“When God Almighty let His hands pass over the back of Adam and gathered
men into His two hands, He placed some of them in His right hand and the
others in His left; then He opened both His hands before Adam, and Adam
looked at them and saw them like imperceptible atoms. Then God said:
‘These are destined for Paradise and these are destined for hell-fire.’
He then asked them: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ And they replied: ‘Certainly,
we testify that Thou art our Lord.’ God then asked Adam and the angels to
be witnesses to the act; after this God replaced them into the loins of
Adam. They were at that time purely spiritual beings without bodies. He
then caused them to die, but gathered them and kept them in a receptacle
near His throne. When the germ of a new being is placed in the womb of
the mother, it remains there till its body is sufficiently developed; the
soul in the same is then dead yet. When God Almighty breathes into the
spirit, He restores to it its most precious part of which it had been
deprived while preserved in the receptacle near the throne. This is the
first death and the second life. Then God places man in this world till
he has reached the term fixed for him.”
The great Mystic was also superstitious. Some of his books deal with
magical formulæ taken from the Koran and the medicinal use of its text
or of the names of God. One of the most celebrated magic squares used on
amulets, etc., is called the “Square of Al-Ghazali” or _Al-Buduh_. It may
interest in conclusion to give an account of this form of magic, approved
by Al-Ghazali, because it is one of the things by which he is best known
among the masses in the world of Islam.
In the older Arabic books on magic this formula plays a comparatively
minor part; but after it was taken up by Al-Ghazali and cited in his
_Munkidh_ (pp. 46 and 50 of ed. of Cairo, 1303) as an inexplicable,
but certain assistance in cases of difficult labour, it came to be
universally known as “the three-fold talisman, or seal, or table of
Al-Ghazali” (_al-wakf_, _al-khatam_, _al-jadwal_, _al-muthallath
lil-Ghazali_) and finally has become the starting point for the whole
“Science of Letters” (_ʿIlm ul-huruf_) (_e. g._, Cf. Al-Buni’s Shems ul
Muʿarif, A. H. 622). Al-Ghazali is said to have developed the formula,
under divine inspiration (_ilham_), from the combinations of letters
which open Suras xix. and xlii. of the Koran, and which by themselves are
also used as talismans.[55] Others trace the formula back to Adam, from
whom it passed down to Al-Ghazali.[56]
For the popular mind _Buduh_ has become a Jinn whose services can be
secured by writing his name either in letters or numbers. The uses of
the word are most varied to invoke both good and bad fortune. It is used
against menorrhagia, against pains in the stomach, to render oneself
invisible, against temporary impotence, etc. Lane’s Cairo magician also
used it with his ink mirror (“Modern Egyptians,” chap. xii.). We find
the same in magical treatises. It is also engraved upon jewels and metal
plates or rings which are carried as permanent talismans, and it is
inscribed at the beginning of books as a preservative. But by far the
most common use is to ensure the arrival of letters and packages.[57]
No letter from one pious Moslem to another is ever posted in the Near
East without putting the figure 8642 in Arabic on the outside of the
envelope where it is sealed. And one may see thousands of children in
Egypt who have never heard of Al-Ghazali and cannot read the letters of
his name wearing his magic square on lead or silver amulet to protect
them from the hideous power of the Child-Witch (Um-as-Subyan). In the
Azhar University men study his creed but in the villages they follow
his credulity and to all the _fellahin_ of Egypt _Buduh_ has become a
guardian Angel!
+---+---+---+
| 4 | 9 | 2 |
+---+---+---+
| 3 | 5 | 7 |
+---+---+---+
| 8 | 1 | 6 |
+---+---+---+
Each letter stands for the number as indicated.
+---+---+---+
| د | ط | ب |
+---+---+---+
| ج | ه | ز |
+---+---+---+
| ح | ا | و |
+---+---+---+
VI
His Writings
“I saw the Prophet in a dream, and he was contending with Moses
and Jesus regarding the superiority of excellence of the Imam
Al-Ghazali, and saying to them, ‘Have you had in your sects
such a learned and righteous man?’ alluding to Al-Ghazali,
and they both replied, ‘No.’ The Shaikh, the Imam, one
acquainted with God, the Master, the support of religious law
and truth, Abu’l-ʾAbbas al-Mursi said, when mention was made
of Al-Ghazali, ‘Testimony has been already borne to his great
and extreme veracity, and it is sufficient for you (to know)
that it was he regarding whom the Prophet contended with Moses
and Jesus, _and to whose great and extreme veracity the most
truthful have borne testimony_.’”
