Al-Ghazālī

Al-Ghazali was a true intellectual colossus. Indeed, he may be regarded as the major Muslim intellectual of the Middle Ages. He belongs with Augustine and Aquinas. Between 1077 and 1085 al-Ghazali studied with the most celebrated theologian of the eastern Islamic world, al-Juwayni, who was based at Nishapur in eastern Iran. Al-Ghazali strives for a Sufism based on sober piety, a mingling of the teachings of Islamic law and the profound inner spirituality of the Sufis. There should be a natural harmony between Sufism and the Law. Al-Ghazali wrote a number of other works in Persian after his return home to Eastern Iran. According to al-Ghazali, all Muslims, in short, should observe the outward signs of the faith. Yet al-Ghazali is well aware that this is not sufficient without the direct, ecstatic contemplation of God in the divinely illuminated heart — the inner fire of Sufism.