What Are the Ethical Teachings of Al-Ghazali and How Important and Relevant Are They to Contemporary Muslims? Critically Discuss

What are the ethical teachings of al-Ghazali and how important and relevant are they to coetaneous Muslims? Critically discuss. Imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111) remains perhaps the most important religious authority in Islam later the first three generations of Muslims. The title, Proof of Islam, conferred upon him by the majority of Muslims, is a reflection of the complexity of his work, which allow ind jurisprudence, theology, philosophy, psychology, and mysticism.This essay will demonstrate how al-Ghazali synthesised concepts of tawheed (unity of God), islam (ritual worship, virtue, ilham (Godly inspiration) and tasawwuf (Sufism) in a broad ethical theory. His ethics, as illustrated in the Ihya Ulum id-Deen, can be applied by common Muslims, Muslim learners. More broadly, its implicationsspiritual, well-disposed, behavioural, and intellectualcan play a significant role in the ummas Islamic revival.Al-Ghazalis ethical vision was based on worlds attaining happiness, which is ultimat ely found in salvation in the next life (Hourani 1976, p. 77). The means by which he thought this was achieved best was through spiritual devotion rather than rationality. Al-Ghazali prioritises spirituality over intellectualism in kno(prenominal)ing what is right and wrong based on his trust of the soul as the humans most important component (Moosa 2005). The soul possesses reason, thus holds the effectiveness of knowing God and the capacity to know the realities of this world.As the rectangular soul is merged with the material body, the temporal blase form of a human is letd. The body is the vehicle through which the soul can achieve its potential of knowing God bodily senses become tools through which the soul achieves ethical behaviour. The body has faculties such as anger, appetites for food and drink, lust and greed. It is possible for the bodily faculties to smite the souls faculty of reason, a condition described in the Quran as the self that incites to evil (Quran 125 3).Conversely, reason can be used to control bodily faculties, and by doing this achieve the serene soul (Quran 8927). A third self is the middle one in the midst of the two, the admonitory self (Quran 752), which is in constant struggle with temptations of the evil self. The integrated divine and animal souls form the nafs, which is the humans true self or identity. The coexistence of soul and body is volatile the soul wishes to know God, while the body desires temporal sensory pleasure.The bifurcation of the human into these two opposing components indicates the necessity for a method of achieving equilibrium, for the solution to the struggle between the divine and animal forces is not a simple separation of soul and body, as this renders void the Creators lore in creating the worldly human. A more complex method assumes the human comprises another(prenominal) entities integral to the nafs. Here al-Ghazalis ethical theory assumes a spot of the human imparted by Sufis before him in addition to the soul and body, there is the ruh (spirit), qalb (spiritual bone marrow), and aql (intellect) (Moosa 2005, p. 24). The qalb is an abstract entity directly linked with the physical heart that contributes to the human experience, the faculties of perception, knowing, and spiritual experience (Moosa 2005, p. 225). The level of integration of the faculties of the qalb determines the success of the souls goal in knowing God. Thus, the qalbs condition is vital to the outcome of the souls voyage through this temporal life. Hourani (1976) describes Ghazalis ethical concern as right conduct and the purification of the soul by the individual . . (p. 1). To this end, the method of equilibrium that al-Ghazali promoted, the likes of Sufis after him, is tazkiyat al-qalb, or purification of the spiritual heart. Ameur (2009) notes three aspects of the process of purification good action virtues and acquaintance (p. 3). Good action refers to the following of ritual and socia l behaviour as prescribed by the shariah. Ghazalis categorises actions in a five-fold system fardh (commanded), sunnah (recommended), mubah (permitted), makruh (disapproved), or haram (forbidden).The significance of external acts lies in both their being rewarded as obedience, and their contribution to cultivation of virtues (Hourani 1976, p. 77). Good action cultivating virtues indicates a key agenda in Ghazalis ethics the restoration of balance between the external and the inward commonwealths of people (Murad 2002). He