—_Ad-Damiri’s Hayat al-Hayawan._
“Verily I saw in the Gospel of Jesus (on him be peace) that he
said: From the moment the dead is placed on the bier until he
rests on the edge of the open grave God Most High asks of him
forty questions.”
—_Al-Ghazali in Risalat Ayyuha ’l-walad (sec. 5)._
VI
HIS WRITINGS
More by far is known of Al-Ghazali from his writings than from the
records of his life. The meagre facts of the biographers and even the
spelling of his name, as we have seen, are disputed. His pen, however,
left so large a legacy that many of his works are still found only in
rare manuscripts, and have never been published. Moslem writers mention
ninety-nine works, and Brockelmann in his “History of Arabic Literature”
catalogues sixty-nine which are still in existence. They include systems
of theology, eschatology, works on philosophy, lectures on mysticism, on
ethics, and on canon law.
Many have assigned to Al-Ghazali the highest position among all Moslem
writers. Ismael Ibn Mohammed Al Hadrami says: “Mohammed the son of
Abdullah was the Prince of all the Prophets; Mohammed the son of Idris
Al-Shafiʾ was the Prince of Imams; but Mohammed the son of Mohammed, the
son of Mohammed Al-Ghazali, was the Prince of Writers.”
We have interesting evidence of Al-Ghazali’s position as a writer even
in his own day in the precious relic shown in our illustration. In
the Arabic Museum at Cairo there is a _maqlama_ or pen-case which once
belonged to Al-Ghazali. It was presented to the Museum by M. Kyticas
and is made of brass overlaid with silver. It bears the following
inscription: “_Made for the library of our Master, the most great and
noble Imam, our revered Leader, the Mouthpiece of verity, the greatest
Scholar of the world, the King of wise men, the Stay of all living, the
Treasury of truth, the most illustrious among his contemporaries, the
Restorer of religion_, [an illegible word] _Hujjat ul-Islam, Mohammed
Al-Ghazali._”
[Illustration: Pen case of Al Ghazali, made of brass inlaid with silver,
preserved in the Arab Museum, Cairo.]
This bronze is the oldest piece of damascened metal work and the only
example of that epoch with _naskhi_ inscription in the possession of the
Museum. That the case was not made at a later period and presented to
Al-Ghazali’s library _after_ his death is evident from the fact that it
was the custom to present a book or celestial globe to a library, but
not a pen-case or even an inkstand. Then, too, the word “_al-marhum_,”
meaning “deceased,” does not appear on it as it does on other objects
which were offered in memory of a deceased person. An objection to the
authenticity of the bronze is the use of silver in a pen-case designed
to be used by a Sufi doctor pledged in some measure to an ascetic life.
But this objection may be answered by stating that the case was not made
to the order of Al-Ghazali personally, but by his disciples in order to
obtain his good-will and patronage.[58]
We need not, moreover, be surprised at the apparent lack of modesty
which the inscription on the pen-case indicates. Judging from other
instances of this period, Al-Ghazali himself might well have written the
inscription.
An almost complete list of Al-Ghazali’s writings as well as of the
translations of his works into other languages, especially Hebrew,
Latin, French, German, and English, is given in the appendix.[59] Before
we speak of some of his more important works a summary will interest
the reader. The _Jawahir al-Koran_ (Jewels of the Koran) contains
observations on some of the verses of the Koran which have special value;
the _ʾAqida_ is a statement of the articles of the Moslem faith, and
was published by Pococke in his Specimen; the Precious Pearl (Al-Durrat
Al-Fakhira) is a treatise on the last judgment and the end of the world,
_i. e._, his eschatology—and has been translated and published by L.
