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That tasawwuf is two things What the Sufi path consists in. The anthropomorphists concerning Allah
What he said about:
Someone who considers prayer as a means towards achieving true worship and knowledge of Allah so that, when he achieves the latter, he no longer feels the necessity of prayer although he continues to pray.
Someone who has ascertained that he achieves humility (khush') in prayer only when alone, but if he prays in congregation, his energy disperses and he is unable to achieve humility.
What others said about Al-Ghazzali's Ihya 'Ulum al-Din
list of some of his works
links about Al-Ghazalī
Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated that, like 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and al-Shafi'i for their respective times, al-Ghazzali is unanimously considered the Renewer of the Fifth Islamic Century. Ibn al-Subki writes: "He came at a time when people stood in direr need of replies against the philosophers than the darkest night stands in need of the light of the moon and stars."
Among his teachers in law, debate, and principles: Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Rādhakāni in Tus, Abu Nasr al-Isma'ili in Jurjan, and Imam al-Haramayn Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni in Naysabur, from where he departed to Baghdad after the latter's death. Ibn 'Asakir also mentions that al-Ghazzali took al-Bukhari's Sahih from Abu Sahl Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hafsi. Among his other shaykhs in hadith were Nasr ibn 'Ali ibn Ahmad al-Hakimi al-Tusi, 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khawari, Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Sujaʿi al-Zawzani, the hadith master Abu al-Fityan 'Umar ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Ru'asi al-Dahistani, and Nasr ibn Ibrahim al-Maqdisi. Among his shaykhs in tasawwuf were al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Farmadi al-Tusi ( one of Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri's students ) and Yusuf al-Sajjaj.
On his way back from Jurjan to Tus al-Ghazzali was robbed by highwaymen. When they left him he followed them but was told: "Leave us or you will die." He replied: "I ask you for Allah's sake to only return to me my notes, for they are of no use to you." The robber asked him: "What are those notes?" He said: "Books in that satchel, for the sake of which I left my country in order to hear, write, and obtain their knowledge." The robber laughed and said: "How can you claim that you obtained their knowledge when we took it away from you and left you devoid of knowledge!" Then he gave an order and the satchel was returned to him. Al-Ghazzali said: "This man's utterance was divinely inspired (hādhā mustantaqun): Allah caused him to say this in order to guide me. When I reached Tus I worked for three years until I had memorized all that I had written down."
Al-Ghazzali came to Baghdad in 484 and began a prestigious career of teaching, giving fatwa, and authoring books in nearly all the Islamic sciences of his day. His skill in refuting opponents was unparalleled except by his superlative godwariness, which led him to abandon his teaching position at the Nizamiyya school four years later, deputizing his brother Ahmad, famous for his preaching, to replace him. Upon completion of pilgrimage to Mecca al-Ghazzali headed for Damascus, then al-Qudus, then Damascus again where he remained for several years, taking up the ascetic life with the words: "We sought after knowledge for other than Allah's sake, but He refused that it be for anything other than Him."
He came out of seclusion in 499 and travelled to Cairo, Iskandariyya and other places, finally returning to Baghdad where he taught his magnum opus Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din until his death in nearby Tus, occupying the remainder of his time with devotions, Qur'an recitations, prayer and fasting, and the company of Sufis. Ibn al-Jawzi narrated in al-Thabat 'Inda al-Mamat ("Firmness at the Time of Death") from al-Ghazzali's brother Ahmad: "On Monday [14 Jumada al-Akhira] at the time of the dawn prayer my brother Abu Hamid made his ablution, prayed, then said: 'Bring me my shroud.' He took it, kissed it and put it on his eyes, saying: 'We hear and obey in readiness to enter the King's presence.' Then he stretched his legs, facing the Qibla, and died before sunrise ( may Allah sanctify his soul! ). It is related that al-Shadhili saw a dream in which the Prophet ﷺ pointed out al-Ghazzali to Musa (AS) and 'Isa (AS) asking them: "Is there such a wise scholar in your communities?" to which they replied no.
The following is a list of some of al-Ghazzali's works as found in al-Zabidi 's and Ibn al-Subki's recensions:
* Four works in Shafi'i fiqh: the large al-Basit, the medium, seven-volume al-Wasit, and the two-volume al-Wajiz, condensed in al-Khulasa. Al-Wasit received many commentaries and abridgments, among them al-Nawawi's Rawda al-Talibin.
