Jesus was accustomed to say, \u2018My steed is my legs, and my\nhouses are the caves of the earth, and my food are its vegetables, and\nmy drink is from its rivers, and my dwelling-place among the sons of\nAdam!\u2019\u201d In another connection he writes: \u201cIt was said to Jesus: \u2018If you\nwould take possession of a house and live there it would be better for\nyou,\u2019 and he said: \u2018Where are the houses of those who lived before us?\u2019\u201d\n(_Ihya_, Vol. III, p. 140.)\n\nA story is related (Vol. IV, p. 326) to show that Christ knew what was in\nthe hearts of men and could change their purposes by prayer to God. In\nthis case He makes an old man cease from his work of cleaning the ground,\ngo to sleep and afterwards return to his work.\n\nAnother story is as follows: \u201cIt is related that Jesus (upon him be\npeace) in his wanderings passed by a man asleep, wrapped up in his\ngarment. So he wakened him and said: \u2018O thou that sleepest! arise\nand make mention of God.\u2019 He replied: \u2018What do you want from me? I\nhave forsaken the world to its own.\u2019 Jesus replied: \u2018Sleep on then my\nbeloved.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 140.) \u201cIt is related concerning Jesus that he sat\nin the shade of a wall of a certain man, who saw him and made him get up,\nbut he replied: \u2018You have not made me arise but verily God made me arise.\nHe does not wish me to delight in the shade by day.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 163.)\nThe least of life\u2019s pleasures is not for the ascetic saint.\n\n\u201cSaid John to Jesus (on them be peace): \u2018Do not be angry.\u2019 Jesus replied:\n\u2018I am not able to cease from anger altogether for I am human.\u2019 Then said\nJohn: \u2018Do not desire property.\u2019 Jesus replied: \u2018That is possible.\u2019\u201d (Vol.\nIII, p. 114.)\n\nHe quotes the following prayer of Jesus (Vol. I, p. 222): \u201cJesus was\naccustomed to say to God, \u2018O God, I have arisen from my sleep, and am not\nable to ward off that which I hate and am not able to possess the benefit\nof that which I desire and the matter rests in hands other than mine. And\nI have pledged myself to my work and there is no man so poor as I am. O\nGod, let not mine enemies rejoice over me and let not my friends deal\nill with me, and let not my afflictions come to me in the matter of my\nreligion. And do not allow the world to occupy my care and do not allow\nthe unmerciful to overcome me, O Thou Eternal!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is related concerning Jesus (on him be peace) that God spoke to him\nsaying: \u2018Though you serve me with the worship of the people of heaven and\nearth and do not have love towards God in your heart but hatred toward\nHim it will not enrich you at all.\u2019\u201d (Vol. II, p. 210.) \u201cGod Most High\nsaid to Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Verily when I look upon the secret\nthoughts of my servant and do not find in them love either for this\nworld or the world to come I fill him with my own love and I put him in\nmy safe-keeping.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 258.) In the \u201cAlchemy of Happiness\u201d we\nalready found allusion to this subject: \u201cJesus (upon him be peace) saw\nthe world in the form of an ugly old hag. He asked her how many husbands\nshe had possessed; she replied that they were countless. He asked whether\nthey had died or been divorced; she said that she had slain them all. \u2018I\nmarvel,\u2019 he said, \u2018at the fools who see what you have done to others,\nand still desire you.\u2019\u201d \u201cJesus (on him be peace) said, \u2018The lover of the\nworld is like a man drinking sea-water; the more he drinks, the more\nthirsty he gets, till at last he perishes with thirst unquenched.\u2019\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali, however, never seems to have drawn the conclusion from\nthe life of Christ which a careful study of the Gospel would have\nmade possible. Namely, that a true renunciation of the world is only\npossible in the _service of others_ and not by withdrawing from men.\nMohammedan mysticism has always resulted in two evils, as Major Durie\nOsborn points out: \u201cIt has dug a deep gulf between those who can know\nGod and those who must wander in darkness, feeding upon the husks of\nrites and ceremonies. It has affirmed with emphasis, that only by a\ncomplete renunciation of the world is it possible to attain the true end\nof man\u2019s existence. Thus all the best and truest natures\u2014the men who\nmight have put a soul in the decaying Church of Islam\u2014have been cut off\nfrom their proper task to wander about in deserts and solitary places,\nor expend their lives in idle and profitless passivity disguised under\nthe title of \u2018spiritual contemplation.\u2019 (_zikr_) But this has only been\npart of the evil. The logical result of Pantheism is the destruction of\nthe moral law. If God be all in all, and man\u2019s apparent individuality a\ndelusion of the perceptive faculty, there exists no will which can act,\nno conscience which can reprove and applaud.... Thousands of reckless and\nprofligate spirits have entered the orders of the dervishes to enjoy the\nlicense thereby obtained. Their affectation of piety is simply a cloak\nfor the practice of sensuality; their emancipation from the ritual of\nIslam involves a liberation also from its moral restraints. And _thus\na movement, animated at its outset by a high and lofty purpose, has\ndegenerated into a fruitful source of ill. The stream which ought to\nhave expanded into a fertilizing river, has become a vast swamp, exhaling\nvapours charged with disease and death._\u201d\n\nRegarding the _teaching_ of Jesus we find the following passages in the\n_Ihya_. I have indicated the parallel passages in the New Testament where\npossible. Some of them are taken from the Gospel according to Matthew,\nespecially from the Sermon on the Mount. These are given first and then\nthe apocryphal sayings, for it is difficult to follow any logical order.\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus: \u2018If a man come to you when he is fasting let him anoint\nhis head and wipe his lips that men may not say he is fasting; and if\nhe gives alms with his right hand let not his left hand know; and if he\nprays let him put a curtain over his door, for verily God divines his\ntrouble even as He does our daily food.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 203.)[87]\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (upon him be peace), \u2018Whosoever shall do and teach shall be\ncalled great in the Kingdom of Heaven.\u2019\u201d (Vol. I, p. 6; cf. Matt. 5: 19.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018Do not hang pearls on the necks of swine; for wisdom is\nbetter than pearls.\u2019\u201d (Vol. I, p. 43; cf. Matt. 7: 6.) \u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018How\nlong will ye describe the right road to those who are going astray and\nye yourselves remain with those who are perplexed?\u2019\u201d (Vol. I, p. 44; cf.\nMatt. 23: 13.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018The teachers of evil are like a big stone which has fallen\non the mouth of a well so that the water cannot reach the sown fields.\u2019\u201d\n(Vol. I, p. 45; cf. Matt. 23: 13.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018How can that man belong to the people of wisdom who from\nthe beginning of his life until the end looks only after the things of\nthe world?\u2019\u201d (Vol. I, p. 46; cf. Matt. 6: 33.)\n\nAgain he makes God address Jesus as follows: \u2018O Son of Mary, preach to\nyourself for if you preach to yourself you will be able to preach to man\nand if not fear him.\u2019 (Vol. I, p. 47.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Blessed are those who humble themselves\nin this world, for they shall be the possessors of thrones on the day of\njudgment. Blessed are those who make peace between men in this world, for\nthey shall inherit Paradise on the day of resurrection. Blessed are they\nwho are poor in this world, for they shall behold God Most High on the\nday of resurrection.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 237; cf. Matt. 5: 3-9.)\n\n\u201cSome one said to Jesus: \u2018Let me go with you on your wanderings.\u2019 He\nreplied: \u2018Dispose of all that you have and follow me.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 170;\ncf. Luke 9: 57 and Matt. 19: 21.) Here two passages are mixed.