Part 16

There seems a great difference between Al-Ghazali as dogmatic theologian, always compelled to agree with the Koran, and Al-Ghazali as the Mystic, when he begins to speculate and lift the veil. We are constantly reminded of the words of Anselm in his great work on the existence of God: “I do not attempt, O Lord, to penetrate Thy depths, for I by no means think my intellect equal to them; but I long to understand in some degree Thy truth, which my heart believes and loves, _for I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand_.”

Whenever Al-Ghazali speaks of God’s nearness to us and of the soul’s desire for human fellowship with the creator, he comes very close to the Christian idea of the Incarnation, and yet always stops short of it. In his “Alchemy of Happiness,” for example, he mentions as the fourth cause of love to God the affinity that exists between man and his Maker, referring to the saying of the Prophet: “Verily God created man in his own likeness.” Immediately afterwards, however, he goes on to say: “This is a somewhat dangerous topic to dwell upon, as it is beyond the understanding of common people, and even intelligent men have stumbled in treating of it, and come to _believe in incarnation_ and union with God. Still the affinity which does exist between man and God disposes of the objection of those theologians mentioned above, who maintain that man cannot love a Being who is not of his own species. However great a distance between them, man can love God because of the affinity indicated in the saying, ‘God created man in His own likeness.’”

Al-Ghazali would doubtless have accepted the statement in the Gospel, “No man hath seen God at any time,” but he omits “the only Begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” In speaking of the vision of God he says, “All Moslems profess to believe that the Vision of God is the summit of human felicity because it is so stated in the Law; but with many this is a mere lip-profession which arouses no emotion in their hearts. This is quite natural, for how can a man long for a thing of which he has no knowledge? We will endeavour to show briefly why the vision of God is the greatest happiness to which a man can attain.

“In the first place, every one of man’s faculties has its appropriate function which it delights to fulfill. This holds good of them all, from the lowest bodily appetite to the highest form of intellectual apprehension. But even a comparatively low form of mental exertion affords greater pleasure than the satisfaction of bodily appetites. Thus if a man happens to be absorbed in a game of chess, he will not come to his meal though repeatedly summoned. And the greater the subject-matter of our knowledge, the greater is our delight in it; for instance, we would take more pleasure in knowing the secrets of a king than the secrets of a vizier. Seeing then that God is the highest possible object of knowledge, the knowledge of Him must afford more delight than any other. He who knows God, even in this world, dwells, as it were, in a paradise, ‘the breadth of which is as the breadth of the heavens and the earth,’ a paradise the fruits of which no envy can prevent him plucking, and the extent of which is not narrowed by the multitude of those who occupy it.” (See 1 John 4: 7-21.)

“But the delight of knowledge still falls short of the delight of vision, just as our pleasure in thinking of those we love is much less than the pleasure afforded by the actual sight of them. Our imprisonment in bodies of clay and water and entanglement in the things of sense constitute a veil which hides the vision of God from us, although it does not prevent our attaining to some knowledge of Him. For this reason God said to Moses on Mount Sinai, ‘Thou shalt not see Me.’”

In this book also we are reminded of the statement that only “the pure in heart” can see God, and it seems scarcely possible that what Al-Ghazali here teaches is not based on a knowledge of the Gospel. He says: “He in whose heart the love of God has prevailed over all else will derive more joy from this vision than he in whose heart it has not so prevailed; just as in the case of two men with equally powerful eyesight gazing on a beautiful face, he who already loves the possessor of that face will rejoice in beholding it more than he who does not. For perfect happiness, mere knowledge is not enough unaccompanied by love, and the love of God cannot take possession of a man’s heart till it is purified from the love of the world, which purification can only be effected by abstinence and austerity.” How close is this teaching to the words of Christ, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”! It is the _vision of God_ which Al-Ghazali sought through all his religious experiences as the highest good in this world and in the next. Yet with all his efforts to explain the nature of the soul and of God, he still finds himself before a blank wall. He covets the vision of God but cannot shake himself free from the Moslem conception that God is unknowable and that nothing in creation resembles the Creator. As Muhammed Iqbal says: “To this day it is difficult to define with accuracy Al-Ghazali’s view of the nature of God. In him, like Borger and Solger in Germany, Sufi pantheism and the _Ashʾarite_ dogma of personality appear to harmonize together, a reconciliation which makes it difficult to say whether he was a Pantheist, or a Personal Pantheist of the type of Lotze. The soul, according to Al-Ghazali, perceives things. But perception as an attribute can exist only in a substance or essence which is absolutely free from all the attributes of body. In his _Al-Madnun_, he explains why the prophet declined to reveal the nature of the soul. There are, he says, two kinds of men: ordinary men and thinkers. The former who look upon materiality as a condition of existence, cannot conceive an immaterial substance. The latter are led, by their logic, to a conception of the soul which sweeps away all difference between God and the individual soul. Al-Ghazali, therefore, realized the Pantheist drift of his own inquiry and preferred silence as to the ultimate nature of the soul.”[89]

We have seen what Al-Ghazali teaches regarding the life and character of Jesus and also of God’s relation to us through the love of those who seek Him with all their hearts. Are these only Moslems, or is there a wider love of God? Are _all_ souls in His keeping?