* Four books on usūl al-fiqh: al-Mankhul, written in the lifetime of his teacher, Imam al-Haramayn; Shifa' al-Ghalil fi Masa'il [or Masalik] al-Ta 'lil; al-Maknūn; and al-Mustasfa. "Imam al-Ghazali's Encyclopedia of Shari'a Source Methodology, his fourth book on the subject, and his last word, was al-Mustasfa, which has been printed several times in Egypt and elsewhere. Indeed, this is the work he wrote after coming out of his period of meditation and seclusion."
* Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, among his last works.
* al-Imla' 'ala Mushkil al-Ihya', in which he replied to some of the insinuations made against the Ihya' in his lifetime. This book is also called al-Ajwiba al-Muskita 'an al-As'ila al-Mubhita.
* Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, now lost.
* Jawahir al-Qur'an.
* al-Arba'un fi al-Tawhid, originally part of Jawahir al-Qur'an.
* al-Asma' al-Husna.
* al-Ma'akhidh, on the divergences of jurisprudents.
* Tahsin al-Ma'akhidh, a commentary on al-Ma'akhidh.
* Kimya' al-Sa'ada, originally written in Persian.
* al-Lubab al-Muntakhal, on disputation.
* al-Iqtisad fi al-I'tiqad, in which he said:
The anthropomorphists (al-Hashwiyya) assert direction for Allah while guarding themselves from divesting Allah of His attributes (ta'tīl), falling thereby into likening Allah to creation (tashbīh). Allah has granted success to Ahl al-Sunna in establishing the truth. They have recognized the proper goal in establishing their method, and understood that direction is denied and disallowed for Allah because it pertains to bodies and complements them; while vision of Him is firmly established because it directly follows knowledge and attends it as its perfecting component.
* Mi'yar al-Nazar.
* Mihakk al-Nazar.
* Bayan al-Qawlayn, on al-Shafi'i's two schools.
* al-Mustazhiri, a refutation of the esotericists or Batiniyya.
* Qawasim al-Batiniyya, another refutation.
* Tahafut al-Falasifa declaring the disbelief of the philosophers, to which the qadi of Andalus Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd al-Maliki responded with Tahafut al-Tahafut.
* al-Maqasid fi Bayan I'tiqad al-Awa'il, also known as Maqasid al-Falasifa.
* Asrar Mu'amalat al-Din.
* Asrar al-Anwar al-Ilahiyya bi al-Ayat al-Matluwwa.
* Akhlaq al-Abrar wa al-Najat min al-Ashrar.
* Asrar Ittiba' al-Sunna.
* Asrar al-Huruf wa al-Kalimat.
* Bayan Fada'ih al-Ibahiyya, against freethinkers.
* Bada'i' al-Sani'.
* Tanbih al-Ghafilin.
* Talbis Iblis, a title later used by Ibn al-Jawzi against al-Ghazzali and others.
* Khulasa al-Rasa'il ila 'Ilm al-Masa'il, an abridgment of al-Muzani's Mukhtasar.
* al-Risala al-Qudsiyya fi 'Ilm al-Kalam.
* al-Sirr al-Masun, a book of Qur'anic invocations against enemies.
* Sharh Da'ira 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, also known as Nukhba al-Asma'.
* 'Aqida al-Misbah.
* 'Unqud al-Mukhtasar, an abridgment of Imam al-Haramayn's abridgment of al-Muzani's Mukhtasar.
* Rasa.il ('Epistles'), published recently in a single volume, in seven parts, comprising the following epistles:
(1) Al-Hikma fi Makhluqat Allah -- Subhan wa Taʿala --; Mi'raj al-Salikin.
(2) Rawda al-Talibin wa 'Umda al-Salikin [in tasawwuf and tawhūd]; Qawa'id al-'Aqa-.id fi al-Tawhid which he included in the Ihya in full; Khulasa al-Tasanif fi al-Tasawwuf in which he defines tasawwuf as follows:
Know that tasawwuf is two things: Truthfulness with Allah Almighty and good conduct with people. Anyone who practices these two things is a Sufi. Truthfulness with Allah is that the servant puts an end to his ego's shares in the divine command. Good conduct with people is to not prefer one's demands over theirs as long as their demands are within the parameters of the Law. Whoever approves of the contravention of the Law or contravenes it can never be a Sufi, and if he claims he is, he is lying.