\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018It has been told of ancient times: a\ntooth for a tooth and a nose for a nose; but I say unto you, do not\nreturn evil for evil, but whosoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn\nto him the left also; and whosoever desireth you to go with him a mile go\nwith him twain; and whosoever taketh away your cloak give him your inner\ngarment also.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 52; cf. Matt. 5: 30-41.) These verses seem\nto be fairly accurate quotations, though not without some confusion, from\nsome translation of the Sermon on the Mount.\n\n\u201cSaid the disciples to Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Behold this mosque how\nbeautiful it is.\u2019 He replied: \u2018O my nation! O my nation! In truth I say\nunto you, God will not suffer a stone to remain upon a stone in it but\nhe will destroy it because of the sins of its people. Truly God does not\ncare for gold and silver nor does he care for these stones at which ye\nmarvel; but the things which God loves most are pure hearts, with them\nGod can build up the earth, and if they are not good they are wasted.\u2019\u201d\n(\u201c_Ihya_,\u201d Vol. III, p. 288; cf. Matt. 24: 2.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus: \u2018Do not take the world for your master, for she will make\nyou her slave. Lay up your treasures with him who will not lose them.\nFor he who lays up treasure in the earth fears that which will destroy\nthem; but he who has treasures with God does not fear for anything that\nmay injure them\u2019 (Matt. 6: 9-21). And Jesus said also: \u2018O company of the\nApostles, behold I have poured out the world upon the ground, therefore\ndo not take hold of it again after me, for the evil of this world is\nthat men disobey God in it. And the evil of the world also is that the\nother world cannot be obtained without abandoning the present. Therefore\npass through the world but do not build in it. Know that the root of all\nsin is the love of the world and perchance the desire of an hour will\ncause those who follow it to lose the other world altogether.\u2019 He also\nsaid: \u2018I have cast the world before you and ye have sat upon its back, do\nnot therefore suffer kings or women to dispute its possession with you.\nAs for kings, do not dispute with them for its possession, for they will\nnot give it back to you. And as for women, guard yourselves against them\nby prayer and fasting.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 139.) \u201cSaid Jesus: \u2018The love of\nthis world and of the world to come cannot abide in the same heart even\nas water and fire cannot abide in one vessel.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 140.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018O ye teachers of wickedness! Ye fast and\npray and give alms and do not what ye command others and ye teach that\nwhich ye do not understand. How evil is that which ye do. Ye repent only\nwith words but your deeds are without value. In vain do ye purify your\nskins while your hearts are covered with evil. I say unto you, be not as\nthe sieve from which the good flour passes out and all that remains in it\nare the siftings. Thus ye make the truth to pass out of your mouths, but\ndeceit remains in your hearts, O servants of the world! How can any one\nunderstand the other world while his desires cling to this? Of a truth I\nsay unto you that your hearts shall weep because of your deeds. Ye have\nput the world upon your tongues and trampled upon good deeds. Of a truth\nI say unto you, ye have corrupted your future life, for ye are more in\nlove with the good things of this world than of the good things of the\nworld to come. Which of the children suffers greater loss than ye do,\nif only ye knew it! Woe be to you! How long will ye describe the right\nway to those who are in darkness and ye yourselves remain in the place\nof doubt? It is as if ye invite the children of the world to forsake its\npleasure in order to leave it for yourselves a little while. Woe be to\nyou! What benefit is it to the darkened house if the candle be put on its\nroof while the rooms of the house remain in darkness? In the same way ye\nwill not be enriched if the light of knowledge is on your lips, while\nyour hearts remain in darkness. O ye servants of the world! what of your\nrighteousness or your freedom? Perchance the world will pluck you up by\nthe roots and cast you upon your faces and drag you in the dust. It will\nexpose your sins upon your foreheads, then it will drive you before it\nuntil you are delivered up to the angel of judgment, every one of you\nnaked. Then shall you be punished by your evil deeds.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p.\n183; cf. Matt. 23: 1-27.)\n\n\u201cDo not be anxious about the food of to-morrow, for perhaps to-morrow\nwill be your time of death.\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 330; cf. Matt. 6: 34.)\n\n\u201cBehold the bird, it does not sow nor reap nor lay up store and God Most\nHigh provides for it.\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 190; cf. Matt. 6: 26.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018He is not wise who does not rejoice\nwhen he enters upon trials and sicknesses of the body and loss of his\npossessions; for in it he may find atonement for his sins.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p.\n205; cf. Matt. 5: 10.)\n\n\u201cIt is related of Jesus that he said: \u2018If you see a young man\npassionately fond of prayer to God you will know that he has escaped all\ntemptations.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 221; cf. Matt 26: 41.) The reference might be\nto Christ\u2019s words in the Garden of Gethsemane.\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Serve God by hating the people who\ntransgress, and draw near to God by departing from them. Seek the\ngood-will of God by hating them.\u2019 They said to him: \u2018O spirit of God,\nwith whom then shall we keep company?\u2019 He answered them: \u2018Keep company\nwith those who make you remember God and those whose words improve your\nconduct and those whose example makes you earnest for the world to\ncome.\u2019\u201d (Vol. II, p. 110.)\n\n\u201cIt is related of Jesus (on him be peace) that he said to the children\nof Israel: \u2018Where does that which ye sow grow?\u2019 They replied: \u2018In the\ngood ground,\u2019 and he said: \u2018Verily I say unto you, wisdom does not grow\nexcept in the heart which is good soil.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 256; cf. Matt. 13:\n1-9.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Truly the harvest does not grow on the\nmountain but in the plain. Thus wisdom works in the heart of those that\nare humble and not in the heart of the proud.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 240; cf.\nMatt. 13: 23.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Fine garments make proud looks.\u2019\u201d (Vol.\nIII, p. 247.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018What ails you that ye come in the\ngarments of monks and your hearts are the hearts of ravening wolves?\nWear the garments of monks if you wish but humble your hearts with godly\nfear.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 247; cf. Matt. 7: 15.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018O company of disciples, call upon God\nMost High that he may make light for you this terror, namely, death. For\nI fear death in such a fashion that I stand afraid of the same.\u2019\u201d Is it\npossible that Al-Ghazali here refers to the agony in Gethsemane? The\nchapter in which this passage occurs is entitled \u201cThe terrors of death.\u201d\n(Vol. IV, p. 324; cf. Matt. 26: 38.)\n\nWe now give other \u201csayings\u201d of Jesus, as Al-Ghazali himself does, in\nsomewhat confused order. Although not quotations or even misquotations\nfrom the Gospels, they are of interest as completing the list and also\nbecause they show what Al-Ghazali and other Moslems thought was the\nteaching of Jesus the Prophet.\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018How many a sound body and beautiful face\nand eloquent tongue will to-morrow cry out in the fires of hell!\u2019\u201d (Vol.\nIV, p. 383.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018Which of you can build a house upon the waves of the sea?\nSuch is the world; therefore do not take it as an abiding place.\u2019\u201d (Vol.\nIII, p. 141.)\n\n\u201cThey said to Jesus, \u2018Teach us the secret of the love of God.\u2019 He\nreplied: \u2018Hate the world and God will love you.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 141; cf.