192.
Thoughts of Al-Ghazali. Part one
Ghazali( born 1058 A.D.) was a mystic philosopher, like
Saint Augustine ( born 354 A.D.). One is struck by his questioning mind. We are
fortunate that he wrote an account of some of his thoughts. Although he wrote many
books, some encyclopedic, but I am concerned only with his spiritual
autobiography ‘al-Munqidh min al-Dalal’(‘Deliverance from Error’) (1). Why? Because
it is an autobiography, and I try to write almost exclusively from
autobiographies or from biographies written by mystic’s contemporaries, because
mystics don’t lie. St. Augustine wrote his autobiography (‘Confessions’) in
fourth century. There is a gap of seven centuries, till Ghazali and Daata Gunj Bakhash
( born 1010 A.D.)(2) wrote their respective autobiographies in 11th century.
In the beginning of his book Ghazali states that he was born
with an inquisitive and questioning mind. He questioned the assumption that the
religion that he practiced___Islam, was the only true religion. Why
did he question this general belief? Because he made the observation that the
children follow their parent’s religion. Infants born to Christian parents
become Christians, and the children born to Jews, as they grow up, embrace
Judaism, and babies born to Muslim parents stick to Islam. Therefore, he
argued, that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism were not inherently superior to
one another; rather it all depended upon blind chance____ where one was born and brought up, factors beyond
one’s control.
He also came upon a hadith (saying of Holy ProphetPBUH ) that “each
infant is born with a natural fitra ( inclination)” (Towards a
particular religion? ). Then probably his parents make him Muslim, Christian or
Jew ( this mote’s addition). What is this mysterious fitra? From where
did it originate? And most crucially why is it different from one another in
infants born to different religious parentage? Ghazali never discusses it in
his autobiography.
Two points must be mentioned here by this mote. Almost nine
hundred years had to pass before DNA was discovered. An infant’s genes (made of
DNA and they determine one’s hereditary traits) are derived from his parents;
half from his father and half from his mother. Ghazali had no way of knowing
it. This is the mysterious fitra, derived from one’s parents.
Second point is that almost all modern Muslim scholars now believe
that everybody is born as Muslim: whether his parents were Hindus, Christian,
Jews or atheists, whether he was born in Alaska, Europe or Russia, and whether
he was born recently or three thousand years ago___ before the Holy
Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Thus, everybody has a Muslim fitra.
At any rate, Ghazali decided to find out that how much of
religion was based upon blindly following parents and teachers , and how much
on other factors ( inherent superiority of one religion over others, fitra,
etc)
Since from the same primary observation Ghazali also
realized that the truth (I am using truth as a loose term, what I mean
is the path chosen by God) of a religion cannot be ascertained from the
arguments, logic and practices of various religions, because every person
accepts those arguments which support that person’s particular religion (he/she
is conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs) and rejects those which support another religion.
There is an inherent appeal to followers of one religion with a practice or
belief, whereas the same practice is abhorrent to the votaries of another
religion. For instance, according to Muslims, to worship a statue of a diety/god
(idolatry) is the highest sin that a human can commit (making a statue equal to God ), but this worship is
carried out by over one billion Hindus.
Therefore, Ghazali realized that he cannot just be content
with Revealed knowledge (revealed by God and stored in religious scriptures)
but will have to search other sources of knowledge. He came upon three main
sources and several minor sources:
(1)
Sense-data. Nowadays we
would have called it Science
(2)
Philosophy
(3)
Sufism
Sense-data .All knowledge in the world
(except revealed knowledge) is received through senses. One sees one’s mother’s
face, sun, bird, flower, and water, indeed everything by one’s eyes. One hears
ticking of clock, song, voice of a friend, indeed everything through one’s
ears. Same is true for taste, smell and touch; there are sensory organs for
them. What if the information provided by senses is wrong, then the knowledge
would be wrong. Can it happen? Ghazali thought about it. He made a protracted
effort to doubt sense-data. He took the example of stars. They look small like
a dinar (a coin) but there were clear geometrical proofs that they were bigger
than the earth. Our senses led us astray. One could furnish similar examples
about all senses.
However
there was another kind of data; self-evident truths. An example of self-evident
truth would be that ten is bigger than three. If a man converts stone into gold
and a stick into snake, in front of us, but proclaims that three is bigger than
ten, we would not believe him, despite his miracle.
Ghazali
doubted sense-data but he could not doubt rational data of self-evident
truth. One day his mind spoke up, “what assurances
have you that your reliance on rational data is not like your reliance on sense-data?.....”
“Don’t
you see that when you are asleep you believe certain things and imagine certain
circumstances and believe they are fixed and lasting and entertain no doubt
about their status? Then you wake up and know all your imagining and beliefs
were groundless and unsubstantial”
To
be continued
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
(1)
‘AL-Ghazali’s path to
Sufism, his deliverance from error’. “Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal”. Translated from
the Arabic by Mccarthy. Prefaced by Burrell. Introduction by Graham
(2)
‘Kashaful- Mehjoob’ by
Daata Gunj Bakhash
192.
