Scholar
of kalam and fiqh (B. 1058, Tus – D. 1111, Tus). His full name was Hüccetü'l-İslâm Ebû Hâmid Muhammed b. Ahmed el-Gazzâlî et-Tûsî, he was
also known with alias such as Hüccetülislâm, Zeynüddin. He was called as
Abuhamet and Algazel by the the Medieval Western scholastics. He started his
education by taking fiqh lessons in Tus. Then he went to Nishapur and started
the Nizâmiye
Madrasah (T.N. School of Regular Army) after studying for
some time in Cürcân
and became a student of İmâmü'l-Haremeyn el-Cüveynî who was
the best known scholar of Islamic theology. He studied Şâfiî Fiqh, the
discussion techniques that emerged in between the law schools (contradiction), debate,
the resources of the akaid and the fiqh and logic as well as wisdom and philosophy
here. He was invited to the palace of
the Seljuk vizier Nizâmülmülk after
the death of Cüveynî (1085). The vizier, who was very impressed by the
knowledge of Gazâlî, assigned him to the Nizâmiye Madrasah in
Through
these examinations which lasted nearly two years, he had opportunity to have a
deeper understanding of the philosophy of Meşşâî-İşrâkî that he also criticized
and thought to censure unlike other theologists. Then he started his
examinations on Bâtınî belief. The results that Gazâlî had achieved with his
works about Islamic theology, philosophy, Bâtınî belief and sufism had
literally led to a crisis in his mind and spirit. Towards the end of the
teaching period in Nizâmiye for
four years, his state of mind emerged more clearly by being influenced by the sufism
he understood from the ground. Upon this, he decided to cut all of his ties
with
Almost
all the resources and researches related to Gazâlî agrees that he was a scholar
and thinker found rare in the history of Islamic science and philosophy who was
an authority in religious and rational sciences such as fiqh, Islamic theology,
mysticism, philosophy, education, politics, and morality. Along with being
engaged in some
of the philosophical issues when he was a student of Cüveynî, his actual
philosophical investigations began during his first teaching in
Gazâlî
didn’t assume any information as precise if he didn’t understand its
reliability precisely. Precise information must have been free of all kinds of
the possibility of doubt and error. According to him, philosophy and
metaphysics were not strong enough to explain the first cause and the absolute
one too. The main principles of religion, which were superb comparing to philosophy,
could be understood by “revelation” and “ecstasy”. In this case, the main task
of philosophy was to help religion and follow it. A philosophy that ran counter
to the Islamic religion was worthless. Man could reach the truth with the
cleanliness of hearth. Philosophers, theologians, and believers of Batınî were
not on the right track due to practicing upon mind as a basic principle even
though they adopted different attitudes. Believers of Bâtınî did not put the
easy way of rejecting out like the others did but put forward their basic superstitious
views with their sources. He gave
examples of extreme gloss which changed the principles of the religion and put
Islam in another form. Then he proved that there was no evidence or authority
they had for such a deviation and orientation. He even came under criticism
that the believers of Bâtınî methodized their views better than they did and
served their ideas in a way. However it is certain that works of Gazâlî greatly
contributed in the demolition of the Bâtınîs. Gazâlî, who stated that the Bâtınî was apparently a Râfizî sect but in reality it was a belief
system that tended to profanity, said that they had clearly accepted two
deities and they had changed the Islamic understanding about the after-life. He
stated that especially their interpretations about after-life had gone beyond
the limits of gloss and denied the owner of the sharia and the Koran.
The
one that created the most reaction among the criticism that Gazâlî directed towards
the philosophers was their criticism towards the doctrine of determinism and
their opinions in this connection. According to Aristotelian thinking, since a
relation in between the cause and the result was compulsory, no results could
be mentioned without a natural cause. Accordingly, the cause of an event in
nature was the nature itself. The Islamic philosophers continued this
deterministic view on condition that to connect it to his science rather than
the free will of Allah. While acknowledging the relation of cause and result, Gazâlî
refused that this relation was a necessity from the essence of nature. Such an
obligation could not be proved in terms of scientific sense. Experience and
observations were limited by detecting the consecutive two events called reason
and cause. He stated that these proofs didn’t indicate certainty by describing
them with concepts such as domination (arbitrary sentencing), imagination,
telbîs (cheating), inconsistencies, habâl (confusion), fallacious in each of
the issues where he criticized the opinions of the philosophers. He insisted
that it was not possible to prove any of the assumptions by using the methods
of the philosophers while acknowledging that philosophers had opinions that
must have beeen adopted or opinions that have no inconvenience of adoption
according to Islam for issues such as the existence, the unity of Allah that it
was not a form and that the soul was a spiritual matter.
Gazâlî emphasized the role of the human body in moral
life. Accordingly, the human was sent to this world for a test and the subject
of this test was definitely the spirit. But if the soul existed in isolation
from the body, there would be no evil spirit arouse from it. Yet, the test, or in
other words the moral life existed where the clash of good and evil existed. Thus,
in general the moral life was a result of the existence of spirit and body of
man. The spirit came from Allah and
would return to Him again in accordance with the view that was adopted in
Islamic philosophy and sufism and which was in fact based on Plato's philosophy
and also compatible with the teachings of the Koran. Allah created the
so-called qualities of power and freedom of choice in man. Man chose and did
his own deeds with this power and freedom.
Gazâlî was a sufi-philosopher who gave legitimacy to the movement by eliminating
the uncertainties of sufism and the life around it and therefore was effective in the development and spread of sufism.
He divided the Knowledge
of Allah which he accepted as the greatest
and most honorable sciences into the Allah's
essence, adjectives, and verbs, and stated that Koran included them to the
extent of the capacity of the human perception. He mentioned that the method of
the Koran was the best way to be benefited as well as giving place to the
classical hudûs evidence for the proof of the existence of Allah and using
logical arguments; he gave priority to the purpose and order argument stating
that there was no statement that could go beyond the statement of Allah.
MAIN WORKS:
el-Munkizu
min ed-dalâl (Narrates his own life story), el -Vas/f, el-Basit, el-Müstefa (about fiqh), el-Veciz (about fiqh system) Makasid ül felâsife,
Tahâfüt ül-felâsife (about philosophy), Mi'yar ül-ilm, Mihekk ün nazar (about
logic), Mizân ül-amel (about morality), el -İktisâd fi'l
itikâd, Faysal ül-tefrika beyne'l -islam ve'z-zendeka, Ilcâm ül-avâmm an ilm
il-kelam (about kalam), el-Mustazhiri (the work that he criticized the Bâtınîs),
er-Redd ül-cemil alâ sarih il-İncil (the work that he criticized the Christians), İhya ül-ulûm id-din
Bidayet ül-hidâye, Kitâb ül-erbain, Kimyâ yi sa'âdet, el-Maksad ül-esnâ,
Mişkâtül envâr er-risâlet ül-ledüniyye, Minhâc ül -âbidin (about sufism).
REFERENCE: : Hilmi Ziya Ülken / İslâm Felsefe ve İtikadının Garba Tesiri (1962), Büyük Larousse (c.7, s. 4430-4431, 1986), Ana Britannica (c. 9, s. 319-320, 1987), GH Alfabetik Genel Kültür Ansiklopedisi (c. 8, s. 1449, 1993), Mustafa Çağrıcı / Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi (c.13, s. 489-534, 1996), Büyük Türk Klasikleri (c. 3, s. 260, 2004), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (12. Cilt, 2017).