\nJames 4: 4.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018O my disciples, be satisfied with the least of the world\nas long as your religion is at peace even as the people of the world\nare satisfied with the least of religion and their possessions are at\npeace.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 142.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018O thou who seekest the world for the sake of pure gold, the\nforsaking of the world is greater treasure.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 142.)\n\n\u201cThey asked Jesus (on him be peace) which is the best of good works. He\nreplied: \u2018To accept whatever God does with pleasure and to love him.\u2019\u201d\n(Vol. IV, p. 258.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus the Son of Mary (on him be peace), \u2018Woe to the lover of this\nworld how soon he shall die and leave it and all that is in it. The world\ndeceives him and he trusts it and has confidence in it, etc.\u2019\u201d (Vol.\nIII, p. 141; cf. Luke 12: 21.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Mortify then your bodies that your soul\nmay see your Lord.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 56; cf. Rom. 8: 13.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018The likeness of him who teaches good\nworks and does not do them is that of a woman who commits adultery in\nsecret and then the result of her crime becomes evident to all around her\nfrom her condition.\u2019\u201d (Vol. I, p. 48.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Whosoever turns away a beggar from his\nhouse the angels will not visit that dwelling for seven days.\u2019\u201d (Vol. II,\np. 162.) This saying is often quoted by Moslems to-day. They all believe\nJesus was the friend of the poor and needy.\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (upon him be peace), \u2018Blessed is he to whom God has taught\nhis book; he will not die a proud oppressor.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 235.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Blessed is the eye which sleeps and\ndoes not regard transgression but is wide-awake for that which is not\nsinful.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 260.)\n\n\u201cThe disciples said to Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018What is the best of good\nworks?\u2019 He replied: \u2018That which is done to God and in which you seek the\npraise of no one else.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 273.)\n\n\u201cSaid the disciples of Jesus the Son of Mary: \u2018O Spirit of God! Is there\nany one on earth like thee?\u2019 He replied: \u2018Yes. For whosoever is girded\nwith the remembrance of God and is silent because of this and who looks\nonly for the favour of God, he is like me.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 305.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus, \u2018Beware of the evil look, for when it is in the heart it\nproduces lust and evil desire.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 74; cf. Matt. 5: 28.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Whosoever multiplies lies his beauty\ndeparts from him: and whosoever increases care his body becomes ill; and\nwhosoever has a bad character punishes himself.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 85.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus: \u2018The greatest sin with God is that his servant should say,\n\u201cGod Knows,\u201d concerning something which he knows is untrue, or that he\ntell lies concerning what he has seen in his dreams.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 98.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace) to his disciples: \u2018How would you act if\nyou saw one of your brothers sleeping and the wind had taken off his\ngarment?\u2019 They said: \u2018We would cover him.\u2019 Said Jesus: \u2018No, but you would\nexpose him.\u2019 They said: \u2018God forbid! Who would do such a thing!\u2019 He\nreplied: \u2018When one of you hears a word against his brother he exaggerates\nit and spreads the report to others!\u2019\u201d (Vol. II, p. 142.)\n\n\u201cIt is related that Jesus (upon him be peace) said, \u2018O company of\ndisciples, ye are free of transgression, but we the company of apostles\nare free of infidelity.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 124.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018With difficulty will the rich man enter\nparadise.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 140; cf. Christ\u2019s saying, Matt. 19: 23.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Truly I do not love a fixed dwelling\nplace and I dislike the pleasure of the world.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 140.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Do not look upon the property of the\npeople of this world for its glory is as nothing in the light of your\nfaith.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 144.)\n\n\u201cIt was said to Jesus: \u2018If you will allow us we will build a house and\nworship God in it.\u2019 He replied: \u2018Go and build a house upon the sea.\u2019 They\nsaid: \u2018How can we build upon such a foundation?\u2019 He replied: \u2018How can\nyour worship exist together with your love of the world?\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p.\n158.)\n\n\u201cIt is related that Jesus said: \u2018Four things do not come to us except\nwith difficulty. Silence, which is the first principle of worship,\nhumility, the abundant remembrance of God and poverty in all things.\u2019\u201d\n(Vol. IV, p. 159.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Verily I say unto you, whosoever seeketh\nheaven let him eat barley-bread and sleep on the dunghill with the dogs.\nThis is enough for me.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV, p. 164.)\n\n\u201cJesus was accustomed to say, \u2018O children of Israel, let the water of the\nbrook suffice you and the vegetable of the field and the barley loaf;\nand beware of the white loaf for it will keep you from worship.\u2019\u201d (Vol.\nIV, p. 164.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018My food is hunger; all my thoughts are\nfear of God; my dress is wool; my warming-place in winter is the rays of\nthe sun; my candle is the moon; my steed is my legs; my food is fruit\nthat springs from the ground; I go to bed and have nothing and arise\nwithout anything; and yet there is no one richer than I am.\u2019\u201d (Vol. IV,\np. 146.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (upon him be peace), \u2018The world is a bridge; therefore cross\nover it and do not build on it.\u2019\u201d (Vol. III, p. 149.)\n\n\u201cSaid Jesus (on him be peace), \u2018Whosoever seeks the world is like him who\ndrinks water from the salt sea. The more he drinks the more he thirsts.\u2019\u201d\n(Vol. III, p. 149.) This occurs for the second time, but Al-Ghazali loves\nto repeat his own sayings as well, often in the same book.\n\n\u201cIt is related in the gospels that whosoever shall ask for forgiveness of\nhim who praises him, has driven away the devil.\u201d (Vol. III, p. 127.)\n\nThe following quotations or references to the Gospel occur in some of his\nshorter works. In the \u201cAlchemy of Happiness,\u201d there is this reference\nto the Gospel: \u201cWhosoever sows reaps, whosoever sets out arrives, and\nwhosoever seeks finds.\u201d (Cf. Matt. 7: 7.) We have already quoted the\nwords from his epistle, \u201cO Child\u201d: \u201cVerily I have seen in the Gospels,\netc.\u201d In the same epistle he refers to the parable of Dives and Lazarus:\n\u201cWhen the people of hell will say to the people of the garden, \u2018Give us a\nlittle water from that which God has granted you to cool our tongues.\u2019\u201d\nHe quotes Jesus as saying: \u201cI was not unable to raise the dead, but I was\nunable to cure the folly of fools,\u201d and quotes the Golden Rule in several\nplaces without acknowledging its source as being the Gospel of Jesus.\n\nAll this and what he says in his \u201cAlchemy of Happiness\u201d about the love of\nGod leaves no doubt in my mind that he had read the New Testament. It is\na sort of Moslem Version of St. John\u2019s Epistles and St. John\u2019s Gospel.