(3) Al-Qistas al-Mustaqim; Minhaj al-'Arifin; Al-Risala al-Laduniyya; Faysal al-Tafriqa (fi al-Takfir); Ayyuha al-Walad, originally written in Persian.
(4) Mishkat al-Anwar; Risala al-Tayr; al-Risala al-Wa'ziyya; Iljam al-'Awam 'an 'Ilm al-Kalam; al-Madnun bihi 'ala Ghayri Ahlih; Al-Ajwiba al-Ghazzaliyya fi al-Masa.il al-Ukhrawiyya.
(5) Bidaya al-Hidaya; Kimya al-Sa'ada; al-Adab fi al-Din; al-Kashf wa al-Tabyin fi Ghurur al-Khalq Ajma'in.
(6) Sirr al-'Alamayn wa Kashf ma fi al-Darayn; al-Durra al-Fakhira fi Kashf 'Ulum al-Akhira.
(7) Qanun al-Ta.wil; al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyya; al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, in which he said:
The Sufi path consists in cleansing the heart from whatever is other than Allah... I concluded that the Sufis are the seekers in Allah's Way, and their conduct is the best conduct, and their way is the best way, and their manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other than Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run, carrying the knowledge of Allah.
* Fatawa, in which he states the following responses:
Q. What is the reply concerning someone who considers prayer as a means towards achieving true worship and knowledge of Allah so that, when he achieves the latter, he no longer feels the necessity of prayer although he continues to pray?
A. This deluded person must realize that true worship and knowledge of
Allah are the goals of prayer, but they are not the only goals. Just as the
words pronounced and written in the protective invocations (al-ruqya) have
a specific effect towards protection from snakes ( indeed, towards the
subjugation of jinns and devils ); and just as some of the supplications
transmitted to us in poetic forms attract the services of the angels in
answer to the one who supplicates; the mind falling short of apprehending
the modality and precise character of these invocations, which are
apprehended only through the power of prophecy, when Prophets are shown
their meaning from the Preserved Tablet; similarly, the forms of the prayer
(al-salāt) which entail one bowing, two prostrations, specific numbers [of
supplications], and specific Quranic utterances that are recited, at
various lengths and times upon sunrise, noon, and sunset, have a specific
effect in stilling the dragon (al-tinnūn) that nestles in the human breast
and breeds manyheaded snakes ( equal to the number of his traits ) biting
and snapping at him in the grave.
Its harm extends to the soul, as
indicated by the Prophet's ﷺ saying: 'A dragon
with ninetynine heads is empowered over the disbeliever in the latter's
grave, doing such and such etc.' There are many such dragons in the human
make-up, and nothing subdues them except divinely prescribed obligations.
Those obligations are the deliverance from peril, and they are also equal
to the number of his bad traits. "And none knows the hosts of your Lord save
Him" (74:31).O people of permissiveness! It shall be said to you on the
Day of Resurrection: "What has brought you to this burning? They will
answer: We were not of those who prayed?" (74:42-43).
Q. What is the preferred course of action for someone who has ascertained that he achieves humility (khush') in prayer only when alone, but if he prays in congregation, his energy disperses and he is unable to achieve humility?
A. It is better and more correct for him to pray alone due to the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ: 'One performs prayer and it may be that not one tenth of it is recorded to his credit.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Congregational prayer is twentyseven times preferable to prayer alone.' It follows that if one achieves one instant of humility in congregational prayer, it is as if he had achieved twentyseven of them in prayer alone. Therefore, if the rate of his humility in congregational prayer is less than one-twenty-seventh of what it is in prayer alone, it is better for him to pray alone, but if it is more, then congregational prayer is better.
Ibn al-Subki comments: 'Shaykh 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam gave a similar fatwa concerning one who attends the Congregation out of selfdisplay. I say, to pray in congregation is better in any case. Abandoning humility for the sake of following the Sunna is in itself humility, and better than humility which results in the course of isolating oneself. Consider this, for it is a fine point. The gist of it is that the Sunna, even if it is lacking something ( in this case, congregation without humility ) is preferable to general abandonment of the Sunna for the sake of a particular Sunna which is humility.'
