Faith and reason according
to Al-ghazali
- Al-Ghazali introduces his
discussions in a manner reminiscent of Descartes. The `bonds of
mere authority’ ceased to hold him, as they ceased to hold the
father of modern European philosophy.
- Looking for `necessary’
truths al-Ghazali came, like Descartes, to doubt the infallibility
of sense-perception, and to rest his philosophy rather on
principles which are intuitively certain. With this in mind
al-Ghazali divided the various `seekers’ after truth into the four
distinct groups of Theologians, Philosophers, Authoritarians and
Mystics.
- (1) Scholastic theology had
already achieved a fair degree of elaboration in the defence of
Islamic orthodoxy, as a perusal of al-Irshad by
al-Juwayni, (translated into French), will show. Al-Ghazali had
been brought up in this tradition, and did not cease to be a
theologian when he became a mystic. His criticism of the
theologians is mild.
- He regards contemporary
theology as successful in attaining its aims, but inadequate to
meet his own special needs because it did not go far enough in the
elucidation of its assumptions. There was no radical change in his
theological views when he became a mystic, only a change in his
interests, and some of his earlier works in the field of dogmatics
are quoted with approval in al-Munqidh.
- (2) The Philosophers with
whom al-Ghazali was chiefly concerned were those he calls
`theistic’, above all, al-Farabi and Ibn Sina (Avicenna). Their
philosophy was a form of Neoplatonism, sufficiently adapted to
Islamic monotheism for them to claim to be Muslims.
- Though the part they played
in stimulating the medieval Christian scholastics is acknowledged,
the contribution of these men to the intellectual progress of
mankind as a whole has not yet been fully appreciated. To the great
body of Muslims, however, some of their positions were
unacceptable, because they tended to contradict principles
essential to the daily life of believing Muslims.
- The achievement of
al-Ghazali was to master their technique of thinking-mainly
Aristotelian logic-and then, making use of that, to refashion the
basis of Islamic theology, to incorporate as much of the
Neoplatonists’ teaching as was compatible with Islam, and to expose
the logical weakness of the rest of their philosophy.
- The fusion of Greek
philosophical techniques with Islamic dogma which had been partly
accomplished by al-Ash`ari was thus in essence completed, though
the working-out was left to al-Ghazali’s successors.
- Undoubtedly al-Ghazali
learnt much from these Neoplatonists, but the allegations that he
finally adopted some of their fundamental principles, which he had
earlier criticized, are to be denied, since they are based on works
falsely attributed to al-Ghazali.
- (3) Those whom al-Ghazali
calls the party of ta’lim or `authoritative instruction’
(also known as Isma`iliyah and Batiniyah) held that truth is to be
attained not by reason but by accepting the pronouncements of the
infallible Imam.
- The doctrine had an
important political reference since it was the official ideology of
a rival state, the Fatimid caliphate with center in Cairo, and thus
anyone who held it was suspect of being, at the least, a
‘fellow-traveller’.
- (4) There had been an
ascetic element in Islam from the time of Muhammad himself, and
this could easily be combined with orthodoxy. Sufism, however, was
usually something more than asceticism, and the strictly mystical
elements which it contained often led to heterodox
theology.
- From the Sufis or mystics
al-Ghazali received most help with his personal problems, yet he
could also criticize their extravagances, like the words of
al-Hallaj, `I am the Ultimate Reality’.
- Al-Ghazali was at great
pains to keep his mysticism in harmony with orthodox dogma and with
the performance of the common religious duties. When he became a
mystic he did not cease to be a good Muslim any more than he ceased
to be an Ash’arite theologian.
St. Augustine's ideas on this
subject:
- One question preoccupied
Augustine from the time he was a student in Carthage: why does evil
exist in the world? He returned to this question again and again in
his philosophy, a line of inquiry motivated by personal experience.
Augustine lived in an era when the pillar of strength and
stability, the Roman Empire, was being shattered, and his own life,
too, was filled with turmoil and loss. First he lost his mistress,
then his mother, and finally his son. To believe in God, he had to
find an answer to why, if God is all-powerful and also purely good,
he still allows suffering to exist.
- Augustine’s answers to this
question would forever change Western thought. First, he states
that evil exists because we have free will. God enables humans to
freely choose their actions and deeds, and evil inevitably results
from these choices.
- Even natural evils, such as
disease, are indirectly related to human action, since they become
evil only when in contact with people. According to this theory, a
disease spreads only because men and women put themselves in harm’s
way. Augustine gave a more theological explanation later in his
life: we cannot understand the mind of God, and what appears evil
to us may not be evil at all. In other words, we cannot judge God’s
judgment. The roots of both of these answers stemmed from two
philosophies, Manicheanism and Neoplatonism, which shaped
Augustine’s ideas.