\nThe great Mystic gives seven signs of love to God. The first is not to be\nafraid of death. The second is to prefer the love of God to any worldly\nobject. The third sign of a man\u2019s love to God is that the remembrance\nof God is always fresh in his heart. He never ceases to meditate upon\nGod. Every man thinks and calls to mind an object in proportion to his\nlove to it. The fourth is love and respect for the Koran. The fifth,\nsecret prayer. The sixth, to find the worship of God delightful. And the\nseventh sign of love to God is, \u201cThat a man loves the sincere friends\nand obedient servants of God, and regards them all as his friends. He\nregards all the enemies of God as his enemies and abhors them. And God\nthus speaks in his eternal word: \u2018His companions are terrible towards\nthe infidels, and tender towards each other.\u2019 A Sheikh was once asked,\n\u2018Who are the friends of the exalted and blessed God?\u2019 He replied: \u2018The\nfriends of God are those who are more compassionate to the friends of God\nthemselves, than a father or a mother to their children.\u2019\u201d[88] (Compare\nPsalm 103.)\n\nThere seems a great difference between Al-Ghazali as dogmatic theologian,\nalways compelled to agree with the Koran, and Al-Ghazali as the Mystic,\nwhen he begins to speculate and lift the veil. We are constantly reminded\nof the words of Anselm in his great work on the existence of God: \u201cI do\nnot attempt, O Lord, to penetrate Thy depths, for I by no means think\nmy intellect equal to them; but I long to understand in some degree\nThy truth, which my heart believes and loves, _for I do not seek to\nunderstand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand_.\u201d\n\nWhenever Al-Ghazali speaks of God\u2019s nearness to us and of the soul\u2019s\ndesire for human fellowship with the creator, he comes very close to the\nChristian idea of the Incarnation, and yet always stops short of it.\nIn his \u201cAlchemy of Happiness,\u201d for example, he mentions as the fourth\ncause of love to God the affinity that exists between man and his Maker,\nreferring to the saying of the Prophet: \u201cVerily God created man in\nhis own likeness.\u201d Immediately afterwards, however, he goes on to say:\n\u201cThis is a somewhat dangerous topic to dwell upon, as it is beyond the\nunderstanding of common people, and even intelligent men have stumbled\nin treating of it, and come to _believe in incarnation_ and union with\nGod. Still the affinity which does exist between man and God disposes of\nthe objection of those theologians mentioned above, who maintain that\nman cannot love a Being who is not of his own species. However great a\ndistance between them, man can love God because of the affinity indicated\nin the saying, \u2018God created man in His own likeness.\u2019\u201d\n\nAl-Ghazali would doubtless have accepted the statement in the Gospel, \u201cNo\nman hath seen God at any time,\u201d but he omits \u201cthe only Begotten Son who\nis in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.\u201d In speaking of the\nvision of God he says, \u201cAll Moslems profess to believe that the Vision of\nGod is the summit of human felicity because it is so stated in the Law;\nbut with many this is a mere lip-profession which arouses no emotion in\ntheir hearts. This is quite natural, for how can a man long for a thing\nof which he has no knowledge? We will endeavour to show briefly why the\nvision of God is the greatest happiness to which a man can attain.\n\n\u201cIn the first place, every one of man\u2019s faculties has its appropriate\nfunction which it delights to fulfill. This holds good of them all,\nfrom the lowest bodily appetite to the highest form of intellectual\napprehension. But even a comparatively low form of mental exertion\naffords greater pleasure than the satisfaction of bodily appetites. Thus\nif a man happens to be absorbed in a game of chess, he will not come to\nhis meal though repeatedly summoned. And the greater the subject-matter\nof our knowledge, the greater is our delight in it; for instance, we\nwould take more pleasure in knowing the secrets of a king than the\nsecrets of a vizier. Seeing then that God is the highest possible object\nof knowledge, the knowledge of Him must afford more delight than any\nother. He who knows God, even in this world, dwells, as it were, in a\nparadise, \u2018the breadth of which is as the breadth of the heavens and the\nearth,\u2019 a paradise the fruits of which no envy can prevent him plucking,\nand the extent of which is not narrowed by the multitude of those who\noccupy it.\u201d (See 1 John 4: 7-21.)\n\n\u201cBut the delight of knowledge still falls short of the delight of vision,\njust as our pleasure in thinking of those we love is much less than the\npleasure afforded by the actual sight of them. Our imprisonment in bodies\nof clay and water and entanglement in the things of sense constitute a\nveil which hides the vision of God from us, although it does not prevent\nour attaining to some knowledge of Him. For this reason God said to Moses\non Mount Sinai, \u2018Thou shalt not see Me.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn this book also we are reminded of the statement that only \u201cthe pure in\nheart\u201d can see God, and it seems scarcely possible that what Al-Ghazali\nhere teaches is not based on a knowledge of the Gospel. He says: \u201cHe in\nwhose heart the love of God has prevailed over all else will derive more\njoy from this vision than he in whose heart it has not so prevailed;\njust as in the case of two men with equally powerful eyesight gazing\non a beautiful face, he who already loves the possessor of that face\nwill rejoice in beholding it more than he who does not. For perfect\nhappiness, mere knowledge is not enough unaccompanied by love, and the\nlove of God cannot take possession of a man\u2019s heart till it is purified\nfrom the love of the world, which purification can only be effected by\nabstinence and austerity.\u201d How close is this teaching to the words of\nChrist, \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God\u201d! It is\nthe _vision of God_ which Al-Ghazali sought through all his religious\nexperiences as the highest good in this world and in the next. Yet with\nall his efforts to explain the nature of the soul and of God, he still\nfinds himself before a blank wall. He covets the vision of God but cannot\nshake himself free from the Moslem conception that God is unknowable and\nthat nothing in creation resembles the Creator. As Muhammed Iqbal says:\n\u201cTo this day it is difficult to define with accuracy Al-Ghazali\u2019s view\nof the nature of God. In him, like Borger and Solger in Germany, Sufi\npantheism and the _Ash\u02bearite_ dogma of personality appear to harmonize\ntogether, a reconciliation which makes it difficult to say whether he\nwas a Pantheist, or a Personal Pantheist of the type of Lotze. The soul,\naccording to Al-Ghazali, perceives things. But perception as an attribute\ncan exist only in a substance or essence which is absolutely free from\nall the attributes of body. In his _Al-Madnun_, he explains why the\nprophet declined to reveal the nature of the soul. There are, he says,\ntwo kinds of men: ordinary men and thinkers. The former who look upon\nmateriality as a condition of existence, cannot conceive an immaterial\nsubstance. The latter are led, by their logic, to a conception of the\nsoul which sweeps away all difference between God and the individual\nsoul. Al-Ghazali, therefore, realized the Pantheist drift of his own\ninquiry and preferred silence as to the ultimate nature of the soul.\u201d[89]\n\nWe have seen what Al-Ghazali teaches regarding the life and character of\nJesus and also of God\u2019s relation to us through the love of those who seek\nHim with all their hearts. Are these only Moslems, or is there a wider\nlove of God? Are _all_ souls in His keeping?\n\nWhat were Al-Ghazali\u2019s ideas regarding the salvation of those not in the\nfold of Islam? We have two striking passages in this connection which\nseem to contradict each other. They were probably written at different\nperiods of his life. The first passage which is remarkable indeed for\nhis day and his place in Islam occurs on page 22 of his book _Faisul\nAl-Tafriqa Bain al Islam wa \u2019l Zandiqa_ and reads as follows: \u201cI here\nstate that most Christians of the Greeks and of the Turks in our day will\nbe included in the mercy of God. Namely, those who are on the confines of\nthe empire and to whom the call to embrace Islam has not come. For they\nconsist of three classes: One class has never heard the name of Mohammed\n(upon whom be prayers and peace) and they are excusable. Another class\nhave heard of his name and title and the miracles which were wrought\nby him; they who live as neighbours among Moslems; these are the true\ninfidels and sceptics. And the other class are between these two; they\nhave heard of the name of Mohammed (upon him be prayers and peace),\nbut have not heard of his title and character. On the contrary they\nhave heard from their youth up that he is a liar and deceiver called\nMohammed, who pretended to have the gift of prophecy: in the same way as\nour children have heard of a false prophet in Khorasan called Al-Mukaffa\nwho pretended to be a prophet. And these last, in my opinion, belong\nto the first class as to their hope for the future.