This is obviously preferable as congregational prayer is an emphasized Sunna by Consensus and a communal obligation (fard kifāya) whereas humility is part of the perfection of one's manners in and out of prayer, and Allah knows best.
Ibn al-Subki cited the following opinions from al-Ghazzali's contemporaries:
* Imam al-Haramayn: 'Al-Ghazzali is a quenching sea.'
* Al-Ghazzali's student Imam Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Mansur al-Naysaburi al-Shahid: 'He is the second al-Shafi'i.'
* As'ad al-Mūhani: 'None attains the knowledge of al-Ghazzali's science nor
his merit except one who has attained or almost attained perfection in his
intelligence.' [ʿaql: ] Ibn al-Subki comments:
I like this verdict, for he who wishes to look into the level of one who is
above him in knowledge, needs intelligence and understanding. I heard the
Shaykh and Imam [Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki] say: 'None knows the
rank of a person in knowledge except he who is his peer and has known him
personally, and he only knows him to the extent of what he himself was
granted to know.' He also used to say to us: 'None of his companions knew
al-Shafi'i like al-Muzani knew him, and al-Muzani knew al-Shafi'i only to
the extent of al-Muzani's strength.
Nor can anyone estimate the Prophet ﷺ as he deserves except Allah -- may He be
exalted --, and each knows him ﷺ only to the
extent of what he himself possesses. Thus the most knowledgeable in the
Community about the Prophet's ﷺ rank is Abu
Bakr -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- because he was the best of the
Umma, and Abu Bakr knows the Prophet ﷺ only
according to Abu Bakr's strength.'
As the foremost examplar of the Sufi Ash'ari scholar of knowledge al-Ghazzali, like his teacher Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, has attracted the faultfinding skills of latter-day critics of tasawwuf and Sunni doctrine as defined by Ash'aris. Ibn Taymiyya peppered his discussions of al-Ghazzali with Ibn al-'Arabi's verdict ( 'Our master swallowed the seas of the philosophers in order to defeat them, but when he tried to throw them up he was unable' ) and slighted al-Ghazzali's Ihya as 'containing both good and bad, but the good outweighs the bad.' Burhan al-Din al-Biqa'i (d. 885) attacked al-Ghazzali for saying 'There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists.' Al-Suyuti refuted al-Biqa'i's insinuations in his epistle Tashdid al-Arkan fi Laysa fi al-Imkan Abda'u Mimma Kan ('The Buttressing of the Pillars Concerning al-Ghazzali's Saying 'There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists.') and, after him, al-Haytami who states:
Al-Biqa'i's fanaticism led him to criticize the saying of al-Ghazzali the Proof of Islam, 'There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists.' He went vituperating him until people became disgusted. Then, one day, he went to visit one of the scholars of knowledge who was sitting somewhere alone. The latter took his slipper and began to hit al-Biqa'i with it until he almost destroyed it, all the while scolding him and saying: 'Are you the one who criticizes al-Ghazzali! You are the one who say such-and-such about him!' until some people came and delivered him, although no-one disapproved of the incident. Following this, the people of his time rallied against al-Biqa'i and published many refutations against him in defense of al-Ghazzali.
The gist of their replies concerning al-Ghazzali's statement is that when Allah's Will linked itself to the origination of this world and He originated it, ordaining the abiding of part of it to a set limit and that of its remainder indefinitely / meaning Paradise and Hellfire / this precluded the linkage (ta'alluq) of divine power to the eradication (i'dām) of the entirety of this world. For divine power is not linked except to the possible, while the eradication of the entirety of this world is not possible / not ontologically (li dhātih) but because of the aforementioned linkage. Since its eradication is excluded according to what we said, it follows that its origination in the first place was the apex of wisdom and completion, and the most perfect of all that can possibly be created, for, as concluded above, there is none other in existence.
- Ibn al-Subki: 'It ranks among the books which Muslims must look after and spread far and wide so that many people may be guided by reading them. Seldom has someone looked into this book except he woke up on the spot thanks to it. May Allah grant us insight that shows us the way to truth, and protect us from what stands between us and the truth as a veil.'
