teachers whose text-book on the subject Al-Ghazali had mastered. “A man
who had just returned from the pilgrimage came to Junayd. Junayd said:
‘From the hour when you first journeyed from your home have you also
been journeying away from all sins?’ He said ‘No.’ ‘Then,’ said Junayd,
‘you have made no journey. At every stage where you halted for the
night did you traverse a station on the way to God?’ ‘No,’ he replied.
‘Then,’ said Junayd, ‘you have not trodden the road, stage by stage.
When you put on the pilgrim’s garb at the proper place, did you discard
the qualities of human nature as you cast off your clothes?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then
you have not put on the pilgrim’s garb. When you stood on ʾArafat, did
you stand one moment in contemplation of God?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you have not
stood at ʾArafat. When you went to Muzdalifa and achieved your desire,
did you renounce all sensual desires?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you have not gone
to Muzdalifa. When you circumambulated the Kaʾaba, did you behold the
immaterial beauty of God in the abode of purification?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you
have not circumambulated the Kaʾaba. When you ran between Safa and Marwa,
did you attain to purity (_safa_) and virtue (_muruwwat_)?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then
you have not run. When you came to Mina, did all your wishes (_muna_)
cease?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you have not yet visited Mina. When you reached the
slaughter place and offered sacrifices, did you sacrifice the objects of
worldly desire?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you have not sacrificed. When you threw the
pebbles, did you throw away whatever sensual thoughts were accompanying
you?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you have not yet thrown the pebbles, and you have not
yet performed the pilgrimage.’”
Such was the mystical interpretation of the rites at Mecca taught by the
Sufis to their disciples.
Mecca, when Al-Ghazali made the pilgrimage, was under the rule of
the Sherif Abu Hashim (A. D. 1063-1094). Half a century earlier the
Karmathians, perhaps the most fanatic of all Moslem sects, had besieged
Mecca, captured the city, murdered the pilgrims by thousands, and carried
away the famous black stone to Bahrein on the Persian Gulf.[46] By taking
away this sacred treasure they hoped to put an end to the pilgrimage,
but were disappointed. In A. D. 950 the stone was returned for a heavy
ransom.[47] It was because of the constant disputes between the Caliphs
of Bagdad and Egypt that the defense of the holy cities was finally given
into the hand of the Sherifs.
Abu Hashim was a time-server, and cared more for bribes than for
religion, according to the testimony of Arabian chroniclers. In A.
D. 1070 he changed the name of the Fatimide Sultans for that of the
Abbassides at Friday prayers, and received much bounty. In 1075 he sold
the same privilege to the Fatimides, and in 1076 to the Caliphs of
Bagdad. This conduct so enraged the Sultan of Bagdad that in 1091 he sent
bands of Turkomans against Mecca.
Chronicles of the holy city during this period show that the pilgrimage
was accompanied by grave dangers because of Bedouin robbers as well as
disturbances in Mecca itself. Sometimes these uprisings were directed by
Abu Hashim himself, as was the case in A. D. 1094.[48]
Just about the time of Al-Ghazali’s visit, the various buildings at
Mecca and the _Beit Allah_ itself, had been repaired and beautified. The
four _maqams_ or places of prayer for the orthodox sects as they now
stand were built in A. H. 1074. The place of the Shafiʿ sect to which
Al-Ghazali belonged, is directly over the well of Zem Zem, to which it
serves as an upper chamber. The building, erected in 1072, is in use
to-day. The great pulpit of white marble was sent to Mecca in A. H. 969
by the Sultan of Egypt. It is still in use. Perchance Al-Ghazali ascended
these very stairs and addressed the pilgrims. In A. D. 1030 a violent
torrent swept over Mecca, and nearly ruined the Kaʾaba. The repairs were
not finished until 1040.[49]
With his religious pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina it seems that
Al-Ghazali’s life of strict retirement ended, except for his visit to
Alexandria and beyond. Apparently he proposed to make a journey to Spain
and the great Sultan of the West, Yusuf bin Tashfin, on whose behalf he
had given _Fatwas_ or religious decisions, but the news of the Sultan’s
death put an end to his plans, according to some authorities. Others say
that at this time he was summoned to teach again at Nishapur.