\u201d This account is\nthe more remarkable because in this very chapter he says that God told\nAdam, according to Tradition, \u201cthat out of a thousand of his descendants\nnine-hundred-and-ninety-nine go to hell and one only will be saved.\u201d\n\nOn the last page of the _Ihya_, however, Al-Ghazali expresses the\nopinion that on the day of judgment not a single Mohammedan, whatever\nbe his character, will enter the fire! He then quotes a tradition\nwhich says that for every Moslem designed to go to hell God will at\nthe last day substitute a Jew or a Christian, evidently approving\nthis substitution-doctrine as satisfactory to God\u2019s mercy towards\nall who confess Mohammed and to His decree that hell shall be filled\nwith its quota of unbelievers. (See Surah 50: 29.) The last page of\nthe _Ihya_, alas, again shows the Moslem spirit of intolerance which\nprevails even to-day. Men do not remember the more liberal judgment in\nhis other treatise. Al-Ghazali\u2019s attitude towards Christianity and his\nquotations from the Gospel narrative did much to leaven Persian thought\nand gave Jesus of Nazareth a large place in later mysticism especially\nin the foremost mystical poet, the immortal author of the _Masnavi_,\nJallal-ud-Din Ar-Rumi. He draws the great Lesson from the life of Christ\nwhich Al-Ghazali only hints at in his quotations; namely that Jesus is\nthe Life-giver:\n\n    \u201cThyself reckon dead, and then thou shalt fly\n    Free, free, from the prison of earth to the sky!\n    Spring may come, but on granite will grow no green thing:\n    It was barren in winter, \u2019tis barren in spring;\n    And granite man\u2019s heart is, till grace intervene.\n    And, crushing it, clothe the long barren with green,\n    When the fresh breath of Jesus shall touch the heart\u2019s core,\n    It will live, it will breathe, it will blossom once more.\u201d\n\nThe City of Mashad, close to the ruins of Tus, where Al-Ghazali was born\nand where he died, has been truly described as the Mecca of the Persian\nworld. Its streets are crowded with a hundred thousand pilgrims every\nyear. The American Presbyterian Church has an important work there, and\nthe Bible Societies report thousands of copies of the Bible sold there.\n\u201cWe have inundated the City of Mashad with the Word of God,\u201d wrote the\nlate Mr. Esselstyn; \u201cin the bazaars I have repeatedly been warned some\none will kill me if we do not stop selling the Scriptures and preaching.\nBut \u2018Lo, I am with you always\u2019 keeps ringing in my ears and we continue.\nThe Scriptures that have been sold in and around Mashad are sown seed and\nin due time we shall reap if we faint not.\u201d\n\nTo-day the black-browed Afghan, the Uzbek Tartar, the dervish,\ntravel-stained and footsore, nay the poorest lad of Khorasan can buy the\nwhole story of what Jesus did and taught. No Moslem is now dependent on\nAl-Ghazali\u2019s few quotations from the Gospel. A new day has dawned for\nPersia and the Near East. Everywhere the New Testament is better known\nthan any of the ninety-nine works of Al-Ghazali, and we may also say,\nwithout exaggeration, that the New Testament finds a larger circle of\nreaders. The mystics in Islam are near the Kingdom of God and for them\nAl-Ghazali may be used as a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. Did not\nthe author of the _Gulshan-i-Raz_ (the Garden of Mysteries) write: \u201cDost\nthou know what Christianity is? I shall tell it thee. It digs up thine\nown Ego, and carries thee to God. Thy soul is a monastery wherein dwells\noneness, thou art Jerusalem, where the Eternal is enthroned; the Holy\nSpirit works this miracle, for know that God\u2019s being rests in the Holy\nSpirit as in His Own Spirit.\u201d And such seekers after God to-day will\nfind those who will lead them to CHRIST. For, as Dr. J. Rendel Harris\nexpressed it: \u201cAll of us who love Christ are beginning to realize that we\nlive in the same street and are on the same telephone, some of us that we\nare lodged next door to one another and can knock on the partitions, a\nfew that we are all under the same roof and all within arm\u2019s length and\nheart reach.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAppendix\n\n\nA. BIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nAbu Nasir Abd ul Wahab Taqi id Din as Subqi.\u2014Tabaqat-ash-Shafa\u02beiya al\nKubra. Vol. IV, pp. 101-102.\n\nBarbier de Meynard, M. C.\u2014Traduction nouvelle du traite de Ghazzali\nintitule le Pr\u00e9servatif de l\u2019erreur et notices sur les extases (des\nSoufis). (Journal Asiatique, Paris, 1877.)\n\nBrockelmann, Carl\u2014Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, Weimar, 1898, 2\nvols.\n\nChenery, Thomas\u2014The Assemblies of Al-Hariri, London, 1878, Trans.\n\nClark, Edson L.\u2014The Arabs and the Turks, Boston, 1875.\n\nDeBoer, T. J.\u2014The History of Philosophy in Islam, London, 1903.\n\nDozy, (Trans. by Francis Griffin Stokes)\u2014Spanish Islam, London, 1913.\n\nDe Vaun, Cara\u2014Gazali (Les Grand Philos.\u2014Felix Alcan), Paris, 1912.\n\nEncyclop\u00e6dia Britannica.\n\nField, Claud\u2014The Alchemy of Happiness, by Ghazali (from Hindustani).\n\n  \u2014 The Confessions of Al-Ghazali, London, 1909, Trans.\n\n  \u2014 Mystics and Saints of Islam, London, 1910.\n\n  \u2014 Persian Literature, London (undated).\n\nFortescue, Adrian\u2014The Lesser Eastern Churches, London, 1913.\n\nGairdner, W. H. T.\u2014Al-Ghazali\u2019s Mishkat-ul-Anwar and the Ghazali\nProblem, Der Islam, Bd. V, Heft 2/3.\n\nGardner, W. R. W.\u2014Al-Ghazali. In Islam Series, Christian Literature\nSociety for India, 1919.\n\nGautier, Lucien\u2014Ad-Dourra al-fakhira: La perle precieuse de Ghazali.\nTraite d\u2019eschatologie musulmane, publie ... avec une traduction\nfrancaise. Geneve, 1878.\n\nGosche, von R.\u2014\u00dcber Ghazzali, Leben und Werke, Berlin, 1859.\n\nHuart, Clement\u2014A History of Arabic Literature, London, 1903.\n\nHurgronje, Dr. C. Snouck\u2014Mekka, Haag, 1886.\n\nIbn Khallikan.\n\nJackson, A. V. Williams\u2014\u201cFrom Constantinople to the Home of Omar\nKhayyam\u201d: New York, Macmillan Company, 1911.\n\nJayakar, Lt. Col. A. S. G.\u2014Ad-Damiri\u2019s Hayat Al-Hayawan (under\n_Al-Hammam_), Vol. I, London, 1906, Trans.\n\nJewish Encyclop\u00e6dia, The.\n\nJournal of The American Oriental Society, Vol. XX, pp. 71-132. New Haven,\nConn., 1898.\n\nLane-Poole, Stanley\u2014Medi\u00e6val India under Mohammedan Rule, in the Story of\nthe National Series, London, 1903.\n\nMohammed Iqbal\u2014The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, London, 1908.\n\nMiguel Asin et Palacios\u2014Al Gazel: Domatica, moral, Ascetica. (Zargoza.\nSpain, 1901.)\n\n  \u2014 _Logia et Agrapha Domini Jesu_ apud Moslemicos Scriptores, etc.\n  (Latin and Arabic) Firmin-Didot and Co., Paris, 1917.\n\nLe Strange, G.\u2014Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, Oxford, 1900.\n\nMacdonald, D. B.\u2014Aspects of Islam, New York, 1911.\n\n  \u2014 Emotional religion in Islam as affected by music and singing.\n  Being a translation of a book of the Ihya \u02bfUlum ad-Din of Al-Ghazzali\n  with analysis, annotation and appendices. (Royal Asiatic Society.\n  Journal. 1901.)\n\n  \u2014 Encyclop\u00e6dia of Islam, Leyden\u2014art., \u201cGhazali.\u201d\n\n  \u2014 The Life of Al-Ghazali with special reference to his religious\n  experiences and opinions (Journal American Oriental Society).\n\n  \u2014 Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory. 1903.\n\n  \u2014 The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, Chicago, 1909.\n\nMurtadha\u2014Introduction to the Celebrated Commentary of the _Ihya_ entitled\n_Ithaf ul Sa\u02beada_. Cairo Edition.\n\nNicholson, Reynold A.\u2014Kashf Al-Mahjub, the oldest Persian Treatise on\nSufism by Al-Hujwiri, London, 1911.\n\n  \u2014 Literary History of the Arabs, New York, 1907.\n\nN\u00f6ldeke, Theodore\u2014Sketches from Eastern History, London, 1892.\n\nOsborn, Robert Durie\u2014Islam Under the Khalifs of Baghdad, London, 1878.\n\nSaladin, H.\u2014Manuel d\u2019art Musulman, Paris, 1907, Vol. I.