Gautier. The morality and theology of the mystics are codified in the
_Ihya ʿulum id-din_ (Revivification of the Religious Sciences). The
_Mizan Al-ʿamal_ (The Balance of Works) has been translated into Hebrew
by Ibrahim bin Hasdai of Barcelona, and published by Goldenthal. The
_Kimiya as-saʾada_ (Alchemy of Happiness) is a popular lecture founded
on mysticism; this work which was originally written in Persian, has
been twice translated into English, by H. A. Homes in 1873 and more
recently by Claud Field. _Ayyuha ’l-walad_ (O Child!) is a celebrated
moral treatise, which has been translated into German and published
by Hammer-Purgstall. Among works on jurisprudence, his treatises on
Shafiʾite law have earned great reputation in the Moslem world; his
_Basit_, _Wasit_, and _Wajiz_ are all abridgments of them. In the domain
of philosophy, the _Tahafut al-Falasifa_ (Collapse of the Philosophers)
is an attack on the adherents of the Greek Philosophy; it has been edited
by DeBoer. The _Maqasid al-Falasifa_ (Aims of the Philosophers) is a sort
of introduction to the above. The text has been published by G. Beer,
and a Latin translation by Gondisalvi is in existence, which was printed
in Venice in 1506. _Al-Munqidh min ad-Dalal_ (The Deliverer from Error),
written after the author commenced his life as a teacher at Nishapur for
the second time, describes the development of his philosophy. It was
translated and published by Schmolders in his “Essay on the Schools of
Philosophy Among the Arabs”; a second and greatly improved translation
was published in the _Journal Asiatique_ for 1877, by the learned savant,
Barbier de Meynard. More recently it appeared in English under the title
“The Confessions of Al-Ghazali.” It is one of his shortest but most
famous books and can be compared with the “Confessions” of St. Augustine,
or John Bunyan’s “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.” Several of
Al-Ghazali’s numerous works are very brief, in the shape of epistles or
tractates.
Among his shorter works the following may be mentioned: _Al-ʾAdab fi
Din_, a short treatise on the ethics of politeness, prepared for the use
of his pupils. It speaks of the ideal pupil, the ideal teacher, of the
ethics of eating, drinking, marriage and the religious life. A smaller
work already mentioned is the _Risala Ayyuh’ Al-Walad_ (“O Child!”). In
it he defines faith and works and distinguishes between them. A curious
passage occurs in the introduction which reflects on Al-Ghazali’s
accuracy of statement, or at least raises the question as to which
“Gospel” he refers to. He says: “O my child, live as you please for you
are already dead; love whom you wish, for you are bound to be separated;
and do what you will, for you are sure to be judged for it. Verily I saw
in the Gospel of Jesus (upon Him be prayers and peace) that He said,
‘From the hour in which the dead is put upon the bier until the time when
he rests on the edge of the grave God will ask him forty questions, the
first of which is, O my servant, you have purified yourself to appear
before men many years and not for one hour have you purified yourself
for my gates, and every day a voice was sounded in your ears saying,
“What you do for others why do you not do for me who surrounds you with
my mercy!” but you were deaf and not willing to hear.’”
In his “Alchemy of Happiness” there is a beautiful chapter on “Know
Thyself.” The parable there used regarding man’s soul and the enemies
that lay siege against it reminds one very much of Bunyan’s “Holy War.”
The shortest of his works, as far as I am aware, is called _Al-Qawaʿid
Al-ʾAshara_ (The Ten Articles); this has been frequently reprinted. It
consists of ten principles of faith and conduct, and is scarcely longer
than an ordinary letter. Of a similar character is _Risalat-ut-Tair_
the parable of the birds. His most celebrated treatise on ethics and
conduct is entitled _Mizan ul ʿAmal_. It might be compared to the book
of Ecclesiastes or the first chapters of the book of Proverbs. In the
introduction Al-Ghazali shows the folly of those who neglect to secure
the happiness of their immortal souls as well as the peril of those who
despise faith in the world to come. The true way of happiness consists in
knowing the right and doing it. The soul is a unit and its various powers
are knit together and are interdependent. The path of the mystic unites
true faith with true practice. He also speaks of the possibility of
change of character through religious devotion and mentions the virtues
that are to be cultivated and the vices to be shunned on this pathway to
God and to true happiness.
To emphasize the importance of life with its brevity and the supreme
importance of eternity Al-Ghazali says: “Suppose we imagine that the
whole world is filled with dust and that a little bird should come and
snatch up one atom of dust every thousand years. We know that there
would be an end of its task, but nothing would have been taken away from
the everlasting character of that eternity which has no end.” Although
the moral teaching of this book is very noble, it is after all based
entirely on the principle of salvation by works. There is no hint of the
possibility of the transformation of character through regeneration of
the heart, nor is the way pointed to the victorious life by overcoming
temptation through a power that is not our own.
Of all his writings none is celebrated more justly than his greatest
work “The Revival of Religious Sciences” (_Ihya ʿulum id Din_). It is
a veritable encyclopædia of Moslem teaching and ethics and covers the
whole range of Moslem thought. Many editions of this work have been
printed and commentaries written on it, the most celebrated of which
is by Mohammed-uz-Zubeidi Al-Murtadha, in ten large volumes. The work
itself consists of four volumes of ten books each and has a total of
over one thousand closely printed pages. Although widely read in its
original form, popular demand has called forth several abbreviated
compendia of the work. One of them entitled “A Homily for Believers,” by
Mohammed Jamal-ud-Din of Damascus, is used as a text-book on Islam in the
Theological Seminary of the American Mission in Cairo.