What were Al-Ghazali’s ideas regarding the salvation of those not in the fold of Islam? We have two striking passages in this connection which seem to contradict each other. They were probably written at different periods of his life. The first passage which is remarkable indeed for his day and his place in Islam occurs on page 22 of his book _Faisul Al-Tafriqa Bain al Islam wa ’l Zandiqa_ and reads as follows: “I here state that most Christians of the Greeks and of the Turks in our day will be included in the mercy of God. Namely, those who are on the confines of the empire and to whom the call to embrace Islam has not come. For they consist of three classes: One class has never heard the name of Mohammed (upon whom be prayers and peace) and they are excusable. Another class have heard of his name and title and the miracles which were wrought by him; they who live as neighbours among Moslems; these are the true infidels and sceptics. And the other class are between these two; they have heard of the name of Mohammed (upon him be prayers and peace), but have not heard of his title and character. On the contrary they have heard from their youth up that he is a liar and deceiver called Mohammed, who pretended to have the gift of prophecy: in the same way as our children have heard of a false prophet in Khorasan called Al-Mukaffa who pretended to be a prophet. And these last, in my opinion, belong to the first class as to their hope for the future.” This account is the more remarkable because in this very chapter he says that God told Adam, according to Tradition, “that out of a thousand of his descendants nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine go to hell and one only will be saved.”

On the last page of the _Ihya_, however, Al-Ghazali expresses the opinion that on the day of judgment not a single Mohammedan, whatever be his character, will enter the fire! He then quotes a tradition which says that for every Moslem designed to go to hell God will at the last day substitute a Jew or a Christian, evidently approving this substitution-doctrine as satisfactory to God’s mercy towards all who confess Mohammed and to His decree that hell shall be filled with its quota of unbelievers. (See Surah 50: 29.) The last page of the _Ihya_, alas, again shows the Moslem spirit of intolerance which prevails even to-day. Men do not remember the more liberal judgment in his other treatise. Al-Ghazali’s attitude towards Christianity and his quotations from the Gospel narrative did much to leaven Persian thought and gave Jesus of Nazareth a large place in later mysticism especially in the foremost mystical poet, the immortal author of the _Masnavi_, Jallal-ud-Din Ar-Rumi. He draws the great Lesson from the life of Christ which Al-Ghazali only hints at in his quotations; namely that Jesus is the Life-giver:

“Thyself reckon dead, and then thou shalt fly Free, free, from the prison of earth to the sky! Spring may come, but on granite will grow no green thing: It was barren in winter, ’tis barren in spring; And granite man’s heart is, till grace intervene. And, crushing it, clothe the long barren with green, When the fresh breath of Jesus shall touch the heart’s core, It will live, it will breathe, it will blossom once more.”

The City of Mashad, close to the ruins of Tus, where Al-Ghazali was born and where he died, has been truly described as the Mecca of the Persian world. Its streets are crowded with a hundred thousand pilgrims every year. The American Presbyterian Church has an important work there, and the Bible Societies report thousands of copies of the Bible sold there. “We have inundated the City of Mashad with the Word of God,” wrote the late Mr. Esselstyn; “in the bazaars I have repeatedly been warned some one will kill me if we do not stop selling the Scriptures and preaching. But ‘Lo, I am with you always’ keeps ringing in my ears and we continue. The Scriptures that have been sold in and around Mashad are sown seed and in due time we shall reap if we faint not.”