Thoughts of Al-Ghazali. Part one
Ghazali( born 1058 A.D.) was a mystic philosopher, like
Saint Augustine ( born 354 A.D.). One is struck by his questioning mind. We are
fortunate that he wrote an account of some of his thoughts. Although he wrote many
books, some encyclopedic, but I am concerned only with his spiritual
autobiography ‘al-Munqidh min al-Dalal’(‘Deliverance from Error’) (1). Why? Because
it is an autobiography, and I try to write almost exclusively from
autobiographies or from biographies written by mystic’s contemporaries, because
mystics don’t lie. St. Augustine wrote his autobiography (‘Confessions’) in
fourth century. There is a gap of seven centuries, till Ghazali and Daata Gunj Bakhash
( born 1010 A.D.)(2) wrote their respective autobiographies in 11th century.
In the beginning of his book Ghazali states that he was born
with an inquisitive and questioning mind. He questioned the assumption that the
religion that he practiced___Islam, was the only true religion. Why
did he question this general belief? Because he made the observation that the
children follow their parent’s religion. Infants born to Christian parents
become Christians, and the children born to Jews, as they grow up, embrace
Judaism, and babies born to Muslim parents stick to Islam. Therefore, he
argued, that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism were not inherently superior to
one another; rather it all depended upon blind chance____ where one was born and brought up, factors beyond
one’s control.
He also came upon a hadith (saying of Holy ProphetPBUH ) that “each
infant is born with a natural fitra ( inclination)” (Towards a
particular religion? ). Then probably his parents make him Muslim, Christian or
Jew ( this mote’s addition). What is this mysterious fitra? From where
did it originate? And most crucially why is it different from one another in
infants born to different religious parentage? Ghazali never discusses it in
his autobiography.
Two points must be mentioned here by this mote. Almost nine
hundred years had to pass before DNA was discovered. An infant’s genes (made of
DNA and they determine one’s hereditary traits) are derived from his parents;
half from his father and half from his mother. Ghazali had no way of knowing
it. This is the mysterious fitra, derived from one’s parents.
Second point is that almost all modern Muslim scholars now believe
that everybody is born as Muslim: whether his parents were Hindus, Christian,
Jews or atheists, whether he was born in Alaska, Europe or Russia, and whether
he was born recently or three thousand years ago___ before the Holy
Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Thus, everybody has a Muslim fitra.
At any rate, Ghazali decided to find out that how much of
religion was based upon blindly following parents and teachers , and how much
on other factors ( inherent superiority of one religion over others, fitra,
etc)
Since from the same primary observation Ghazali also
realized that the truth (I am using truth as a loose term, what I mean
is the path chosen by God) of a religion cannot be ascertained from the
arguments, logic and practices of various religions, because every person
accepts those arguments which support that person’s particular religion (he/she
is conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs) and rejects those which support another religion.
There is an inherent appeal to followers of one religion with a practice or
belief, whereas the same practice is abhorrent to the votaries of another
religion. For instance, according to Muslims, to worship a statue of a diety/god
(idolatry) is the highest sin that a human can commit (making a statue equal to God ), but this worship is
carried out by over one billion Hindus.
Therefore, Ghazali realized that he cannot just be content
with Revealed knowledge (revealed by God and stored in religious scriptures)
but will have to search other sources of knowledge. He came upon three main
sources and several minor sources:
(1)
Sense-data. Nowadays we
would have called it Science
(2)
Philosophy
(3)
Sufism
Sense-data .All knowledge in the world
(except revealed knowledge) is received through senses. One sees one’s mother’s
face, sun, bird, flower, and water, indeed everything by one’s eyes. One hears
ticking of clock, song, voice of a friend, indeed everything through one’s
ears. Same is true for taste, smell and touch; there are sensory organs for
them. What if the information provided by senses is wrong, then the knowledge
would be wrong. Can it happen? Ghazali thought about it. He made a protracted
effort to doubt sense-data. He took the example of stars. They look small like
a dinar (a coin) but there were clear geometrical proofs that they were bigger
than the earth. Our senses led us astray. One could furnish similar examples
about all senses.
However
there was another kind of data; self-evident truths. An example of self-evident
truth would be that ten is bigger than three. If a man converts stone into gold
and a stick into snake, in front of us, but proclaims that three is bigger than
ten, we would not believe him, despite his miracle.
Ghazali
doubted sense-data but he could not doubt rational data of self-evident
truth. One day his mind spoke up, “what assurances
have you that your reliance on rational data is not like your reliance on sense-data?.....”
“Don’t
you see that when you are asleep you believe certain things and imagine certain
circumstances and believe they are fixed and lasting and entertain no doubt
about their status? Then you wake up and know all your imagining and beliefs
were groundless and unsubstantial”
To
be continued
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
(1)
‘AL-Ghazali’s path to
Sufism, his deliverance from error’. “Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal”. Translated from
the Arabic by Mccarthy. Prefaced by Burrell. Introduction by Graham
(2)
‘Kashaful- Mehjoob’ by
Daata Gunj Bakhash
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