- Al-Safadi: 'It is among the noblest and greatest of books, to the extent that it was said, concerning it, that if all books of Islam were lost except the Ihya, it would suffice for what was lost.'
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi: 'It was as if Allah gathered all sciences under a dome, and showed them to al-Ghazzali.'
The Ihya was also strongly criticized for a variety of reasons, among them the number of weak or forged narrations cited in it, a list of which is provided by Ibn al-Subki, who stressed that al-Ghazzali never excelled in the field of hadith. Abu 'Abd Allah al-Maziri al-Maliki said in al-Kashf wa al-Inba. 'an Kitab al-Ihya that most of the narrations cited in it were flimsy (wāhin) with regard to authenticity, while the Maliki censor Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Walid al-Turtushi (d. 420) exclaimed in his epistle to Ibn Zafir / Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Atiyya: 'He has crammed his book full with forgeries.' Ibn al-Subki replied:
"Al-Maziri was a passionate champion of al-Ash'ari's positions ( both the
authoritative, the modest, the great, and the small ) declaring an
innovator anyone who went beyond them in the least. In addition to this he
was a Maliki with a strong bias for his school, which he defended
strenuously. On the other hand, al-Juwayni and al-Ghazzali reached a level
of expertise and knowledge which every impartial observer can acknowledge
as unmatched by anyone after them, and where they may have seen fit to
contradict Abu al-Hasan [al-Ash'ari] in questions of kalām.
Ash'aris,
particularly the Moroccans, do not take kindly to this nor allow anyone to
contravene Abu al-Hasan in the least. Further complicating matters is
al-Juwayni and al-Ghazzali's weakening of Imam Malik's position on certain
points, such as rulings inferred from public welfare or the favoring of a
certain school over another. As for al-Maziri's saying: 'al-Ghazzali was
not a foremost expert (mutabahhir) in the science of kalām, 'I agree with
him on this, but I add: He certainly had a firm foothold in it, even if, in
my opinion, it did not match his foothold in other sciences. As for
al-Maziri's saying: 'He engaged in philosophy before he became an expert in
the science of principles,' this is not the case. He did not look into
philosophy except after he had become an expert in the science of usūl, and
he indicated this in his book al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, adding that he
involved himself in the science of kalām before turning to philosophy.
As
for Ibn Sina, al-Ghazzali declares him a disbeliever, how then could he
possibly rely on him? As for his blame of the Ihya for al-Ghazzali's
indulgence in some narrations: it is known that the latter did not have
skill in the hadith, and that most of the narrations and stories of the Ihya
are taken from his predecessors among the Sufis and jurists. The man
himself did not provide a single isnad, but one of our companions [Zayn
al-Din al-'Iraqi] took care to document the narrations of the Ihya, and
only a small amount were declared aberrant or anomalous (shādhdh). I shall
cite them for the sake of benefit ... Nor is al-Ghazzali's phrasing 'the
Prophet ﷺ said' meant as a definitive
attribution to him but only as an attribution that appears definite. For if
he were not assuming it true, he would not say it. The matter was not as he
thought, and that is all. As for al-Turtushi's statement concerning the
forgeries found in the Ihya, then ( I ask you ) is al-Ghazzali the one who
forged them so that he may be blamed for them? To blame him for them is
certainly nothing more than inane fanaticism. It is an attack which no
serious examiner can accept. "
End of Ibn al-Subki's words from Tabaqat al-Shafiʿiyya al-Kubra.
Ibn al-Jawzi ( a detractor of Sufis ) similarly dismisses the Ihya in four
of his works: I'lam al-Ahya. bi Aghlat al-Ihya ('Informing the Living of
the Mistakes of the Ihya), Talbis Iblis, Kitab al-Qussas, and his history
al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wal-Umam. His views influenced Ibn Taymiyya
and others.
The basis of their position was also that al-Ghazzali used too
many weak or baseless hadiths. Other moderate hadith masters documented
almost every single hadith in the Ihya without questioning its usefulness
as a whole, accepting its immense standing among Muslims and contributing to
its embellishment and spread as a manual for spiritual progress. Among these
scholars:
- Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi (d. 806): al-Mughni 'an Haml al-Asfar;
- His student Ibn Hajar: al-Istidrak 'ala Takhrij Ahadith al-Ihya;
- al-Qasim ibn Qatlubagha al-Hanafi: Tuhfa al-Ahya. fi ma Fata Min Takhrij Ahadith al-Ihya;
- Sayyid Murtada al-Zabidi al-Husayni (d. 1205): Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin fi Sharh Asrar Ihya 'Ulum al-Din in ten massive volumes, each scholar completing the previous scholar's documentation.