To-day the black-browed Afghan, the Uzbek Tartar, the dervish, travel-stained and footsore, nay the poorest lad of Khorasan can buy the whole story of what Jesus did and taught. No Moslem is now dependent on Al-Ghazali’s few quotations from the Gospel. A new day has dawned for Persia and the Near East. Everywhere the New Testament is better known than any of the ninety-nine works of Al-Ghazali, and we may also say, without exaggeration, that the New Testament finds a larger circle of readers. The mystics in Islam are near the Kingdom of God and for them Al-Ghazali may be used as a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. Did not the author of the _Gulshan-i-Raz_ (the Garden of Mysteries) write: “Dost thou know what Christianity is? I shall tell it thee. It digs up thine own Ego, and carries thee to God. Thy soul is a monastery wherein dwells oneness, thou art Jerusalem, where the Eternal is enthroned; the Holy Spirit works this miracle, for know that God’s being rests in the Holy Spirit as in His Own Spirit.” And such seekers after God to-day will find those who will lead them to CHRIST. For, as Dr. J. Rendel Harris expressed it: “All of us who love Christ are beginning to realize that we live in the same street and are on the same telephone, some of us that we are lodged next door to one another and can knock on the partitions, a few that we are all under the same roof and all within arm’s length and heart reach.”

Appendix

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abu Nasir Abd ul Wahab Taqi id Din as Subqi.—Tabaqat-ash-Shafaʾiya al Kubra. Vol. IV, pp. 101-102.

Barbier de Meynard, M. C.—Traduction nouvelle du traite de Ghazzali intitule le Préservatif de l’erreur et notices sur les extases (des Soufis). (Journal Asiatique, Paris, 1877.)

Brockelmann, Carl—Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, Weimar, 1898, 2 vols.

Chenery, Thomas—The Assemblies of Al-Hariri, London, 1878, Trans.

Clark, Edson L.—The Arabs and the Turks, Boston, 1875.

DeBoer, T. J.—The History of Philosophy in Islam, London, 1903.

Dozy, (Trans. by Francis Griffin Stokes)—Spanish Islam, London, 1913.

De Vaun, Cara—Gazali (Les Grand Philos.—Felix Alcan), Paris, 1912.

Encyclopædia Britannica.

Field, Claud—The Alchemy of Happiness, by Ghazali (from Hindustani).

— The Confessions of Al-Ghazali, London, 1909, Trans.

— Mystics and Saints of Islam, London, 1910.

— Persian Literature, London (undated).

Fortescue, Adrian—The Lesser Eastern Churches, London, 1913.

Gairdner, W. H. T.—Al-Ghazali’s Mishkat-ul-Anwar and the Ghazali Problem, Der Islam, Bd. V, Heft 2/3.

Gardner, W. R. W.—Al-Ghazali. In Islam Series, Christian Literature Society for India, 1919.

Gautier, Lucien—Ad-Dourra al-fakhira: La perle precieuse de Ghazali. Traite d’eschatologie musulmane, publie ... avec une traduction francaise. Geneve, 1878.

Gosche, von R.—Über Ghazzali, Leben und Werke, Berlin, 1859.

Huart, Clement—A History of Arabic Literature, London, 1903.

Hurgronje, Dr. C. Snouck—Mekka, Haag, 1886.

Ibn Khallikan.

Jackson, A. V. Williams—“From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam”: New York, Macmillan Company, 1911.

Jayakar, Lt. Col. A. S. G.—Ad-Damiri’s Hayat Al-Hayawan (under _Al-Hammam_), Vol. I, London, 1906, Trans.

Jewish Encyclopædia, The.

Journal of The American Oriental Society, Vol. XX, pp. 71-132. New Haven, Conn., 1898.

Lane-Poole, Stanley—Mediæval India under Mohammedan Rule, in the Story of the National Series, London, 1903.

Mohammed Iqbal—The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, London, 1908.

Miguel Asin et Palacios—Al Gazel: Domatica, moral, Ascetica. (Zargoza. Spain, 1901.)

— _Logia et Agrapha Domini Jesu_ apud Moslemicos Scriptores, etc. (Latin and Arabic) Firmin-Didot and Co., Paris, 1917.

Le Strange, G.—Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, Oxford, 1900.

Macdonald, D. B.—Aspects of Islam, New York, 1911.

— Emotional religion in Islam as affected by music and singing. Being a translation of a book of the Ihya ʿUlum ad-Din of Al-Ghazzali with analysis, annotation and appendices. (Royal Asiatic Society. Journal. 1901.)

— Encyclopædia of Islam, Leyden—art., “Ghazali.”

— The Life of Al-Ghazali with special reference to his religious experiences and opinions (Journal American Oriental Society).

— Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory. 1903.

— The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, Chicago, 1909.

Murtadha—Introduction to the Celebrated Commentary of the _Ihya_ entitled _Ithaf ul Saʾada_. Cairo Edition.

Nicholson, Reynold A.—Kashf Al-Mahjub, the oldest Persian Treatise on Sufism by Al-Hujwiri, London, 1911.

— Literary History of the Arabs, New York, 1907.

Nöldeke, Theodore—Sketches from Eastern History, London, 1892.