The details of his life during the mysterious ten years of his wanderings
are most conflicting. According to ʿAbd al-Ghafir, a personal friend of
Al-Ghazali, he went a second time to Mecca, afterwards to Syria, and
then wandered from shrine to shrine for nearly ten years. Next to “The
Confessions,” the best authority on his life is undoubtedly this same
ʿAbd al-Ghafir. What he tells us of Al-Ghazali’s life must have been
gained from personal knowledge, or go back immediately to Al-Ghazali
himself. “According to him, Al-Ghazali set out on pilgrimage to Mecca,
then went to Syria, and remained there wandering from place to place
and shrine to shrine nearly ten years. At this time he composed several
of his works, the _Ihya_ and books abbreviated from it, such as the
_Arbaʾin_ and the _Rasaʾil_; besides labouring at his own spiritual
advancement and growth through the religious exercises of the Sufis. Then
he returned to his home and lived there a retired life for some time,
absorbed in meditation, but gradually becoming more and more sought after
as a teacher and guide to the spiritual life. At length Fakhr al-Mulk
ʾAli b. Nizam Al-Mulk Jamal Ash-Shuhada, who had previously been Wazir to
Barqiyaruq, became Wazir to Sinjar the son of Malik Shah at Nishapur, and
by him such pressure was put on Al-Ghazali that he finally consented to
resume teaching in the Maymuna Nizamiyya Madrasa there.”[50]
We have reference to but no detail of Al-Ghazali’s visit to Cairo, the
great centre of Moslem architecture and learning in the West, as Bagdad
was in the East. Nor, strange to say, have I found reference in his
works to this visit. It is possible that he was not received altogether
with favour by the religious leaders of Al-Azhar at the time, but his
reputation was already world-wide, and many of his pupils at Bagdad and
Nishapur were from Egypt and North Africa.
At the time of Al-Ghazali’s visit, Cairo was still the great centre
of Arab civilization, and had all the glory which the Fatimid dynasty
had bestowed upon it. The splendid palaces of the Caliphs formed the
central portion of the town. The three massive gates which still command
admiration at the present day, Bab Al-Futuh, Bab Al-Nasr and Bab
Az-Zuwaila, led into the city. In A. D. 1087 the walls were rebuilt, and
these massive gateways constructed along with others which are no longer
standing. In the vault of the archways of these gates, there used to be
two chambers, and these were used by the Egyptian sovereigns and their
friends to watch the various spectacles, especially the departure and
return of the sacred carpet.
The intellectual and religious life of the city centred in the great
mosque of Al-Azhar, which had been completed in A. D. 1012. Cairo was
not yet the economic centre for all Egypt which it became later, but it
was the seat of a splendid court, with military pageantry, as well as a
centre of religious learning. Ibn Tuwair and others have given us vivid
pictures of the ceremonial processions and festivals, the magazines,
treasuries, stables, and royal household.
As for Alexandria, where we _know_ Al-Ghazali lived for some time before
his return to Syria, it did not have a high reputation at that time for
learning. It was rather a port of trade, from which men passed on to Misr
(Cairo) or went by sea to Syria. Hamadhani makes one of his characters
say:
“I am of the citizens of Alexandria,
Of sound and pure stock among them,
The age and the people thereof are stupid,
Therefore I made my stupidity my steed!”
But in Moslem tradition, Alexandria has high honour. Moslems show the
tomb of Daniel the prophet, also that of Alexander the Great whose story
is told in the Koran. Alexandria also boasts two celebrated Walis or holy
men. One is Mohammed al Busiri, the author of the poem called Al Burdah,
universally celebrated; and the other Abu Abbas Al-Andalusi, at whose
tomb prayer is never offered in vain. There is also a prophecy that when
Mecca falls into the hands of the infidels Alexandria will succeed to its
honours.[51]
From Alexandria Al-Ghazali went to Damascus and then to Nishapur and from
there to Bagdad, or from Damascus direct to Bagdad, where he taught the
_Ihya_ and preached. As-Subki tells us that the people crowded to hear
him, and that notes of his sermons to the number of 183 were taken by one
of those present, who read them to Al-Ghazali before they were circulated.