\n\nTyrwitt, W. S. S.\u2014Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus, London, 1907.\n\n\nB. TRANSLATIONS OF AL-GHAZALI\u2019S WORKS\n\n\n_Hebrew._\n\nMakasid al Falasifah\u2014De\u2019ot ha-Pilusufim\u2014Isaac Albalag, 13th C.\n\n  \u2014 Kawwanot ha-Pilusufim\u2014Judah Nathan, 14th C.\n\nTahafut al-Falasifah\u2014Happalat ha-Pilusufim\u2014Zerahiah ha-Levy, 1411.\n\nMa\u2019amar bi-Teshubot She\u2019elot Nish\u2019al Mehem (Answers to Philanthropical\nQuestions)\u2014H. Malter, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1897; also called Kawwanot\nha-Kawwanot.\n\n  \u2014 Mozene ha-\u2019Iyyunin\u2014Jacob ben Makir (d. 1308).\n\nMizan al-\u02bfAmal\u2014Mozen Zedek\u2014Abraham Ibn Hazdai ben Samuel ha-Levy of\nBarcelona, ed. J. Goldenthal, Leipsic, 1839.\n\nMishkat al-Anwar fi Riyad al-Azhar bi-Taufik al-Anhar\u2014Maskit ha-Orot\nbe-Pardes ha-Nizzanim\u2014Isaac ben Joseph Alfasi.\n\n\n_Latin._\n\nMaqasid Falasifa\u2014Logica et Philosophia\u2014Dom. Gundisalvi, Veneti\u00e6, 1506.\n\n\n_German._\n\nKitab aiyuha \u2019l walad\u2014O Kind! Die ber\u00fchmte ethische Abhandlung Ghazali\u2019s\narab. u. deutsch, v. Hammer-Purgstall, Wien, 1838.\n\nKitab Tahafut al Falasifa\u2014Die Widerspr\u00fcche der Philosophie nach\nAl-Ghazzali und ihr Ausgleich durch Ibn Rushd, Strassburg, 1894.\n\nAntworten auf Fragen, die an ihn gerichtet wurden, hebr. u. arab. Text\nmit deutschen \u00fcbers. Erklarung und Glossen v. H. Malter, Frankfurt, 1896.\n\nIhya \u02beulum id Din\u2014German translation in course of preparation by H. Bauer.\n\n\n_French._\n\nAd durra al fakhira fi kasf \u02beulum al akhira\u2014La Perle precieuse de\nGhazali, ed. par L. Gautier, Geneve, 1878.\n\nAl munqidh min ad dhalal\u2014ed. Schmolders, Essai sur les ecoles\nphilosophiques chez les Arabes, Paris, 1842. Translated by Barbier de\nMeynard, 1877, in Journal Asiatique, vol. ix.\n\n\n_English._\n\nKimiya as-saa\u02beda\u2014The Alchemy of Happiness\u2014H. A. Homes, Albany, N. Y.,\n1873.\n\nThe Alchemy of Happiness\u2014Claud Field, London, 1908.\n\nThe Confessions of Al-Ghazali\u2014Claud Field, London, 1909.\n\n\n_Turkish._\n\nThere are two manuscript translations of Al-Ghazali\u2019s Nasa\u02beih-ul-Muluk in\nTurkish. Also an Arabic version of the Persian original. (See Browne\u2019s\nHandlist of Cambridge University Library Arabic MSS. Nos. 1185 and 220.)\n\nThe Alchemy of Happiness is also widely known in a Turkish version from\nwhich the earliest English version by Homes was made.\n\n\nC. LIST OF AL-GHAZALI\u2019S WORKS\n\nIn Arabic alphabetical order according to As-Subqi, Al-Murtadha (Vol. I,\npp. 41-83), and other sources.\n\n   1. Ihya \u02beUlum id Din\u2014(Revival of the Sciences of Religion).\n   2. Al Imla\u02be \u02beAla Mushkal al Ihya\u2014(supplement to above).\n   3. Al\u02beArba\u02be\u00een\u2014(on the Koran).\n   4. Asma Allah al Husna\u2014(on the names of God).\n   5. Al-Iqtasad fi I\u02betiqad\u2014(Speculative Theology).\n   6. Iljam al \u02beAwam \u02bean \u02beilm al Kalam\u2014(Warning against scholasticism).\n   7. Asrar Mu\u02beamalat id Din\u2014(Mysticism).\n   8. Asrar al anwar al ilahiya\u2014(on the Koran).\n   9. Akhlaq al abrar wa najat min al ashrar\u2014(Ethics).\n  10. Asrar itba\u02bea as sunna\u2014(Tradition).\n  11. Asrar al huruf wa \u2019l kalimat\u2014(Koran Mysteries).\n  12. Ayyuha \u2019l walad\u2014(O child!\u2014written in Persian originally\u2014Ethics\n        and Manners).\n  13. Badayat al Hadaya\u2014(Beginner\u2019s book in religion).\n  14. Al Basit fi furu\u02bea al Madhhab\u2014(Jurisprudence).\n  15. Bayan al Qaulain\u2014(Creed).\n  16. Bayan Fadha\u02bea al Abahiya\u2014\n  17. Bada\u02bea as Saniya.\n  18. Tanbih al Ghafal\u00een.\n  19. Talbis Iblis.\n  20. At Takbir fi \u02beilm al ta\u02beabir\u2014(Interpretation).\n  21. Tahafut al filasafa\u2014(Against Philosophy).\n  22. Ta\u02beliqa fi furu\u02bea al Madhhab\u2014(Written at Jurjan against the\n        Ismailite heresy).\n  23. Tahsin al Maqsud\u2014\n  24. Tahsin al Adilla\u2014(Sources of Islam).\n  25. Tafsir al Quran al \u02beAzim\u2014(Brief Koran Commentary).\n  26. Al Tafriqa bain al iman wa \u2019l zindiqa\u2014\n  27. Jawahir al Quran\u2014(Beauties of the Koran).\n  28. Hujjat al Haqq\u2014\n  29. Haqiqat al Ruh\u2014(Mysticism).\n  30. Haqiqat al Qaulain\u2014(on the Creed).\n  31. Al Durra al Fakhira\u2014(The Precious Pearl).\n  32. Khulasat ar Rasa\u02beil\u2014(Jurisprudence).\n  33. Khulasat al-tasanif fi l-tasawwuf.\n  34. Risalat al Qudsiya.\n  35. Risalat al Aqtab.\n  36. Al Risalat al Laduniya.\n  37. Risalat at Tair\u2014(Parable on the Birds).\n  38. Sirr al Ma\u02besun\u2014(on the magical use of the Koran text).\n  39. Sirr al-\u02bfalamain wa-kashf ma fi \u2019l-darain.\n  40. Sharh Da\u02beirat \u02beAli ibn Talib.\n  41. Shifa\u02be al Ghalil\u2014(On Logic).\n  42. \u02beAqidat al Misbah.\n  43. \u02beAja\u02beib Sana\u02bea Allah.\n  44. \u02beAnqud al Mukhtasar.\n  45. Ghayat al Ghur fi Misa\u02beil al daur\u2014(On Divorce).\n  46. Ghaur al Daur\u2014(also on Divorce) written in Bagdad 484 A. H.\n  47. Al Fatawa\u2014(One hundred and ninety questions answered).\n  48. Fatihat al \u02beUlum\u2014(Encyclop\u00e6dia of Sciences).\n  49. Al Qanun al Kulli.\n  50. Qanun ar Rasul.\n  51. Al Qurbat ila Allah\u2014(On Nearness to God).\n  52. Al Qistas al Mustaqim\u2014(Sources of Islam).\n  53. Al Qaul al jamil fi radd \u02beala man ghaiyar al Injil\u2014(On the\n        corrupting of the Gospel text).\n  54. Kimiya as Saa\u02beda\u2014(The Alchemy of Happiness; written in Persian and\n        afterwards translated).\n  55. Kashf \u02beUlum al Akhira\u2014(Eschatology).\n  56. Al Kashf wa \u2019l tabyin fi ghurur al Khalk ajma\u02bein\u2014(Mysticism).\n  57. Kanz al \u02beIdat.\n  58. Kitab al \u02bearba\u02bein.\n  59. Al Lubab al Muntaqal fi \u2019l Jadal\u2014(On Controversy).\n  60. Al Mustasfa fi \u02beUsul al Fiqh\u2014(Jurisprudence). His most important\n        and largest work on this subject; several commentaries were\n        written on it later.\n  61. Al Manqul fi \u2019l \u02beUsul.\n  62. Al Maksud fi Khilafiyat bain al Hanifiya wa \u2019sh Shafi\u02beya\u2014(on\n        these two schools of jurisprudence).\n  63. Al Madadi wa \u2019l Ghayat fi asrar al Huruf al Maknumat.\n  64. Al Majalis al Ghazaliya\u2014(Collection of his Bagdad sermons).\n  65. Maqasid al filasafa\u2014(Philosophy).\n  66. Al Munqidh min adh-Dhalal\u2014(His Confessions, Autobiographical).\n  67. Mi\u02beyar al \u02beIlm fi \u2019l Mantiq\u2014(Logic).\n  68. Mi\u02beyar al Nazir\u2014(Logic).\n  69. Mahal al Nazir\u2014\n  70. Mishkat al anwar fi lata\u02beif al akhyar\u2014(Ethics).\n  71. Al Mustazhir fi radd \u02beala \u2019l Batiniya\u2014(Controversial).\n  72. Al-Madnun bihi \u02beala ghairi ahlihi\u2014Book to be kept from those\n        unfitted for it. (Esoteric.)\n  73. Al-Madnun al-saghir\u2014Book to be kept from those unfitted for\n        it. (Esoteric.)\n  74. Mishkat al-anwar\u2014(Mysticism).\n  75. Mizan al \u02beAmal\u2014(A compendium of Ethics).\n  76. Mawahib al Batiniya\u2014(similar to No. 71, but abbreviated).\n  77. Al Minhaj al A\u02beali\u2014\n  78. Miraj as Salik\u00een\u2014\n  79. Mukashafat al qulub\u2014\n  80. Mufasal al Khilaf fi \u02beUsul al Qiyas\u2014\n  81. Minhaj al \u02beAbidin ila Janat Rab al \u02beAlam\u00een\u2014(His last work: a\n        popular epistle on the Mystic way).\n  82. Nasikhat al Muluk\u2014(Written in Persian and called in the Arabic\n        translation Al Tibr al Masbuk; a book of counsel for kings\n        and princes).\n  83. Al Wajiz\u2014(Jurisprudence). Several commentaries were written on\n        this work and it is much used.\n  84. Al Wasit\u2014(a celebrated book in Jurisprudence). Several\n        commentaries.\n  85. Yaqut at Ta\u02bewil fi Tafsir at Tanzil\u2014(Commentary on the Koran in\n        40 vols.).\n\n\nD. Comparative Table of Events\n\n                         NORTH AFRICA\n        EUROPE            AND SPAIN           AL-GHAZALI     A. D.  A. H.\n  --------------------+-------------------+-----------------+------+------+\n  _Germany_\u2014          |Kingdoms of Castile|Al-Ghazali born. | 1058 |  450 |\n    Franconian        |  and Leon.        |                 |      |      |\n    Dynasty. Henry    |End of the         |                 |      |      |\n    III, Henry IV.    |  Ommiades, 419.   |                 |      |      |\n  --------------------+The Morabeths.     |Al-Ghazali goes  |      |      |\n  Struggle between    +-------------------+  to Bagdad.     | 1087 |  480 |\n    Emperors and      |Advance of         |                 |      |      |\n    the Popes.        |  Christians.      |                 |      |      |\n  --------------------+The Moslems divided|                 |      |      |\n  _Italy_\u2014Lombard     |  into small       |                 |      |      |\n    Republics.        |  states.          |Conversion of    |      |      |\n    Gregory VII.      +-------------------+  Al-Ghazali.    | 1095 |  488 |\n  --------------------+Abdallah ben Tasfin|                 |      |      |\n  _France_\u2014Reign of   |  founds Marakash. |                 |      |      |\n    Feudalism.        +-------------------+                 |      |      |\n    Philip, 1060.     |Toledo taken, 1085.|His return to    |      |      |\n  --------------------+The Almoravides.   |  active life.   | 1104 |  498 |\n  _Russia_\u2014Vladimir   |Yusuf ibn Tasfin   |                 |      |      |\n    the Great adopts  |  called to Spain, |                 |      |      |\n    Christianity.     |  1086.            |                 |      |      |\n  --------------------+-------------------+                 |      |      |\n  _England_\u2014Conquest  |1086, Battle of    |                 |      |      |\n    of William, Duke  |  Zalaca, defeat of|His death.       | 1111 |  505 |\n    of Normandy,      |   Moslems.        |                 |      |      |\n    1066.             |                   |                 |      |      |\n  --------------------+                   |                 |      |      |\n  Abelard born, 1079. |                   |                 |      |      |\n  --------------------+                   |                 |      |      |\n  First Crusade, 1095.|                   |                 |      |      |\n  Anselm, 1093.       |                   |                 |      |      |\n  Bernard, 1115.      |                   |                 |      |      |\n\n    A. D.  A. H.    ARABIA AND SYRIA       PERSIA\u2014KHORASAN\u2014INDIA\n  +------+------+------------------------+-------------------------\n  | 1058 |  450 |El Mostanser,           |El Ka\u02bfim B\u02beamrillah\n  |      |      |  427-487 A. H.         |  invests Tughril with\n  |      |      |  Proclaimed at Bagdad, |  temporal authority.\n  |      |      |  451 A. H.             +-------------------------\n  |      |      |                        |Tughril Bey subjects\n  | 1087 |  480 |                        |  Persia.\n  |      |      |Seditions in Caliphate. +-------------------------\n  |      |      +------------------------+Tughril Bey invades\n  |      |      |                        |  India. Firdausi,\n  |      |      |                        |  author of Shah Nameh.\n  |      |      |                        |Death of Tughril Bey,\n  | 1095 |  488 |                        |   1063.\n  |      |      |Decline of the          +-------------------------\n  |      |      |  Fatimides.            |\n  |      |      |                        |DOMINATION OF THE SELJUKS\n  |      |      |                        |\n  | 1104 |  498 |                        |Alp Arslan. Conquest of\n  |      |      |                        |  Asia Minor.\n  |      |      |Jerusalem invaded by the+-------------------------\n  |      |      |  sons of Ortok, 1076.  |Malek Shah. His four sons\n  |      |      |1098, Siege of Antioch. |  divide his empire,\n  |      |      |Jerusalem captured by   |  1072.\n  | 1111 |  505 |  the Crusaders, 1099.  +-------------------------\n  |      |      |  (492 A. H.)           |The kingdom of Gazna\n  |      |      |1109, Tripoli taken by  |  overthrown by the\n  |      |      |  the Crusaders.        |  Sultans Gourides of\n  |      |      |                        |  Delhi.\n  |      |      |                        |\n  |      |      |                        |\n  |      |      |                        |\n  |      |      |                        |\n  |      |      |                        |\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] \u201cSketches from Eastern History,\u201d Theodore N\u00f6ldeke. London, 1892, p.\n98.\n\n[2] \u201cDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire.\u201d\n\n[3] \u201cThe Assemblies of al-Hariri,\u201d trans. by Thomas Chenery. London,\n1867. Vol. I, Introduction, p. 5.\n\n[4] Der Islam, Band V, Heft 2/3; C. H. Becker, Strassburg, 1914, pp. 239,\n291.\n\n[5] Medi\u00e6val India, in \u201cThe Story of the Nations Series,\u201d Stanley\nLane-Poole, New York, 1903, p. 37.\n\n[6] \u201cThe Caliphate, its Rise, Decline and Fall,\u201d 1892, p. 578.\n\n[7] That there was not only close social, but religious and polemical\ncontact between the learned men of Christian sects and those of Islam\nlong before this period, and especially during the life of Al-Ghazali\nis well known. See especially the life and writings of Al-Kindi, John\nof Damascus, and Theodor Abu Qurra as given by A. Keller in \u201cDer\nGeisteskampf des Christentums gegen den Islam bis zur Zeit der Kreuzz\u00fcge\u201d\n(Leipzig, 1896) and \u201cChristliches Polemik und Islamische Dogmenbilding,\u201d\nby C. H. Becker (\u201cFestschrift Ignaz Goldziher,\u201d pp. 175-195). The latter\nshows clearly that Islam borrowed considerably from Christianity, through\ncontroversy, both in its dogma and ritual even as late as the tenth\ncentury.\n\n[8] Cf. \u201cThe Lesser Eastern Churches,\u201d Adrian Fortescue, London, 1913.\n\n[9] Cf. _The Moslem World_, Vol. VI, p. 385.\n\n[10] See article on \u201cThe Arabic Bible\u201d in _The Moslem World_, October,\n1916.\n\n[11] \u201cMissionary Achievement:\u201d A survey of world-wide Evangelization,\nLondon, 1907, pp. 22, 26.\n\n[12] \u201cMinhaj et Talibin of An-Nawawi,\u201d trans. from the French of L. W. C.\nVan Den Berg by E. C. Howard, London, 1914, pp. 467 and 469.\n\n[13] These badges of servitude, called _Ghayar_, are referred to as\nobligatory in Al-Ghazali\u2019s \u201c_Wajiz_.\u201d See the chapter on infidel-subjects.\n\n[14] Richard Gottheil gives the contents of a _fatwa_ on the appointment\nof _Dhimmis_ to office dated about A. D. 1126 and given by one Ahmad\nibn Al Husain. \u201cTo place an infidel in authority over a Moslem would\nnever enter the mind of one who had a sound heart. He who does so must\neither be a godless fellow or be ignorant of Moslem law and practice. He\nattempts to prove that a _Dhimmi_ (_i. e._ Jew or Christian) is not even\nto be used as a scribe, a money-changer, or a butcher; citing passages\nfrom the Koran and the Traditions\u201d (\u201cFestschrift Ignaz Goldziher von Carl\nBezold,\u201d Strassburg, 1911, pp. 203-208).\n\n[15] \u201cThe Early Development of Mohammedanism,\u201d London, 1914, p. 131.\n\n[16] Milner, \u201cThe History of the Church of Christ,\u201d London, 1834, p. 531,\nVol. II.\n\n[17] \u201cThe Pulse of Asia,\u201d Houghton, Mifflin & Co., New York, 1907, p. 325.\n\n[18] See however Gardner\u2019s Al-Ghazali in the \u201cIslam Series\u201d (pp. 1-3)\nwhere we have this note: \u201cThe district of Tus contained four towns,\nRadkan, Tabaran, Bazdghur, and Nawqan, (Yaqut gives the spelling as\nNuqan) and more than 1,000 villages.\u201d (See Yaqut, quoting Mis\u02bear bin\nMukhalhil, vol. vi, p. 7. Ibn Khallikan, vol. i, p. 29. Jackson, _From\nConstantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam_, p. 267, 284 _ff._) Of these\nfour towns, Tabaran was the capital, while Nawqan was the most populous.\nIt was outside of Nawqan that \u02bfAli bin Musa ar-Rida and Haroun Ar-Rashid\nwere buried. Thus, the present Mashad represents the old Nawqan, and must\ncover some at least of the site of that city; while the ruins now known\nas Tus represent the old city of Tabaran, which, having been the capital\nof the district, was commonly called by the name of the district. It was\noutside Tabaran that Al-Ghazali and Firdausi were buried. It is a mistake\nto regard Tus as having been a metropolis containing four boroughs. That\nthere ever existed a _city_ of Tus stretching thirty-five miles, from\nMashad to Radkan, is incredible. As-Sam\u02beani, in the _Kitabu\u2019l-Ansab_,\nsays that Tus contained two towns and over one thousand villages.\n\n[19] \u201cThe Glory of the Shiah World,\u201d London, 1910. In this book we have\nan interesting picture of Mashad and Tus as they are to-day.\n\n[20] \u201cKashf al-Mahjub,\u201d pp. 173-174.\n\n[21] \u201cHayat-ul-Hayawan,\u201d by Damiri.\n\n[22] Referred to in his \u201cLife of Al-Ghazzali.\u201d\n\n[23] _Ibn Khallikan_ (Vol. I, p. 29, Cairo, 1310) leaves little doubt\nthat Sama\u02beani spells it with one \u201cz,\u201d _Ghazali_. So also is the spelling\nof German Orientalists including Brockelmann. He writes (Vol. I, p.