More importantly, the majority of hadith masters hold it permissible to use weak hadiths in other than the derivation of legal rulings, such as in the encouragement to good and discouragement from evil (al-targhūb wa al-tarhūb), as countless hadith masters have indicated as well as other scholars, such as Imam al-Safadi. It must be understood that al-Ghazzali incorporated all the material which he judged of use to his didactic purposes on the bases of content rather than origin or chain of transmission; that most of the Ihya consists in quotations from Quran, hadith, and the sayings of other than Ghazali, his own prose accounting for less than 35% of the work; and that three quarters of the huge number of hadiths cited are authentic in origin.
The Hanafi hadith master Murtada al-Zabidi began his great commentary on the Ihya with an explanation that al-Ghazzali's method of hadith citation by conveying the general meaning without ascertaining the exact wording, had a basis in the practice of the Companions and Salaf:
'The verification of the wording of narrations was not an obligation for al-Ghazzali ( may Allah have mercy on him!) He would convey the general meaning, conscious of the different significations of the words and their mutual conflict with one another avoiding what would constitute interpolation or arbitrary rendering of one term with another.
'A number of the Companions have permitted the conveyance of Prophetic
hadiths in their meanings rather than their wordings. Among them: 'Ali, Ibn
'Abbas, Anas ibn Malik, Abu al-Darda., Wathila ibn al-Asqa', and Abu
Hurayra ( may Allah be wellpleased with them! ) Also, a greater number of the
Successors, among them: the Imam of imams al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Sha'bi, 'Amr
ibn Dinar, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, Mujahid, and 'Ikrima.
Ibn Sirin said: 'I
would hear a hadith from ten different people, the meaning remaining one but
the wordings differing.' Similarly, the Companions' wordings in their
narrations from the Prophet ﷺ have differed
one from another. Some of them, for example, will narrate a complete
version; others will narrate the gist of the meaning; others will narrate an
abridged version; others yet replace certain words with their synonyms,
deeming that they have considerable leeway as long as they do not
contradict the original meaning. None of them intends a lie, and all of
them aim for truthfulness and the report of what he has heard: that is why
they had leeway. They used to say: 'Mendacity is only when one deliberately
intends to lie.'
''Imran ibn Muslim [al-Qasir] narrated that a man said to al-Hasan [al-Basri]: 'O Abu Sa'id! When you narrate a hadith you put it in better and more eloquent terms than when one of us narrates it.' He replied: 'There is no harm in that as long as you have fully expressed its meaning.' Al-Nadr ibn Shumayl (d. 208) said: 'Hushaym (d. 183) used to make a lot of mistakes in Arabic, so I adorned his narrations for you with a fine garment' ( meaning, he arabized it, since al-Nadr was a philologist (nahwū)). Sufyan [al-Thawri] used to say: 'When you see a man show strictness in the wordings of hadith, know that he is advertising himself.' He narrated that a certain man began to question Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan (d. 198) about a specific wording inside a hadith. Yahya said to him: 'O So-and-so! There is not in the whole world anything more sublime than Allah's Book, yet He has permitted that its words be recited in seven different dialects. So do not be so strict!'
'In the hadith master al-Suyuti's commentary on [al-Nawawi's] al-Taqrib, in the fourth part of the twenty-sixth heading, the gist of what he said is as follows:
'If a narrator is not an expert in the wordings and in what shifts their
meanings to something else, there is no permission for him to narrate what
he has heard in terms of meaning only. There is no disagreement concerning
this. He must relate the exact wording he has heard. If he is an expert in
the matter, [opinions have differed:] a large group of the experts of
hadith, fiqh, and usūl said that it is not permitted for him to narrate in
other than the exact same words.