The following story is told of his life at this time: Once while
teaching the _Ihya_ at Bagdad, he began to quote: “He has made beloved
the homes of men, as abodes of desire which the heart has decreed;
whenever they remember their homes these remind them of the pledges of
youth there, and they long thither.” Then he wept, and those present
wept with him. Thereafter some one saw him in the open country with a
patched dervish-garment on, a water-vessel and an iron-shod staff in
his hand,—all in strange contrast to the states in which he had seen
him before, with three hundred pupils around him, including one hundred
of the chief men of Bagdad. So he said, “O Imam, is not the teaching of
science more fitting?” But Al-Ghazali looked at him with red eyes and
said, “When the full moon of happiness rises in the firmament of will,
the sun of setting departs in the East of union.” Then he recited, “I
abandoned the love of Layla and my happiness was far, and I returned
to the companionship of my first alighting-place; then cried to me my
longings, ‘Welcome! these are the alighting-places of her whom thou
lovest, draw up and alight.’”
Of his spiritual experiences during these ten years of retirement and
wandering, and during the years that followed, when he taught others the
way of the mystic, we will speak later.
We know that he left Bagdad, returned to Tus, his native place, and
settled down to study and contemplation. Strange to say, at this time of
his life he seems to have found the greatest delight in going back again
to the study of Tradition, especially the collections of Al-Bokhari and
of Muslim. All his biographers seem to agree in this. He had charge of a
_madrasa_ and of the _khanka_ or monastery for Sufis. Every moment was
filled with study and devotion until in the fifty-fifth year of his life
(lunar calendar) the end came.
The austerity and privations of his long wanderings doubtless wore down
his strength. One who had risen to so high a position of authority on
religious matters also had to pay the price of leadership in controversy
with opponents, and of their envy, and their slander, as we are told
by al-Ghafir. This may have been, Macdonald thinks, one of the causes
for his removal from Nishapur to Tus. A friend remarks in regard to his
attitude towards those who opposed his teaching and envied his influence:
“However much he met of contradiction and attack and slander, it made
no impression on him, and he did not trouble himself to answer his
assailants. I visited him many times, and it was no bare conjecture of
mine that he, in spite of what I saw in him in time past of maliciousness
and roughness towards people, and how he looked upon them contemptuously
through his being led astray by what God had granted him of ease in word
and thought and expression, and through the seeking of rank and position,
had come to be the very opposite and was purified from these stains. And
I used to think that he was wrapping himself in the garment of pretense,
but I realized after investigation that the thing was the opposite of
what I had thought, and that the man had recovered after being mad.”
Al-Ghazali died on Monday, the fourteenth of Jumada II, A. H. 505 (Dec.
18th, 1111). His brother Ahmad (quoted by Murtadha from Ibn Jawzi’s
_Kitab ath-thabat ʾind al-mamat_) gives the following account of his
death: “On Monday, at dawn, my brother performed the ablution and prayed.
Then he said, ‘Bring me my grave-clothes,’ and he took them and kissed
them and laid them on his eyes and said, ‘I hear and obey to go in to the
King.’ And he stretched out his feet towards Mecca, and was taken to the
good will of God Most High. He was buried at, or outside of, Tabran, the
citadel of Tus, and Ibn As-Samaʾni visited his grave there.”
Later biographers were not satisfied with the bare facts of his decease.
Murtadha gives a far more interesting story. “When death drew near to
the Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, he commanded his servant, an excellent
and religious man, to dig his grave in the middle of his house, and to
summon the people of the neighbouring villages to attend his funeral;
that they should not touch him, but that a company of three men unknown
in the region of Al-ʾIraq would come out of the desert, that two of them
would wash him, and the third would undertake the prayer over him without
the advice or command of any one. Then, when he died, the servant did
according to all that he had commanded, and required the presence of the
people. And when the people gathered to attend the funeral, they saw
three men who had come out of the desert. Two of them began to wash the
corpse, while the third vanished and did not appear. But when they had
washed him and arranged him in the grave-clothes, and carried his bier
and laid it on the edge of the grave, the third appeared wrapped in his
robe with a black border on both sides, turbaned with wool, and he prayed
for him and the people prayed with him. Then he gave the benediction and
departed and hid from the people. And some of the excellent of the people
of Al-ʾIraq who were present at the funeral had noticed him carefully,
but did not know him until some of them heard a _Hatif_ in the night
saying to them, ‘The man who led the people in prayer is Abu ʾAbd Allah
Mohammed b. Ishaq Amghar, the Sharif. He came from the farthest Maghrib,
from ʾAyn al-Qatr, and those who washed the corpse are his comrades Abu
Shuʾayb Ayyub b. Saʾid and Abu ʾIsa Wajih.’ And when they heard that they
journeyed from Al-ʾIraq to Sanhaja of the farthest Maghrib, and when
they had reached them and asked of them their prayers, they returned
to Al-ʾIraq and related it to the Sufis and published their miracle
(_karama_). Then a company of them, when they heard that, went to visit
them and found them to be those whom they noticed carefully, and they
asked of them their prayers. And this is a strange story.”[52]
An equally remarkable story is told of the death of Al-Ghazali’s younger
brother in the books of the Persian mystics.[53] The verses given might
well apply to Al-Ghazali himself and his views of life and death.