FREE WILL AND
RESPONSIBILITY
- Before Augustine,
Manicheanism was extremely influential among early Christians.
Manicheanism was a cult that first arose in Roman North Africa,
begun by a Persian named Mani, who died around A.D.
276.
- This cult combined elements
of Christianity with elements of Zoroastrianism, the ancient
religion of Persia, or Iran. Mani taught that the universe was a
battlefield of two conflicting forces.
- On one side is God, who
represents light and goodness and who seeks to eliminate suffering.
Opposing him is Satan, who represents darkness and evil and is the
cause of misery and affliction.
- Human beings find
themselves caught in the middle of these two great forces.
According to Manicheanism, the human body, like all matter, is the
product of Satan and is inherently evil, whereas the soul is made
of light. The only escape from evil is to free the soul from the
body through the practices of asceticism and
meditation.
- Manicheanism taught that
Satan is solely responsible for all the evil in the world, and
humankind is free of all responsibility in bringing about evil and
misery.
- Augustine became a follower
of Manicheanism during his student days in Carthage, but he
ultimately broke with the Manicheans over the question of
responsibility for evil, since he believed that human beings are
capable of free will and are among the causes of suffering in the
world.
- This disagreement led him
to Neoplatonism, a system of philosophy developed by Plato’s
follower, Plotinus, that would prove to be the most influential in
his life and work.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BODY
AND THE SOUL
- Plato’s influence on
philosophy was widespread during the later Roman Empire, the time
in which Augustine lived. The philosopher Plotinus (a.d. 204–270),
in particular, was responsible for redefining and reshaping
Platonic philosophy into a cohesive system of thought called
Neoplatonism. To explain the presence of evil, Plotinus drew on
Plato’s distinction between the world of physical, tangible things
and a world of intangible ideas or Forms.
- Plato taught that the
physical world is changeable, perishable, and imperfect, in
contrast with world of ideas or Forms, which is constant, perfect,
and everlasting. Because the physical world is marked by change and
corruption, it is impossible to fully know it. True knowledge can
be achieved only by thinking about the eternal and perfect forms,
of which the tangible world is only a copy, just as a painting is
only an imitation of something real.
- The Neoplatonists used this
distinction between the physical and the ideal to explain the
relationship between the body and the soul. They taught that the
soul is perfect but trapped in an imperfect body. Because the body
belongs in the physical realm, it is the root of
evil.
- Thus, the soul seeks to
break free of the body so it can live true to its perfection, in
the realm of ideal forms. In Plotinus, Augustine found the
important idea that human beings are not a neutral battleground on
which either goodness or evil lays claim, as the Manicheans
believed.
- Rather, human beings are
the authors of their own suffering. Plotinus carried this line of
thought further than Augustine was willing to accept, asserting
that the body is unimportant in defining a human being and that
true human nature involves only the soul and has nothing to do with
the body.
- Augustine disagreed,
maintaining that human beings are both body and soul together. We
bring evil on ourselves because we actively choose corruptible
elements of the physical world rather than the eternal, perfect
forms, which are spiritual.
- Augustine argues that God does not
allow evil to exist so much as we choose it by our actions, deeds,
and words. Later, he came to the conclusion that it is impossible
for us to understand the mind of God, and therefore we cannot come
to a proper comprehension of why suffering exists.
THE POSSIBILITY OF
CERTITUDE
- A number of philosophers
before Augustine had argued that certainty is impossible and that
the best the human mind can hope to achieve is the conviction that
its conclusions are highly probable. Augustine disagreed with this
premise and sought to demonstrate philosophically that certitude is
in fact possible.
- His first argument is that
if we accept the possibility of our conclusions being probable,
we’ve already implicitly assumed that certainty exists, because
things can only be “probably” true if truth (in other words,
certainty) does in fact exist. If there is no truth, there is no
probability.
- Second, happiness is the
result of acquired wisdom, which all human beings desire. Thus, to
say wisdom cannot be attained is to say that happiness is
impossible—an unacceptable conclusion.
- Third, Augustine takes
issue with the idea that the senses cannot be trusted, and he does
not agree with his opponents that the mind is entirely dependent on
the senses.
- On the contrary, our senses
do seem reliable to a certain extent, and the mind can understand
things independently of the senses, so therefore it must be even
more reliable than the senses. Finally, Augustine points out that
our mental states are beyond doubt.