realised that this balance could be best pursued in the purification of the inward, which requires first the elimination of vices. Vices are spiritual ailments of the qalb and include harmful traits such anger, envy, lust, and riya (ostentation). They form impediments to spiritual progress.The method of removing these impediments is mujahada (Ameur 2009, p. 4) or what is commonly described by Sufis as jihad al-nafs (struggle against the self). Mujahada is a conc ept covering a broad array of exerts used in tasawwuf to purify the nafs including tafakkur (introspection) muraqaba (self-awareness) dhikr (meditation) and zuhd (asceticism). The previous two aspects of purification are not possible without knowledge. For al-Ghazali, knowledge is of two types (a) one that is learnt in tenets of faith and rules of Islamic law (b) one that is known through the qalb (Ameur 2009, p. ). The first type is all knowledge required to perform good action. This includes the basic tenets of faith, and worldly and religious activities including social dealings and private worship. The sources of these knowledges are in accordance with Ghazalis tradition-based approach to theology and jurisprudence the Quran, Sunnah, ijma (consensus of ulama), and qiyas (analogical deduction from the Sunnah). The second type of knowledge is abstract in nature as its locus is the qalb. This knowledge can be described as insight.One Prophetic tradition warns beware the firasa o f the believer, for he sees with the unused of God (Tirmidhi, cited in Gulen). This knowledge is a set of experiences, or insights, impressed upon the heart through good action and Godly relish. Such knowledge, Ameur (2009) states, is a disposition deeply rooted in the soul, from which actions flow naturally and easily without enquire of reflection or judgement (p. 4). This state is described in a hadith Qudsi reported in Sahih BukhariMy slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary working until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him (cited in Keller 1995). In this way a reciprocal relationship emerges between action, virtue and knowledge each reinforcing the other.The successful integration of them leads to the souls objective of knowledge of God. Here the veil of the humans limited sight is lifted the result is the realisation of truths (Gardener, p. 136). The culmination of Ghazalis ethical purification is wilaya (intimacy). For the wali (an intimate) of God, the inner and outer are harmonised in realising tawheed. Here, tawhid (the unity of God) is not merely knowledge of theological principles, but rather it is an inbuilt attribute, the product of repetitive good acts and strengthening of virtues (Ameur 2009, p. ). For al-Ghazali, like other Sufis, knowledge of tawheed signifies the ultimate ethical goal of attaining happiness, which is experiencing as the nafs al-mutmainna (the serene soul). The scope of al-Ghazalis ethical theory, incorporating shariah knowledge, theology, philosophy, and Sufism, ensure its relevance to modern-day Muslims is multifaceted. It holds special relevance to laymen, scholar and umma in general, as illsutrated in the title of the work that is a summary of Ghazalis ethics the Ihya Ulum id-Deen (Revival of the Religous Sciences)For the lay Muslim, al-Ghazalis tripartite system of purification provides a pragmatical guide to living Islam as a whole hence, the Ihya covers all activities falling under iman, islam, and ihsan (Ormsby 2008, pp. 111-119). It explains the relationship between ritual devotion, social dealings, belief, vices, and virtues. Nofal (1993) uses a particular(prenominal) example from the Ihya that shows the relevance of the latters ethics to contemporary Muslims in the area of childrens preparation. Al-Ghazali says about children thatThey must be trained to obey their parents, teachers and elders, and to transport well towards their classmates should be taught modesty, generosity and civility their tutors must devote attention to religious education (cited in Nofal 1993, p. 5). A noticeable lesson here for Muslim parents and educators is that education is no t limited to training the mind and filling it with information, but involves all aspectsintellectual, religious, moral and physicalof the personality of the learner (Nafal 1993, p. 5).More broadly, the raising of children described by al-Ghazali facilitates adab, or Islamic culture, which in light of the modern culture of individualism and selfishness, is vital for cultivating Islamic personality. The scholarly class also may benefit from al-Ghazalis Ihya. Ebrahim Moosa (2005) describes him as an exemplar