The wisdom of the East series

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali

Abo Hmid Muhammed Ibn Muhammad Al Ghazzali was born in the city of Tus in Khorassan, A.D. 1058, one year after the great poet and freethinker Abu l Al died. He was the son of a dealer in cotton thread (Gazzl), whence his name. Losing his father in early life, he was confided to the care of a Sufi, whose influence extended through his subsequent career. On finishing his studies he was appointed professor of theology at Bagdad. Here he achieved such splendid success that all the Imms became his zealous partisans. So great, indeed, was his renown, so ardent the admiration he inspired, that the Muhammedans sometimes said: If all the books of Islam were destroyed, it would be but a slight loss, provided Al Ghazzalis work on the Revivification of the Sciences of Religion were preserved. The following short treatise gives[8] the history of the mind of this remarkable man in his pursuit of truth. It might not inaptly bear the title Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit. In its intellectual subtlety it bears a certain resemblance to Newmans Grammar of Assent, and in its almost Puritanical sense of the terrors of the world to come, it is akin to Bunyans Grace Abounding. It is also interesting as being one of the very few specimens of genuine Eastern autobiography. After describing the difficulty with which he escaped from an almost Pyrrhonic scepticism, not by systematic reasoning and accumulation of proofs, but by a flash of light which God sent into my soul, he reviews the various sects whom he encountered in his search for truth. I. The scholastic theologians, who profess to follow reason and speculation. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 58977
Author: Ghazzali, 1058-1111
Release Date: Feb 27, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Cranmer-Byng, L. (Launcelot), 1872-1945 , Kapadia, S. A. (Shaporji Aspaniarji), 1857-1941

Translator: Field, Claud, 1863-1941