Osborn, Robert Durie—Islam Under the Khalifs of Baghdad, London, 1878.

Saladin, H.—Manuel d’art Musulman, Paris, 1907, Vol. I.

Tyrwitt, W. S. S.—Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus, London, 1907.

B. TRANSLATIONS OF AL-GHAZALI’S WORKS

_Hebrew._

Makasid al Falasifah—De’ot ha-Pilusufim—Isaac Albalag, 13th C.

— Kawwanot ha-Pilusufim—Judah Nathan, 14th C.

Tahafut al-Falasifah—Happalat ha-Pilusufim—Zerahiah ha-Levy, 1411.

Ma’amar bi-Teshubot She’elot Nish’al Mehem (Answers to Philanthropical Questions)—H. Malter, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1897; also called Kawwanot ha-Kawwanot.

— Mozene ha-’Iyyunin—Jacob ben Makir (d. 1308).

Mizan al-ʿAmal—Mozen Zedek—Abraham Ibn Hazdai ben Samuel ha-Levy of Barcelona, ed. J. Goldenthal, Leipsic, 1839.

Mishkat al-Anwar fi Riyad al-Azhar bi-Taufik al-Anhar—Maskit ha-Orot be-Pardes ha-Nizzanim—Isaac ben Joseph Alfasi.

_Latin._

Maqasid Falasifa—Logica et Philosophia—Dom. Gundisalvi, Venetiæ, 1506.

_German._

Kitab aiyuha ’l walad—O Kind! Die berühmte ethische Abhandlung Ghazali’s arab. u. deutsch, v. Hammer-Purgstall, Wien, 1838.

Kitab Tahafut al Falasifa—Die Widersprüche der Philosophie nach Al-Ghazzali und ihr Ausgleich durch Ibn Rushd, Strassburg, 1894.

Antworten auf Fragen, die an ihn gerichtet wurden, hebr. u. arab. Text mit deutschen übers. Erklarung und Glossen v. H. Malter, Frankfurt, 1896.

Ihya ʾulum id Din—German translation in course of preparation by H. Bauer.

_French._

Ad durra al fakhira fi kasf ʾulum al akhira—La Perle precieuse de Ghazali, ed. par L. Gautier, Geneve, 1878.

Al munqidh min ad dhalal—ed. Schmolders, Essai sur les ecoles philosophiques chez les Arabes, Paris, 1842. Translated by Barbier de Meynard, 1877, in Journal Asiatique, vol. ix.

_English._

Kimiya as-saaʾda—The Alchemy of Happiness—H. A. Homes, Albany, N. Y., 1873.

The Alchemy of Happiness—Claud Field, London, 1908.

The Confessions of Al-Ghazali—Claud Field, London, 1909.

_Turkish._

There are two manuscript translations of Al-Ghazali’s Nasaʾih-ul-Muluk in Turkish. Also an Arabic version of the Persian original. (See Browne’s Handlist of Cambridge University Library Arabic MSS. Nos. 1185 and 220.)

The Alchemy of Happiness is also widely known in a Turkish version from which the earliest English version by Homes was made.

C. LIST OF AL-GHAZALI’S WORKS

In Arabic alphabetical order according to As-Subqi, Al-Murtadha (Vol. I, pp. 41-83), and other sources.