for critical traditionalism (p. 264). His scholarly legacy vis-a-vis ethics, Moosa (2005) comments, is that revival of tradition entails fostering understanding of the ethical imperatives and practices in tradition (p. 278).This idea promotes judicial ethics over legal scientism, indicating the primacy of the implicit moral code of Quran and Sunnah over its text. In outlining this ethical system, al-Ghazali resuscitated the discursive sciences. The importance of his achievement i s soundless by reflection on his environment. To resuscitate the religious sciences, al-Ghazali effectively bridged the Arabicate and Persianate modes of thought prevalent at that time. Muslim scholars and students today, even moreso than al-Ghazali, face a quandary of multiple matrices of cultures and politics.Within Islamic thought, Saeed notes eight main trends (ref), which can be characterised as varieties of traditionalism, modernism, and fundamentalism. Al-Ghazalis approach to ethics could indeed be the bridge allowing crossing of ideas between the three main strands. Julia Day Howell (2001), commenting on Sufisms role in the Indonesian Islamic revival, says that as part of the broader revival, it has been subject to reinterpretations that have helped break slash distinctions between Traditionalists and Modernists (p. 710).Finally, the umma at large is also in need of the tasawwuf aspect of al-Ghazalis ethics. The vagueness of the term within modern society notwithstanding, historical Muslim communities understood its importance, as noted by ibn Kaldun, who says about tasawwuf This knowledge is a branch of the sciences of Sacred Law that originated within the Umma. From the first, the way of such people had also been considered the means of truth and guidance by the early Muslim community and its notables (cited in Keller 1993). Keller (1995) notes that for the early communities, tasawwuf signified ikhlas (sincerity).Ikhlas is a state of the qalb, and like other states of the qalb such as love, mercy, fear is obligatory for Muslims hoping for felicity in the afterlife. The Quran says a day when wealth will not avail, nor sons, but only him who brings Allah a sound heart (2688). Thus tasawwuf, Keller notes, is necessary for fully realising the Shariah in ones life, to attain the states of the heart demanded by the Quran and Sunnah. Al-Ghazalis ethics, as practical tasawwuf, becomes a means of addressing the spiritual aspect of religious life.The broade r implications of Ghazalis tasawwuf lie in negotiating the modern world. Murad (2002) notes that the failure of the Enlightenment paradigm, as invoked by the secular elites in the Muslim world, to deliver moral and efficient government and cultural guidance, indicates that the solution must be religious. To this end he suggests traditional Islam it is the middle course between two extreme responses fire by secularisation liberalism and fundamentalism. Moosa (2005) notes that one of the challenges to contemporary Muslim society is epistemicide, the destruction of a social-groups knowledge (p. 65). The need to stem this epistemicide surely cannot be done by zealots or modernist liberals as the former cannot relate its scripture to changing circumstances and the latter decide to convince its basic meanings. Here Ghazalis critical traditionalism may be utilised. Its moderate tradition-based ethics provides an antithesis to the contemporary positivist and scientist ethics of dos and d onts (Murad 2002). A recapitulation of the relevance of al-Ghazalis tasawwuf-laden ethics is that it may alienate many contemporary Muslims.The more advanced stages of his ethics involving knowledge of God are ungraspable for the non-initiated purifier. However, the beginning of his ethics, practice of daily rituals and pursing good character, remains accessible to all people. Therefore, in view of contemporary societys focus on materialism, and the lax attitude elicited by modernity towards religious life, al-Ghazalis tasawwuf-laden ethics, at various levels, provides a robust cognitive-behavioural ethical methodology that can facilitate religious living in contemporary society. In summary, al-Ghazalis ethics provides a successful method of attaining the serene soul.He framework of purification of the self involving action, virtue, and knowledge culminates in the state of wilaya wherein one witnesses realities of tawheed. The implications of his holistic ethics are daily applicati on in worldly and religious living, resuscitation and mediation of Islamic scholarship, and a tasawwuf-based spiritual revival of the umma. 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