“Moghith related, on the authority of Kadiri tradition, how the famous
Ahmed-Al-Ghazali, native of Tus in Persia, said one day to his disciples,
‘Go and bring me new and white garments.’ They went; and on returning
with the objects required, found their master dead; by his side was a
paper on which were written the following stanzas:
“‘Tell my friends, who behold me dead,
Weeping and mourning my loss a while,
Think not this corpse before you myself:
That corpse is mine, but it is not I.
I am an undying life, and this is not my body,
Many years my house and my garment of change;
I am the bird, and this body was my cage,
I have wing’d my flight elsewhere, and left it for a token.
I am the pearl, and this my shell,
Broken open and abandon’d to worthlessness;
I am the treasure, and this was a spell
Thrown over me, till the treasure was released in truth.
Thanks be to God, who has delivered me,
And has assign’d me a lasting abode in the highest.
There am I now the day conversing with the happy,
And beholding face to face unveiled Deity;
Contemplating the Mirror wherein I see and read
Past and present, and whatever remains to be.
Food and drink too are mine, yet both are one;
Mystery known to him who is worthy to know.
It is not “wine sweet of taste” that I drink;
No, nor “water,” but the pure milk of a mother.
Understand my meaning aright, for the secret
Is signified by words of symbol and figure,—
I have journey’d on, and left you behind;
How could I make an abode of your halting-stage?
Ruin then my house and break my cage in pieces,
And let the shell go perish with kindred illusions;
Tear my garment, the veil once thrown over me;
Then bury all these, and leave them alike for I go.
Deem not death death, for it is in truth
Life of lives, the goal of all our longings.
Think lovingly of a God whose Name is love,
Who joys in rewarding, and come on secure of fear.
Whence I am, I behold you undying spirits like myself,
And see that our lot is one, and you as I.’”
We are indebted to the Rev. Dwight M. Donaldson of Mashad, Persia, for
the interesting photographs of the ruins of Tus and of the supposed tomb
of Al-Ghazali. The mosque is very old and probably dates from the time
of Al-Ghazali. The grave shown in the picture, however, _may_ not be the
grave of Al-Ghazali the mystic but of another celebrated Ghazali. For we
read in As-Subqi (Vol. III, p. 36) that there was one called Ahmed ibn
Mohammed Abu Hamed Al-Ghazali, the older and earlier one. He says that
people have thrown doubt upon his very existence, but that after careful
inquiry he has found mention of this man in several books, including the
_Kitab Al Ansab_ of Ibn As-Samʾani. He mentions the fact that this man
also lived in Khorasan, was celebrated for his learning, wrote books on
theological questions, and was buried at Tus, where his grave was well
known; and because of this people called him the Old Ghazali, and used to
come to his grave in order to obtain answers to their prayers. He thinks
that this Ghazali was either the uncle or the grand-uncle of Al-Ghazali,
whose biography we have written. Incidentally we may conclude from this
statement of As-Subqi that the name of Al-Ghazali was not given to him
because his _father_ was a spinner of wool! It must have been an old
family name.
Mr. Donaldson gives this interesting information: “The walls of the old
city of Tus still stand. It is one _farsakh_ around them, three and a
third miles. There are many fragments of towers and in nine places there
are remains of gates. The wall was originally five yards wide. In the
largest cemetery the tombstone of Ahmad Ghazali may still be seen. This
cemetery lies southwest from the city and while the bulk of it is now
under cultivation, the more distant part that lies on the higher ground
beyond the waterway has been kept a cemetery.
