Venerable Truth Seeker Imam Al-Ghazali (vegetarian): Renewer of Islamic Faith, Part 1 of 2

The philosopher and theologian Imam Al-Ghazali (vegetarian), or Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī al-Ghazālī in full, is one of the influential and highly revered figures to emerge from within the Muslim world. A towering scholar of immense insight, he is credited with re-orienting Islamic theology back toward an emphasis on Divine experience.

Imam Al-Ghazali was responsible for authoring several highly esteemed philosophically and spiritually inspired books during his lifetime. Some of his most notable books include “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” and its companion piece, “The Aims of Philosophers,” “The Criterion of Distinction Between Islam and Clandestine Unbelief,” and what is widely considered to be his most important piece of writing to Islam, “The Revival of Religious Sciences.”

Imam Al-Ghazali was of Persian descent. By the time Al-Ghazali completed his formal studies, he had already earned a reputation as a most brilliant young scholar. After his beloved mentor passed away, the 33-year-old Al-Ghazali was invited by the Grand Vizier Nizam al-Mulk to the court of the Great Seljuk sultan, Amir al-Mu'minin Malik-shâh I. Nizam al-Mulk conferred upon him the honorific titles of “Brilliance of the Religion” and “Eminence Among the Religious Leaders.” Al-Ghazali was then duly appointed to the “most prestigious and most challenging” position of principal professorial of Baghdad’s Niẓāmiyyah College in the year 1091. His earned status afforded him the confidence of the sultan, as well as great influence within the clerical hierarchy of the Islamic Kingdom.

In Al-Ghazali’s autobiography, “Deliverance from Error,” which he wrote towards the end of his life, he speaks of his quest for absolute truth, which he felt was always with him. “From my early youth, since I attained the age of puberty before I was 20, until the present time when I am over 50, I have recklessly launched out into the midst of these ocean depths, I have ever bravely embarked on this open sea, throwing aside all craven caution; I have poked into every dark recess, I have made an assault on every problem, I have plunged into every abyss, I have scrutinized the creed of every sect, I have tried to lay bare the inmost doctrines of every community. All this have I done that I might distinguish between true and false, between sound tradition and heretical innovation.”

He understood that serving the immoral sultans, viziers, and caliphs was incompatible with living a morally upright religious life. Profiting from the wealth of those political elite would suggest cooperation in their harsh and corrupt reign, which would harm one’s chances of being purified and enlightened. He explained: “It had already become clear to me that I had no hope of bliss of the world to come, save through a God-fearing life and the withdrawal of myself from vain desire. It was clear to me too that the key to all this was to sever the attachment of the heart to worldly things by leaving the mansion of deception and returning to that of eternity, and to advance towards God most high with all earnestness...”