This is the position of Ibn Sirin, Tha'lab,
and Abu Bakr al-Razi the Hanafi scholar. It is also narrated as Ibn 'Umar's
position. But the vast majority of the Salaf and Khalaf from the various
groups, among them the Four Imams, permit narration in terms of meaning in
all the above cases provided one adduces the meaning. This dispensation is
witnessed to by the practice of the Companions and Salaf, and shown by their
narrating a single report in different wordings.
'There is a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ relevant to the issue narrated by Ibn Mandah in Ma'rifa al-Sahaba and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir from 'Abd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn Aktham al-Laythi [= 'Abd Allah ibn Sulaym ibn Ukayma] who said: 'I said: 'O Messenger of Allah! Verily, when I hear a hadith from you I am unable to narrate it again just as I heard it from you..' That is, he adds or omits something. The Prophetﷺ replied: 'As long as you do not make licit the illicit or make illicit the licit, and as long as you adduce the meaning, there is no harm in that.' When this was mentioned to al-Hasan he said: 'Were it not for this, we would never narrate anything.'
'Al-Shafi'i adduced as his proof [for the same position] the hadith 'The Quran was revealed in seven dialects.'
'Al-Bayhaqi narrated from Makhul that he and Abu al-Azhar went to see
Wathila [or Wa.ila] ibn al-Asqa' and said to him: 'Narrate to us a hadith
of the Prophet ﷺ in which there is no
omission, no addition, and nothing forgotten.' He replied: 'Has any of you
recited anything from the Quran?' (*) They said: 'Yes, but we have not
memorized it very well. We sometimes add 'and' or the letter alif, or omit
something.' He said: 'If you cannot memorize the Quran which is written
down before you, adding and omitting something from it, then how about
narrations which we heard from the Prophet ﷺ,
some of them only once? Suffice yourself, whenever we narrate them to you,
with the general meaning!'
He narrated something similar from Jabir ibn
'Abd Allah in al-Madkhal: 'Hudhayfa said to us: 'We are Beduin Arabs, we may
cite a saying without its proper order..' He also narrated from Shu'ayb ibn
al-Hajjab: 'I visited al-Hasan together with 'Abdan. We said to him: 'O Abu
Sa'id! Someone may narrate a hadith in which he adds or from which he omits
something.. He replied: 'Lying is only when someone deliberately intends
this..' [He also narrated something similar from Ibrahim al-Nakha'i,
al-Sha'bi, al-Zuhri, Sufyan, 'Amr ibn Dinar, and Waki'.] ' End of al-Suyuti's words from Tadrib al-Rawi as quoted by al-Zabidi, and end of al-Zabidi's
excerpt from Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin.
(*) In al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi's version in Nawadir al-Usul (p. 389) Makhul asks: 'Has any of you stood in prayer at length at night?'
The Imams of hadith are unanimous in accepting the narration in meaning only
on condition that the narrator has mastered the Arabic language and his
narration does not constitute an aberration or anomaly (shudhūdh), among
other conditions. Al-Zabidi's documentation of the majority position that
it is permissible to narrate the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ in their meanings rather than their wordings is also the
position of Ibn al-Salah in his Muqaddima, but the latter avers that the
dispensation no longer applies at a time when the hadiths are available to
all in published books.
Shaykh Nur al-Din 'Itr adopts this latter position:
'The last word on this subject is to prohibit hadith narration in the sense
of meaning only, because the narrations have all been compiled in the
manuals of hadith, eliminating the need for such a dispensation.'
A generation after al-Ghazzali's death, the Ihya was burnt in Andalus upon the recommendation of the qadi Ibn Hamdayn who was named Commander of the Believers in Qurtuba in 539 then fled to Malaga where he died in 548. Shortly thereafter, the Moroccans rehabilitated the book as stated by Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki ( in a long poem that begins with the words 'Abu Hamid! You are truly the one that deserves praise.) Ibn al-Subki narrated with his chain from Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili that Ibn Hirzahm, one of the Moroccan shaykhs who had intended the burning of the book, saw the Prophet ﷺ in his dream commending the book before al-Ghazzali and ordering that Ibn Hirzahm be lashed for slander. After five lashes he was pardoned and woke up in pain, bearing the traces of the lashing. After this he took to praising the book from cover to cover.