The first part of the original work is entitled “Things that pertain to
worship”; the second part, “Things that pertain to practice”; the third
part, “Things that destroy the soul,” _i. e._, the vices; the fourth
part, “Things that deliver the soul,” _i. e._, the virtues. The contents
are as follows:
“THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO WORSHIP”
I. _The Book of Knowledge_, which has seven divisions:
1. The Benefits of Learning.
2. What Kind of Knowledge is Forbidden and Permitted.
3. Theological Learning and Nomenclature.
4. Conditions of Debate and Controversy.
5. The Relation of Teacher and Pupil.
6. The Dangers of Learning.
7. The Mind and its Uses.
II. _The Book of Dogma_, which has four divisions:
1. The Moslem Creed.
2. Degrees of Faith.
3. God, His Being, Attributes, Work.
4. Faith and Islam.
III. _The Book of the Mysteries of Purity_, which has three
divisions:
1. Purification from Unclean Objects.
2. Purification from Unclean States.
3. Purification from Unclean Matters that cling to
the Body (finger-nails, ears, etc.).
IV. _The Book of the Mysteries of Prayer_, which has seven
divisions:
1. The Benefits of Prayer.
2. Outward Observance of Prayer.
3. Conditions of Prayer.
4. The Imam.
5. Friday Prayers.
6. Miscellaneous Matters.
7. Special Prayers.
V. _The Book of the Mysteries of Almsgiving_, which has four
divisions:
1. Kinds of Alms.
2. Conditions of Giving.
3. To Whom.
4. How they are Observed.
VI. _The Book of the Mysteries of Fasting_, which has three
divisions:
1. Its Necessity.
2. Its Mysteries.
3. Obedience through Fasting.
VII. _The Book of the Mysteries of the Pilgrimage_, which has
three divisions:
1. Its Benefits and Character.
2. The Order of Procedure.
3. Its Inward Significance.
VIII. _The Book of the Perusal of the Koran._
IX. _The Book of Zikr and Prayer._
X. _The Book of the Night Meditation._
“THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO PRACTICE”
I. The Ethics of Eating and Drinking.
II. The Ethics of Marriage.
III. The Ethics of Trade.
IV. Things that are Allowed and Forbidden.
V. Ethics of Friendship and Conversation.
VI. The Life of Seclusion.
VII. The Ethics of Journeying.
VIII. The Ethics of Music and Poetry.
IX. On Favours and Offenses.
X. The Ethics of True Living and the Virtues of the Prophet.
“THINGS THAT DESTROY THE SOUL”
I. The Wonders of the Heart.
II. The Exercise of the Soul.
III. The Dangers of the Two Desires, namely, of the Appetite
and of Lust.
IV. The Evils of the Tongue.
V. The Evils of Anger and Envy.
VI. On Despising the World.
VII. On Despising Property and Greed.
VIII. On Despising the Love of Honour and Hypocrisy.
IX. On Despising Vanities.
“THINGS THAT DELIVER THE SOUL”
I. The Book of Repentance.
II. The Book of Patience and Thankfulness.
III. The Book of Fear.
IV. The Book of Poverty and Asceticism.
V. The Book of the Unity of God.
VI. The Book of Love.
VII. The Book of Good Intent and Sincerity.
VIII. The Book of Self-examination.
IX. The Book of Meditation.
X. The Book of the Remembrance of Death.
Especially the third and fourth parts of his great work show us
Al-Ghazali as a mystic and a preacher of righteousness. His ten books
on “Things that deliver the soul” furnish material from which it would
not be difficult to collect a beautiful anthology or a daily calendar of
spiritual thoughts. Such a rosary of pearls from Al-Ghazali’s works might
well be used for devotion by Christians as well as by Moslems.
[Illustration: A facsimile page of the Ihya (Vol. II, page 180, Cairo
Ed.). It gives a diagram of the prayer _kibla_ and the rules to be
observed in facing it correctly.]
Another most interesting book is that on the names of God, entitled
_Al-Maksad ul-Asna Sharh-Asmaʾ-Allah ul Husna_, “The Highest Aim: the
Explanation of the Beautiful Names of God.” The book is divided into
three parts of which the first deals philosophically with the meaning of
the word “name” and its distinction from the naming of the thing and the
thing named itself: also how it is possible for God to have many names
and yet to be one essence. The second part of the book is the longest
and treats of the ninety-nine names of God in order showing how they are
comprehended in the seven attributes and the one essence. The third part
is brief and shows that there are really more than ninety-nine names, but
that this was the number fixed upon for good reasons. And finally there
is a section telling how God may and may not be described.