1. Ihya ʾUlum id Din—(Revival of the Sciences of Religion). 2. Al Imlaʾ ʾAla Mushkal al Ihya—(supplement to above). 3. AlʾArbaʾîn—(on the Koran). 4. Asma Allah al Husna—(on the names of God). 5. Al-Iqtasad fi Iʾtiqad—(Speculative Theology). 6. Iljam al ʾAwam ʾan ʾilm al Kalam—(Warning against scholasticism). 7. Asrar Muʾamalat id Din—(Mysticism). 8. Asrar al anwar al ilahiya—(on the Koran). 9. Akhlaq al abrar wa najat min al ashrar—(Ethics). 10. Asrar itbaʾa as sunna—(Tradition). 11. Asrar al huruf wa ’l kalimat—(Koran Mysteries). 12. Ayyuha ’l walad—(O child!—written in Persian originally—Ethics and Manners). 13. Badayat al Hadaya—(Beginner’s book in religion). 14. Al Basit fi furuʾa al Madhhab—(Jurisprudence). 15. Bayan al Qaulain—(Creed). 16. Bayan Fadhaʾa al Abahiya— 17. Badaʾa as Saniya. 18. Tanbih al Ghafalîn. 19. Talbis Iblis. 20. At Takbir fi ʾilm al taʾabir—(Interpretation). 21. Tahafut al filasafa—(Against Philosophy). 22. Taʾliqa fi furuʾa al Madhhab—(Written at Jurjan against the Ismailite heresy). 23. Tahsin al Maqsud— 24. Tahsin al Adilla—(Sources of Islam). 25. Tafsir al Quran al ʾAzim—(Brief Koran Commentary). 26. Al Tafriqa bain al iman wa ’l zindiqa— 27. Jawahir al Quran—(Beauties of the Koran). 28. Hujjat al Haqq— 29. Haqiqat al Ruh—(Mysticism). 30. Haqiqat al Qaulain—(on the Creed). 31. Al Durra al Fakhira—(The Precious Pearl). 32. Khulasat ar Rasaʾil—(Jurisprudence). 33. Khulasat al-tasanif fi l-tasawwuf. 34. Risalat al Qudsiya. 35. Risalat al Aqtab. 36. Al Risalat al Laduniya. 37. Risalat at Tair—(Parable on the Birds). 38. Sirr al Maʾsun—(on the magical use of the Koran text). 39. Sirr al-ʿalamain wa-kashf ma fi ’l-darain. 40. Sharh Daʾirat ʾAli ibn Talib. 41. Shifaʾ al Ghalil—(On Logic). 42. ʾAqidat al Misbah. 43. ʾAjaʾib Sanaʾa Allah. 44. ʾAnqud al Mukhtasar. 45. Ghayat al Ghur fi Misaʾil al daur—(On Divorce). 46. Ghaur al Daur—(also on Divorce) written in Bagdad 484 A. H. 47. Al Fatawa—(One hundred and ninety questions answered). 48. Fatihat al ʾUlum—(Encyclopædia of Sciences). 49. Al Qanun al Kulli. 50. Qanun ar Rasul. 51. Al Qurbat ila Allah—(On Nearness to God). 52. Al Qistas al Mustaqim—(Sources of Islam). 53. Al Qaul al jamil fi radd ʾala man ghaiyar al Injil—(On the corrupting of the Gospel text). 54. Kimiya as Saaʾda—(The Alchemy of Happiness; written in Persian and afterwards translated). 55. Kashf ʾUlum al Akhira—(Eschatology). 56. Al Kashf wa ’l tabyin fi ghurur al Khalk ajmaʾin—(Mysticism). 57. Kanz al ʾIdat. 58. Kitab al ʾarbaʾin. 59. Al Lubab al Muntaqal fi ’l Jadal—(On Controversy). 60. Al Mustasfa fi ʾUsul al Fiqh—(Jurisprudence). His most important and largest work on this subject; several commentaries were written on it later. 61. Al Manqul fi ’l ʾUsul. 62. Al Maksud fi Khilafiyat bain al Hanifiya wa ’sh Shafiʾya—(on these two schools of jurisprudence). 63. Al Madadi wa ’l Ghayat fi asrar al Huruf al Maknumat. 64. Al Majalis al Ghazaliya—(Collection of his Bagdad sermons). 65. Maqasid al filasafa—(Philosophy). 66. Al Munqidh min adh-Dhalal—(His Confessions, Autobiographical). 67. Miʾyar al ʾIlm fi ’l Mantiq—(Logic). 68. Miʾyar al Nazir—(Logic). 69. Mahal al Nazir— 70. Mishkat al anwar fi lataʾif al akhyar—(Ethics). 71. Al Mustazhir fi radd ʾala ’l Batiniya—(Controversial). 72. Al-Madnun bihi ʾala ghairi ahlihi—Book to be kept from those unfitted for it. (Esoteric.) 73. Al-Madnun al-saghir—Book to be kept from those unfitted for it. (Esoteric.) 74. Mishkat al-anwar—(Mysticism). 75. Mizan al ʾAmal—(A compendium of Ethics). 76. Mawahib al Batiniya—(similar to No. 71, but abbreviated). 77. Al Minhaj al Aʾali— 78. Miraj as Salikîn— 79. Mukashafat al qulub— 80. Mufasal al Khilaf fi ʾUsul al Qiyas— 81. Minhaj al ʾAbidin ila Janat Rab al ʾAlamîn—(His last work: a popular epistle on the Mystic way). 82. Nasikhat al Muluk—(Written in Persian and called in the Arabic translation Al Tibr al Masbuk; a book of counsel for kings and princes). 83. Al Wajiz—(Jurisprudence). Several commentaries were written on this work and it is much used. 84. Al Wasit—(a celebrated book in Jurisprudence). Several commentaries. 85. Yaqut at Taʾwil fi Tafsir at Tanzil—(Commentary on the Koran in 40 vols.).

D. Comparative Table of Events