What do you think?
Rate this book
A Return to Purity in Creed
The final work of Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali recaptures the simplicity of the orthodox creed of Islam. He accomplishes this by demostrating how the first three generations of Muslims (the Salaf) understood the allegorical reports found in the Qur'an and the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). With his unique and poetic expression, Imam Ghazzali provides a seven-step approach for the common muslim and explains why forays into theological polemics should be avoided.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
5 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
749 books2,904 followers
أبو حامد الغزالي
Muslim theologian and philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazali of Persia worked to systematize Sufism, Islamic mysticism, and in The Incoherence of the Philosophers (1095) argued the incompatibility of thought of Plato and Aristotle with Islam.
Born in 1058, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī ranked of the most prominent and influential Sunni jurists of his origin.
Islamic tradition considers him to be a Mujaddid, a renewer of the faith who, according to the prophetic hadith, appears once every century to restore the faith of the ummah ("the Islamic Community"). His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam).
Al-Ghazali believed that the Islamic spiritual tradition had become moribund and that the spiritual sciences taught by the first generation of Muslims had been forgotten.[24] That resulted in his writing his magnum opus entitled Ihya 'ulum al-din ("The Revival of the Religious Sciences"). Among his other works, the Tahāfut al-Falāsifa ("Incoherence of the Philosophers") is a significant landmark in the history of philosophy, as it advances the critique of Aristotelian science developed later in 14th-century Europe.
أبو حامد محمد الغزّالي الطوسي النيسابوري الصوفي الشافعي الأشعري، أحد أعلام عصره وأحد أشهر علماء المسلمين في القرن الخامس الهجري،(450 هـ - 505 هـ / 1058م - 1111م). كان فقيهاً وأصولياً وفيلسوفاً، وكان صوفيّ الطريقةِ، شافعيّ الفقهِ إذ لم يكن للشافعية في آخر عصره مثلَه.، وكان على مذهب الأشاعرة في العقيدة، وقد عُرف كأحد مؤسسي المدرسة الأشعرية في علم الكلام، وأحد أصولها الثلاثة بعد أبي الحسن الأشعري، (وكانوا الباقلاني والجويني والغزّالي) لُقّب الغزالي بألقاب كثيرة في حياته، أشهرها لقب "حجّة الإسلام"، وله أيضاً ألقاب مثل: زين الدين، ومحجّة الدين، والعالم الأوحد، ومفتي الأمّة، وبركة الأنام، وإمام أئمة الدين، وشرف الأئمة.
كان له أثرٌ كبيرٌ وبصمةٌ واضحةٌ في عدّة علوم مثل الفلسفة، والفقه الشافعي، وعلم الكلام، والتصوف، والمنطق، وترك عدداَ من الكتب في تلك المجالات.ولد وعاش في طوس، ثم انتقل إلى نيسابور ليلازم أبا المعالي الجويني (الملقّب بإمام الحرمين)، فأخذ عنه معظم العلوم، ولمّا بلغ عمره 34 سنة، رحل إلى بغداد مدرّساً في المدرسة النظامية في عهد الدولة العباسية بطلب من الوزير السلجوقي نظام الملك. في تلك الفترة اشتُهر شهرةً واسعةً، وصار مقصداً لطلاب العلم الشرعي من جميع البلدان، حتى بلغ أنه كان يجلس في مجلسه أكثر من 400 من أفاضل الناس وعلمائهم يستمعون له ويكتبون عنه العلم. وبعد 4 سنوات من التدريس قرر اعتزال الناس والتفرغ للعبادة وتربية نفسه، متأثراً بذلك بالصّوفية وكتبهم، فخرج من بغداد خفيةً في رحلة طويلة بلغت 11 سنة، تنقل خلالها بين دمشق والقدس والخليل ومكة والمدينة المنورة، كتب خلالها كتابه المشهور إحياء علوم الدين كخلاصة لتجربته الروحية، عاد بعدها إلى بلده طوس متخذاً بجوار بيته مدرسةً للفقهاء، وخانقاه (مكان للتعبّد والعزلة) للصوفية.