Al-Ghazali teaches in this book _that the imitation of God’s attributes
is the highest happiness for the believer_. There are three degrees
in the knowledge of God, and in this respect he says: “The virtues of
the righteous are the faults of the Saints”; by which he means that
the nearer we approach to God the more perfect is our standard of
character. The three degrees of knowledge are (1) intellectual, (2) that
of admiration and attempted imitation, (3) that of actual acquirements
of God’s attributes such as the angels. Nearness to God is by rank and
degree, not in regard to position or place. He quotes with approval the
famous saying of Junaid: “No one knows God save God Himself Most High,
and therefore even to the best of His creatures He has only revealed His
names, in which He hides Himself.” He says that two statements are true
in regard to God and the believer. The true believer must say, “I know
nothing but God,” and “I know nothing of God.”
The last book Al-Ghazali wrote was the _Minhaj al-ʾAbidin_ or “Guide of
True Worshippers.” It is said to have been written for those who could
not understand the _Ihya_ and deals with the creed and ritual of Islam
from the standpoint of the mystic. Our illustration shows in facsimile
the first page of this celebrated work from a recent Cairo edition. On
the margin of the text we have the Beginner’s Guide, already spoken of.
These two works of Al-Ghazali are very popular and have recently had an
increasing circulation.
The _Minhaj_ shows that Al-Ghazali at the close of his life had adopted
the vocabulary of the mystics even for popular teaching. The various
chapters are called “stages” in the progress of the soul towards
salvation and peace. The first stage is that of knowledge, then follows
repentance, a list of the hindrances on the road to God, things that
delay the soul in its onward progress, such as the world and its
allurements, the flesh, the devil, the senses. Other hindrances are the
cares of gaining a living, the perplexities and troubles of life, while
the last stages in the road of the mystic are those of praise to God
under all circumstances, and earnest endeavour to attain to the reality
of the experience of His presence.
So difficult is the road which Al-Ghazali describes that he says: “Some
seekers can only finish these stages in seventy years, some in twenty,
some in ten. Others there are, however, whose souls are so enlightened,
so free from the care and perplexity of the world, that they finish the
journey and arrive at the goal in a year, a month, what do I say, in
an hour; so that they awaken like the Companions of the Cave, and the
change they see in themselves and those about them is to them as a dream.”
His teaching on prayer as given in the _Ihya_ certainly rises very
high above that of the ritualist who puts all his attention on the
punctiliousness of outward observance. “Prayers are of three degrees, of
which the first are those that are simply spoken with the lips. Prayers
are of the second kind when with difficulty, and only by a most resolute
effort, the soul is able to fix its thoughts on divine things without
being disturbed by evil imaginations; they are of the third kind when
one finds it difficult to turn away the mind from dwelling on divine
things. But it is the very marrow of prayer when He who is invoked takes
possession of the soul of the suppliant, and the soul of him who prays
is absorbed into God, to whom he prays, and, his prayer ceasing, all
consciousness of self has departed, and to such a degree that all thought
whatsoever of the praying is felt as a veil between the soul and God.
This state is called by the Sufis ‘absorption,’ for the reason that the
man is so absorbed that he takes no thought of his body, or of anything
that happens externally, or even of the movements of his own soul, but
is first engaged in going towards his Lord, and finally is wholly in his
Lord. If even the thought occurs that he is absorbed in the Absolute it
is a blemish, for that absorption only is worthy of the name, though they
will be called, as I well know, but foolish babbling by raw theologians,
are yet by no means without significance. For consider: The condition of
which I speak resembles that of a person who loves any other object, such
as wealth, honour, or pleasure. We see such persons so carried away with
their love, and others with their anger, that they do not hear one who
speaks to them, nor see those passing before their eyes. Nay, so absorbed
are they in their passion that they do not perceive their absorption; you
necessarily turn it away from that which is the object of it.”
Elsewhere Al-Ghazali says: “The commencement of this life is the going to
God; then follows the finding Him, when the absorption takes place. This
at first is momentary, as the lightning swiftly glancing upon the eye,
but afterwards, confirmed by use, it introduces the soul into a higher
world, where, the most pure essential essence meeting it, fills the
soul with the images of the spiritual world, while the majesty of Deity
discovers itself.”