Abu Hamed Mohammad Ben Mohammad Ben Ahmad Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
Abu Hamed Mohammad Ben Mohammad Ben Ahmad Ghazali, (1058-19 December 1111), scholar, philosopher, orator, jurist, is one of the greatest mystics of Islam who in Iran and in the city of Tus widened his vision of the world. His life has had very different periods. Ghazāli's influential personality and beliefs have always been the cause of conflicting opinions and there are many different points of view about him. His views led to a great change in many Muslims, both among the common people and among the literati. This influence was such that even today there is much discussion about him and his books. Many written works of Ghazāli remain among which the most important and influential is the book "Tahāfut al Falāsifa" (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) in which he goes against philosophy, philosophical beliefs and methods and “Iyhā olum-e al-din” (Revivification of the religious sciences) found in the section of Sufism and ethics of writing. Ghazāli made a synthesis of this book in the last period of his life which is known as “Kimyā-ye sa'ādat” (The Alchemy of Happiness). Orientalists and writers such as McDonald, Ignaz Goldziher, Louis Massignon, Asin Palacios, Montgomery Watt, Maurice Bouyges, Michel Allard and Abdel Rahman Badawi have researched his publications; in the book “Mualefāt Al-Ghazāli”, (The compositions of Ghazāli), a work by Abdel Rahman Badawi which was published in 1960, 457 important volumes and others attributed to Ghazāli are mentioned, of which 72 are certainly his. Ghazāli's works can be divided into five periods of his life:
1. The works of the learning years
2. Those of the first period of teaching and argumentation
3. Those of the period of isolation and removal from society
4. The return to society and the second period of teaching and argumentation
5. The last years of life
The burial place of Ghazāli is located at Tābarān Tus in Iran.
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