Muslim theologian and philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazali of Persia worked to systematize Sufism, Islamic mysticism, and in The Incoherence of the Philosophers (1095) argued the incompatibility of thought of Plato and Aristotle with Islam.
Born in 1058, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī ranked of the most prominent and influential Sunni jurists of his origin.
Islamic tradition considers him to be a Mujaddid, a renewer of the faith who, according to the prophetic hadith, appears once every century to restore the faith of the ummah ("the Islamic Community"). His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam).
Al-Ghazali believed that the Islamic spiritual tradition had become moribund and that the spiritual sciences taught by the first generation of Muslims had been forgotten.[24] That resulted in his writing his magnum opus entitled Ihya 'ulum al-din ("The Revival of the Religious Sciences"). Among his other works, the Tahāfut al-Falāsifa ("Incoherence of the Philosophers") is a significant landmark in the history of philosophy, as it advances the critique of Aristotelian science developed later in 14th-century Europe.
أبو حامد محمد الغزّالي الطوسي النيسابوري الصوفي الشافعي الأشعري، أحد أعلام عصره وأحد أشهر علماء المسلمين في القرن الخامس الهجري،(450 هـ - 505 هـ / 1058م - 1111م). كان فقيهاً وأصولياً وفيلسوفاً، وكان صوفيّ الطريقةِ، شافعيّ الفقهِ إذ لم يكن للشافعية في آخر عصره مثلَه.، وكان على مذهب الأشاعرة في العقيدة، وقد عُرف كأحد مؤسسي المدرسة الأشعرية في علم الكلام، وأحد أصولها الثلاثة بعد أبي الحسن الأشعري، (وكانوا الباقلاني والجويني والغزّالي) لُقّب الغزالي بألقاب كثيرة في حياته، أشهرها لقب "حجّة الإسلام"، وله أيضاً ألقاب مثل: زين الدين، ومحجّة الدين، والعالم الأوحد، ومفتي الأمّة، وبركة الأنام، وإمام أئمة الدين، وشرف الأئمة.
كان له أثرٌ كبيرٌ وبصمةٌ واضحةٌ في عدّة علوم مثل الفلسفة، والفقه الشافعي، وعلم الكلام، والتصوف، والمنطق، وترك عدداَ من الكتب في تلك المجالات.ولد وعاش في طوس، ثم انتقل إلى نيسابور ليلازم أبا المعالي الجويني (الملقّب بإمام الحرمين)، فأخذ عنه معظم العلوم، ولمّا بلغ عمره 34 سنة، رحل إلى بغداد مدرّساً في المدرسة النظامية في عهد الدولة العباسية بطلب من الوزير السلجوقي نظام الملك. في تلك الفترة اشتُهر شهرةً واسعةً، وصار مقصداً لطلاب العلم الشرعي من جميع البلدان، حتى بلغ أنه كان يجلس في مجلسه أكثر من 400 من أفاضل الناس وعلمائهم يستمعون له ويكتبون عنه العلم. وبعد 4 سنوات من التدريس قرر اعتزال الناس والتفرغ للعبادة وتربية نفسه، متأثراً بذلك بالصّوفية وكتبهم، فخرج من بغداد خفيةً في رحلة طويلة بلغت 11 سنة، تنقل خلالها بين دمشق والقدس والخليل ومكة والمدينة المنورة، كتب خلالها كتابه المشهور إحياء علوم الدين كخلاصة لتجربته الروحية، عاد بعدها إلى بلده طوس متخذاً بجوار بيته مدرسةً للفقهاء، وخانقاه (مكان للتعبّد والعزلة) للصوفية.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
February 23, 2012I'm too close to this particular publication to give it a proper rating or review, but in a word: it is awesome. The original text is an important statement, ranking up there with his Fayasl al-tafriqa which Dr. Sherman Jackson recently translated and published under the title On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid Al Ghazali's Faysal Al Tafriqa. They both serve similar ends, though the intent differs.