“The picture I have enclosed of Ghazali’s tomb is not as satisfactory
as I would have liked. It shows that a large chip has been taken from
one corner of the grave. The stone is about two yards long, one-third
yard wide, and one-third yard high. There are positive indications of an
effort having been made to cut off the portion on which the name of Ahmed
Al-Ghazali appears. It is the part that is chipped in the picture. About
at the point where the chipping appears to begin there is a straight line
cut about one inch deep across the top of the stone.
“On the road that runs through the city from the southwest gate the old
mosque is imposing even in its ruined condition. It stands eighteen yards
high and the inner measurements show it to consist of a square base,
five yards high, then an octagonal structure eight yards high. (See
illustration.)
“Outside the southwest gate an ancient bridge is still in use, as
caravans from Mashad come through the old city of Tus. This bridge has
eight arches, each four and one-half yards wide. The name of the stream
is the _Kashf Rud_.
“The fortress itself is interesting; it is surrounded by a moat and a
wall, within which lies a large courtyard and the high approach to the
fort itself. At present we could walk around the wall and approach the
fort by a passage in the rear. In the courtyard they are now raising the
best water-melons we have eaten in Persia. Four gigantic corner fragments
of the fort are now standing. In the midst of the débris of bricks within
these old walls we found interesting fragments of pottery.”
In another letter from Mashad, Persia, dated January 17, 1917, the
Rev. Dwight M. Donaldson writes: “This week I made another trip to
Tus, carefully examining again the tombstone of Ghazali. As I wrote
you before, the stone has been badly worn and in addition to that has
been mutilated. However, on the point of doubt as to whether the stone
photographed was really the one marking Mohammed Al-Ghazali’s tomb, or
the tomb of another Ahmad Al-Ghazali, I can now say that I believe it is
the tomb of Abu Hamed ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed Al-Ghazali,
for the reason that we can clearly read on the corner of the top of the
stone, the end which some one in times past attempted to cut off, the
name غزّالي and بوحا. And as one studies the stone he is almost
willing to declare that the name is fully intelligible with the exception
of the initial _aleph_. The whole top is badly worn indeed, but the word
that my _mirza_ first read as Ahmad is clearly not Ahmad, but what it is
we cannot tell. The damage is too complete.
“You will notice that Ghazzali appears in the stone to have been spelled
with a _tashdeed_ and yet the mark we have considered a tashdeed is not
the usual form (v instead of w).”
This investigation, therefore, would seem to settle two points: that we
have at Tus the neglected and mutilated grave of the great mystic and
theologian, Al-Ghazali; and that on this grave the middle letter of the
name is double. In view of the common usage, however, and in deference
to the authorities of Moslems themselves, we have uniformly written
Ghazali.
V
His Creed and Credulity
“This man, (Al-Ghazali) if ever any have deserved the name,
was truly a ‘divine,’ and he may be justly placed on a level
with Origen, so remarkable was he for learning and ingenuity,
and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful and
worthy exposition of doctrine. All that is good, noble, and
sublime that his great soul had compassed he bestowed upon
Mohammedanism, and he adorned the doctrines of the Koran with
so much piety and learning that, in the form given them by him,
they seem, in my opinion, worthy the assent of Christians.
Whatsoever was most excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle or
in the Sufic mysticism he discreetly adapted to the Mohammedan
theology; from every school he sought the means of shedding
light and honour upon religion; while his sincere piety and
lofty conscientiousness imparted to all his writings a sacred
majesty. He was the first of Mohammedan divines.”
—_Dr. August Tholuck._
V
HIS CREED AND CREDULITY
Although, according to his own testimony in his “Confessions,” Al-Ghazali
was troubled from his earliest years with doubt and scepticism, he was
not willing to yield to it, and his faith rose triumphant above all
his doubts. This is one of the outstanding facts in his biography. He
could say with the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews that “faith
is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not
seen.” Not only did he find God in nature and in his own conscience
and consciousness, but he was a firm believer in revelation. Naturally
the only revelation to which Al-Ghazali turned as the basis, the very
bed-rock of religious faith, was the Koran, the eternal, uncreated
word of God according to Moslem teaching; and also to the life of the
Prophet Mohammed, his practices and his precepts handed down in orthodox
Tradition—this also was a revelation from God.
Whether he ever read the Old and New Testament is a question we consider
unanswered. He did not draw his creed from this source.