Another rallying cry of the critics of the Ihya is that it contains no exhortation towards jihad and that its author remained in seclusion between the years 488-499, at a time when the Crusaders ravaged the Antioch and al-Qudus, killing Muslims by the tens of thousands. Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi replied to these insinuations with the following words:
The great Imam's excuse may be that his most pressing engagement was the reform of his own self first, and that it is one's personal corruption which paves the way for external invasions, as indicated by the beginning of Sura al-Isra. The Israelites, whenever they became corrupt and spread corruption in the earth, were subjected to the domination of their enemies. But whenever they did good and reformed themselves and others, they again held sway over their enemies. He directed his greatest concern toward the reform of the individual, who constitutes the core of the society. The reform of the individual can be effected only through the reform of his heart and thought. Only through such reform can his works and behavior be improved, and his entire life. This is the basis of societal change to which the Quran directs us by saying 'Lo! Allah changes not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts' (13:11).
Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki said about the detractors of the Ihya:
I consider them similar to a group of pious and devoted men who saw a great knight issue from the ranks of the Muslims and enter the fray of their enemies, striking and battling until he subdued them and unnerved them, breaking their ranks and routing them. Then he emerged covered with their blood, went to wash himself, and entered the place of prayer with the Muslims. But that group thought that he still had some of their blood on his person, and they criticized him for it.
Among the most famous commentaries of the Ihya:
- The hadith master Murtada al-Zabidi's ten-volume Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin Sharh Ihya 'Ulum al-Din ('The Lavish Gift of the Godwary Masters: Commentary on al-Ghazzali's 'Giving Life to the Religious Sciences.') which contains the most comprehensive documentation of the hadith narrations cited by al-Ghazzali.
- 'Abd al-Qadir ibn 'Abd Allah al-'Aydarus Ba 'Alawi's Ta'rif al-Ahya bi Fada.il al-Ihya ('The Appraisal of the Living of the Immense Merits of the Ihya').
- Mulla 'Ali al-Qari's Sharh 'Ayn al-'Ilm wa Zayn al-Hilm ('The Spring of Knowledge and the Adornment of Understanding') on the abridged version. Al-Qari begins it by stating:
"I wrote this commentary on the abridgment of Ihya 'Ulum al-Din by the Proof of Islam and the Confirmation of Creatures hoping to receive some of the outpouring of blessings from the words of the most pure knowers of Allah, and to benefit from the gifts that exude from the pages of the Shaykhs and the Saints, so that I may be mentioned in their number and raised in their throng, even if I fell short in their following and their service, for I rely on my love for them and content myself with my longing for them."
End of biographical notice on Hujjatul Islam al-Ghazzali by Hj. Gibril -- Allah forgive him! -- written out of duty and love, not arrogance. Main source: Ibn al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafiʿiyya al-Kubra ( 6:191-389 #694).
O Allah! bring us out of the darkness of illusion into the light of knowledge, adorn our manners with gentleness, and grant us deeds that are accepted in Your Presence. Glory to You! Truly we know nothing except what You teach us.
O Allah! benefit us with the Proof of Your Religion, Imam al-Ghazzali, and thank him on behalf of Muhammad's Community -- upon him Your blessings and peace, ﷺ
Allah's blessings and peace upon the best of prophets and messengers, our master Muhammad, and upon his Family and all his Companions. Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
© GF Haddad
• A Warning by Imam Al-Ghazali
• On The Original Meaning Of Fiqh Imam Al-Ghazali
• What Kind of Knowledge (A Quote) Imam Al-Ghazali
• Those Who Attack Imam Ghazali GF Haddad
• Defending the Ihya from those Devoid of Shame GF Haddad
• Scholars of Falsehood Imam Al-Ghazali
• Ghazali on ta'wil GF Haddad
• Al-Khilafa And Imam al-Ghazali GF Haddad
• Debates and disputations Imam al-Ghazali
Other texts on external sites in English:
• al-Ghazali website Jurisprudence, Theology, Philosophy, Logic, Sufism
• Mishkāt Al-Anwar, al-Ghazali
• O Son - Ayyuha-l Walad, Al-Ghazali
• The Alchemy Of Happiness, Al-Ghazali - pdf
• Al-Ghazali Seite - Hauptseite
• Über Intention, Reine Absicht und Wahrhaftigkeit Al-Ghazali
• Oh mein Sohn! - Ayyuha-l Walad Al-Ghazali
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