A Return to Purity in Creed is a cautionary text that sought to remove the unnecessary confusion and complication that colored the discipline of ilm al-kalam in his time. The original title of the work is actually Iljam al-Awwam an Ilm al-Kalam (Restraining the Laity from [Endulging in] Speculative Theology) and it is precisely that. As a polemical treatise, it is important in that this work is considered among Imam al-Ghazali's last and although praised by none other than Ibn Taymiyyah - it nonetheless makes clear what Imam al-Ghazali's final stance on certain matters was. In this, Imam al-Ghazali attempted to reconcile the Traditionalists and Theologians in re-establishing and re-affirming the proper role that ilm al-kalam is supposed to play.
If people in our times would listen to the wisdom and advice that Imam al-Ghazali conveys in both of these works, much of the unnecessary argumentation that ordinary people have no business getting involved in would be resolved (let alone the wreckless takfir). And given those who have praised it, I am only left to wonder if they had in fact read it themselves or are simply parroting the praise of the book by Ibn Taymiyyah - as the claim that this work represents his "repentance" from Ash'ari creed is clearly dubious and they themselves violate many of his injunctions. The Iljaam is a slap on the wrist to both camps and reading it as only as a repudiation of the theologians is a clear mistake.
I am left wondering if part of the problem between the two camps is that the battle-lines were drawn, the gauntlet thrown and sectarian emotion would not allow either side reconcile. Though Ibn Taymiyyah is on record for saying, "After that he (al-Ghazzali) came back to the path of the scholars of hadeeth and wrote Iljaam al-Awwaam an Ilm al-Kalaam", A Return to Purity in Creed reflects clearly the same tenets expressed in the Ihya Ulum al-Din. Thus, this praise by Ibn Taymiyyah is something that I do not believe has been properly explored. But that is a discussion for another day.
A Return to Purity in Creed is a cautionary text that sought to remove the unnecessary confusion and complication that colored the discipline of ilm al-kalam in his time. The original title of the work is actually Iljam al-Awwam an Ilm al-Kalam (Restraining the Laity from [Endulging in] Speculative Theology) and it is precisely that. As a polemical treatise, it is important in that this work is considered among Imam al-Ghazali's last and although praised by none other than Ibn Taymiyyah - it nonetheless makes clear what Imam al-Ghazali's final stance on certain matters was. In this, Imam al-Ghazali attempted to reconcile the Traditionalists and Theologians in re-establishing and re-affirming the proper role that ilm al-kalam is supposed to play.
If people in our times would listen to the wisdom and advice that Imam al-Ghazali conveys in both of these works, much of the unnecessary argumentation that ordinary people have no business getting involved in would be resolved (let alone the wreckless takfir). And given those who have praised it, I am only left to wonder if they had in fact read it themselves or are simply parroting the praise of the book by Ibn Taymiyyah - as the claim that this work represents his "repentance" from Ash'ari creed is clearly dubious and they themselves violate many of his injunctions. The Iljaam is a slap on the wrist to both camps and reading it as only as a repudiation of the theologians is a clear mistake.
I am left wondering if part of the problem between the two camps is that the battle-lines were drawn, the gauntlet thrown and sectarian emotion would not allow either side reconcile. Though Ibn Taymiyyah is on record for saying, "After that he (al-Ghazzali) came back to the path of the scholars of hadeeth and wrote Iljaam al-Awwaam an Ilm al-Kalaam", A Return to Purity in Creed reflects clearly the same tenets expressed in the Ihya Ulum al-Din. Thus, this praise by Ibn Taymiyyah is something that I do not believe has been properly explored. But that is a discussion for another day.
October 3, 2015
This is a useful text to read for those who are overly embroiled in Speculative Theology (Kalam polemics) without the necessary prerequisite qualifications and neither, a real need to go down that route. The advice and insights contained in this text will, God wiling, act to restore some balance and clear up the confusion as to what is the best course to pursue and the moderate middle way for the common masses and laity.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews