The New International Encyclopædia/Ghazali, Abu Hamid Mohammed ibn Mohammed al

GHAZALI, gȧ-zä'lḗ, Abu Hamid Mohammed ibn Mohammed al. A celebrated Arabian philosopher, born at Tus in Khorassan. He began his studies in his native town, and continued them at Nishapur. In 1091 he went to Bagdad, at that time a seat of Arabic learning, and became a teacher. His religious views, however, underwent a change, and in consequence he resigned his position after four years. He then made the pilgrimage to Mecca, traveled to Damascus and Jerusalem, and gradually came to adopt an ascetic life. In 1106 he returned to Tus, leaving it again at the solicitation of Mohammed ibn Malik Shah, to teach at Nishapur. He soon came back to Tus, and established a monastery for Sufites and a school for theological studies. Ghazali began with the Aristotelian system, but later turned against it in his Tahafut al-Falasifa (Destruction of Philosophers), a work which was answered by Averroës. His most important work was the Ikhya ulum ad-din (Restoration of Religious Sciences), in which he seeks to remove the dead formalism that had grown up in Islam, and to spiritualize it instead. An ethical work of Ghazali, Ayyuha l-walad (O Child), has been translated into German by Hammer-Purgstall (1838). Among his other works may be mentioned Al-munkidh min addalal, an account of his philosophy, translated into French by Barbier de Meynard in Journal Asiatique (Paris, 1877); Makasid al-falasifa (Tendencies of the Philosophers), of which two chapters were published by Beer (Leyden, 1888); Mizan al-amal, a work on morals, a Hebrew translation of which was published by Goldenthal (1839); and Ad-durrak al-fahira (The Costly Pearl), a work on Mohammedan eschatology (text and French translation by Gautier, Paris, 1878). Ghazali's unpublished works are numerous, and treat of such varied subjects as theology, ethics, jurisprudence, philosophy, and poetry. Consult Gosche, Ueber Ghazzali's Leben und Werke (Berlin, 1859).