Abu-Hamid Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)

Early life
Al-Ghazali was born in Tus, near Meshed in North East Iran in 1058CE. He began his education in
Tus, however his father died while he and his brother Ahmad were still boys. His father had left
money with a Sufi friend to provide for the education of his sons.
In 1074CE Al-Ghazali travelled to Gurgan on the Caspian sea to continue his education. Tradition
tells that he was robbed along the way, losing all his money and books. This experience prompted
him to commit to memory all that he had learned.
Al-Juwayyi
In 1077CE he went to the prestigious Nizamiyya college to study under the esteemed scholar AlJuwayyi. His primary studies were in jurisprudence as well as Ash'arite theology. It is likely that he
was also encouraged to read the works of philosophers such as Al-Fabari and Avicenna although
he would have had to have done this privately because Hellenism was considered as a threat to
Islam and it was not considered wise for a Muslim student to study Greek philosophy.
Teaching reputation
Near the end of his studies in 1085CE Al-Ghazali began to teach and developed a reputation as a
promising scholar. After the death of al-Juwayyi in August of 1085CE, Al-Ghazali went to the court
of the great Vizier Nizam-al-mulk. He remained there until 1091CE when he was appointed
Professor at the Nizamiyya college in Baghdad, one of the most prestigious positions in the Sunni
Islamic world.
Four years later, in 1095CE, Al-Ghazali abandoned his professorship in Baghdad after suffering
what may have been a breakdown or some serious psychological disturbance. He experienced illhealth and some sort of spiritual crisis perhaps to do with the realisation of his own morality and
his need to grow and learn both intellectually and spiritually. He left and sought to live the life of a
Sufi in order to seek the ultimate truth, the ultimate, personal, mystical experience.
Left Baghdad
He experienced a period of scepticism and left Baghdad in November of 1095CE saying that he
was going to make the pilgrimage to Makkah. Instead he went to Damascus and began to live the
life of a Sufi for some months. During this time he also wrote books and taught his followers. He
then completed the pilgrimage before returning to Baghdad in June 1097CE. He then returned to
Tus, his home town.
In Tus he established a community (khanqah) where young men came and joined him in the Sufi
life. While some suggested that Al-Ghazali's embracing of Sufism had political motivation, it
nevertheless appears to have been a genuine conversion.
Nishapur
Near the end of 1105CE Al-Ghazali responded to the requests of some influential Muslims to take
up the professorship at the Nizamiyya college in Nishapur. This urging seems to have been in the
light of a belief that at the beginning of each century, Allah would send a "Mujaddid" (renewer of the
religion). With the sixth century of the Islamic calendar beginning on September 2nd 1106CE, AlGhazali was acclaimed as the "Mujaddid".
He began his teaching at Nishapur in mid 1106CE and remained there until 1109CE when he
retired to Tus. He died on December 18th 1111CE.
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