\n419) \u201c_So_, als Nisbe zu Gazala, einem kleinen Orte bei Tus, nach dem\nausdr\u00fccklichen Zeugnis des Sam\u02beanis, jenes ausgezeichneten Kenners\niranischer Namen, (s. o. p. 330) b. j. Hall, nr. 37; die von Gosche 1,\n1, nr. 3 auf Grund sp\u00e4ter, persischer Quellen verteidigte Schreibung\n\u2018Gazzali\u2019 verdankt offenbar einer Volksetymologie ihr Dasein in Anlehnung\nan die nach al Sam\u02beani in Hwarizm gebr\u00e4uchlichen Nisben, wie al Qassari\nf\u00fcr al Qassar. Sujuti den Gosche citiert best\u00e4tigt keineswegs seine\nauffassung, sondern gibt seine Quelle als Sam\u02beani genau wieder.\u201d Clement\nHuart (\u201cHistory of Arabic Literature,\u201d p. 265) gives the preference\nto _Ghazali_; so do the French Orientalists in the _Revue du Monde\nMussulman_, Goldziher in his latest work _Vorlesungen \u00fcber den Islam_\n(1910), and the well-known Dutch Arabist, Snouck Hurgronje. Yet in spite\nof all this those who prefer \u201cGhazzali\u201d may appeal to the highest Moslem\nauthority, namely, Mohammed the Prophet who is said to have declared to\nsome one in a dream that this was the correct spelling. (See \u201cMurtadha,\u201d\nVol. I, p. 18.) I have a _fatwa_ from the Sheikhs of Al-Azhar, Cairo,\nhowever, stating that the true spelling is now agreed on by Moslems as\n_Ghazali_ with one middle radical.\n\n[24] Macdonald.\n\n[25] From the Biography given at the end of Miskat-ul-Anwar, Cairo\nedition (1322).\n\n[26] \u201cThe Confessions of Al-Ghazali,\u201d trans. by Claud Field, London, 1909.\n\n[27] Cf. Appendix VII in Macdonald\u2019s \u201cMuslim Theology, Jurisprudence and\nConstitutional Theology.\u201d\n\n[28] I follow here the contents of Ghazali\u2019s own _Wajiz_.\n\n[29] D. B. Macdonald, \u201cLife of Al-Ghazzali,\u201d Journal of the American\nOriental Society, Vol. XX, p. 76.\n\n[30] Huart, \u201cArabic Literature.\u201d\n\n[31] \u201cLalla Rookh.\u201d\n\n[32] \u201cBaghdad under the Abbasside Caliphate,\u201d G. Le Strange, Oxford,\n1900, p. 298.\n\n[33] Several of these are given at length by Murtadha.\n\n[34] Macdonald, p. 88.\n\n[35] Macdonald, p. 90, and see Bibliography.\n\n[36] \u201cThe Maqamat.\u201d\n\n[37] \u201cManuel d\u2019Art Musulman,\u201d Vol. I, Paris, 1907.\n\n[38] Compare on the chronology the first chapters of Gardner\u2019s\n\u201cAl-Ghazali,\u201d 1919 (Christian Lit. Soc. for India).\n\n[39] Quoted in Klein\u2019s \u201cIslam,\u201d page 87, from the _Ihya_, IV: 320.\n\n[40] For the significance of these terms consult Hughes\u2019 \u201cDictionary of\nIslam.\u201d\n\n[41] That this method of seeking God is still a refuge for the most\nearnest and sincere among Moslems is clear from such books as \u201cThe\nAutobiography of Imad-ud-Din the Indian Convert\u201d (C. M. S., London).\n\n[42] Gardner finds evidence that the book mentioned was _not_ written\nthere.\n\n[43] \u201cThe Jewish Encyclop\u00e6dia,\u201d article \u201cMachpelah.\u201d\n\n[44] A recent traveller says: \u201cThere is a hole in the wall which is\nsupposed to communicate with the cave below. Jews write letters to\nAbraham and place them in this hole, to tell him how badly they are\nbeing treated by the Moslems. But the Moslem boys are said to know that\nthe hole has no great depth, and to collect these letters and burn them\nbefore Abraham has seen them.\u201d\n\n[45] Cf. his \u201cIhya\u201d and also his \u201cAl-Wajiz.\u201d\n\n[46] M. J. De Goeje, \u201cMemoire sur les Carmathes du Bahrain et Les\nFatimides,\u201d (Leiden, 1886) pp. 104-114.\n\n[47] In the _Ihya_ Al-Ghazali gives the prayer to be offered when kissing\nthe Black Stone.\n\n[48] \u201cMekka,\u201d Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, Vol. I, den Haag, 1888.\n\n[49] Burton\u2019s \u201cPilgrimage,\u201d Vol. II, Appendix, pp. 323-324.\n\n[50] Macdonald, \u201cThe Life of Al-Ghazzali,\u201d pp. 97-98.\n\n[51] Burton\u2019s \u201cPilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah,\u201d Vol. I, p. 12.\n\n[52] Macdonald\u2019s \u201cLife of Al-Ghazzali,\u201d pp. 105, 107-108, quoted from\nMurtadha.\n\n[53] Quoted in Hayat-ul-Hayawan.\n\n[54] An exposition of the Creed of the People of the Sunna on the two\nWords of Witnessing (_kalimatai \u2019sh-shahada_) which form one of the\nfoundations of Islam. This creed is intended to be committed to memory\nby children. It forms the first section of the second book of Ghazali\u2019s\nIhya, Vol. II, pp. 17-42 of edit. of Cairo with commentary of the Sayyid\nMurtadha. We are indebted for the translation to Professor Macdonald\n(_Muslim Theology and Jurisprudence_).\n\n[55] For the process see pp. 170 et seq. of \u201c_Mafatih Al-Ghaib_\u201d (Cairo,\n1327) by Ahmed Al-Zarkawi, a contemporary Egyptian magician, and on the\nsubject in general, the sixth and seventh _Risalas_ in that volume.\n\n[56] Cf. Al-Faidh al Mutawalli of Ahmed Damanhuri, Cairo, 1331.\n\n[57] \u201cEncyclop\u00e6dia of Islam,\u201d article _Buduh_.\n\n[58] See a paper on this subject by Ali Bey Bargat, Sur Deux Bronzes du\nMus\u00e9e Arabe\u2014\u201cBulletin de l\u2019Inst. Egypt.,\u201d IV: 7.\n\n[59] For critical notes on his works see R. Gosche, pp. 249-300, also\nGardner\u2019s remarks and list.\n\n[60] \u201cThe Mystics of Islam.\u201d\n\n[61] Macdonald, p. 72.\n\n[62] Compare the two statements facing this chapter; also the references\nto \u201cThe Gospel,\u201d in Chapter IX.\n\n[63] \u201cJewish Encyclop\u00e6dia,\u201d article \u201cGhazali.\u201d\n\n[64] Macdonald.\n\n[65] In regard to the influence of Al-Ghazali\u2019s writings, R. Gosche\nremarks: \u201cIt is characteristic how his influence has spread. The later\nmystical portions of his _Ihya_ have especially influenced Mohammedan\ncircles in India. His two works on philosophy exerted influence in Spain\nand among later Jewish writers, for the best manuscripts of the Tahafut\nare found in Maghrabi character.\u201d\n\n[66] Adolf Wuttke, \u201cChristian Ethics,\u201d Vol. I, p. 172.\n\n[67] Macdonald, pp. 118-119.\n\n[68] \u201cIhya,\u201d Vol. II, pp. 32-33, \u201cMizan al \u02bfAmal,\u201d pp. 126-128, etc.\n\n[69] \u201cAlchemy of Happiness,\u201d pp. 94-96.\n\n[70] \u201cAlchemy of Happiness.\u201d\n\n[71] \u201cMizan al \u02bfAmal.\u201d\n\n[72] \u201cThe Mystics of Islam.\u201d\n\n[73] \u201cThe Way of a Mystic,\u201d _The Moslem World_, Vol. II, p. 171.\n\n[74] \u201cMystics of Islam,\u201d p. 18.\n\n[75] Yet strange to say there was often an utter divorce between these\nhigh ideals and practical morality. A surprising statement is made by\nAl-Ghazali regarding Junaid in this connection. \u201cIhya,\u201d Vol. II, p. 19.\n\n[76] \u201cEssays on Islam,\u201d by Rev. E. Sell, Madras, 1901, p. 13.\n\n[77] \u201cMohammedanism,\u201d C. Snouck Hurgronje, New York and London, 1916.\n\n[78] \u201cDer Islam,\u201d Band V, Heft 2/3 article, \u201cAl-Ghazali\u2019s Mishkat\nAl-Anwar and the Ghazali Problem,\u201d by Canon W. H. T. Gairdner.\n\n[79] \u201cDevelopment of Mohammedanism,\u201d pp. 143-144.\n\n[80] \u201c_Ihya_,\u201d chapter on Repentance.\n\n[81] One of the texts he uses is (Surah 2, verse 222), \u201cVerily, God loves\nthose who repent and loves those who are purified.\u201d The context is in\nrelation to the infamous statement \u201cYour wives are your tillage, etc.,\u201d\nwhich many Moslem commentators interpret as a license for immorality. No\nwonder that Al-Ghazali was led in this connection to begin to speak on\nthe text \u201call have sinned\u201d although he does not quote St. Paul\u2019s first\nchapter to the Romans.\n\n[82] \u201cAl-Badajet,\u201d Cairo Edition, p. 41.\n\n[83] Zwemer, \u201cThe Moslem Christ.\u201d\n\n[84] Goldziher, in \u201cZ. D. M. G.,\u201d XXXII, 344.\n\n[85] \u201cJewish Encyclop\u00e6dia,\u201d Art. Bible Versions.\n\n[86] After completing this research I found a fuller account of all\nreferences to Jesus Christ in Moslem Literature, especially the _Ihya_ as\ngiven by Micha\u00ebl Asin et Palacios in _Logia et Agrapha Domini Jesus apud\nMoslemicos, etc._, in _Patrologia Orientalis_, Tome XIII fascicule 3.\nParis 1917.\n\n[87] The story is repeated in Vol. III, p. 206; cf. Matt. 6: 16-18.\n\n[88] These last quotations are from the translation by Homes which was\nfrom the Turkish. There seem to be several editions of the \u201cAlchemy of\nHappiness\u201d and the text varies as well as the number of chapters.\n\n[89] \u201cThe Development of Metaphysics in Persia,\u201d p. 75.\n\n                _Printed in the United States of America_","title":"A Moslem seeker after God : $b showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":67065}