The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 63

The philosophical systems, in spite of their number and variety, may be reduced to three: (1) The Materialists; (2) The Naturalists; (3) The Theists.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 179

As to the fourth cause of the spread of unbelief—the decay of faith owing to the bad example set by learned men—there are three ways of checking it.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 197

Selections from the Philosophy of Chuang Tzŭ. With Introduction by LIONEL GILES, M.A. (Oxon.), Assistant at the British Museum. 2/- net.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 1

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The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 144

From the time that they set out on this path, revelations commence for them. They come to see in the waking state angels and souls of prophets; they hear their voices and wise counsels. By means of this contemplation of heavenly forms and images they rise by degrees to heights which human language cannot reach, which one cannot even indicate without falling into great and inevitable errors. The degree of proximity to Deity which they attain is regarded by some as intermixture of being (_haloul_), by others as identification (_ittihād_), by others as intimate union (_wasl_). But all these expressions are wrong, as we have explained in our work entitled _The Chief Aim_. Those who have reached that stage should confine themselves to repeating the verse—

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 135

Not one of them could admit that this sacrifice had a religious motive, because they considered my position as the highest attainable in the religious community. “Behold how far their knowledge goes!” (_Koran_, liii. 31). All kinds of explanations of my conduct were forthcoming. Those who were outside the limits of Irak attributed it to the fear with which the Government inspired me.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 106

The skilled coin-assayer plunges without hesitation his hand into the purse of the coiner of false money, and, relying on experience, separates good coins from bad. It is the ignorant rustic, and not the experienced assayer, who will ask why we should have anything to do with a false coiner. The unskilled swimmer must be kept away from the seashore, not the expert in diving. The child, not the charmer, must be forbidden to handle serpents.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 76

It is possible to be entirely ignorant of metaphysics, and yet to be an excellent grammarian. There are past masters in every science who are entirely ignorant of other branches of knowledge. The arguments of the ancient philosophers are rigidly demonstrative in mathematics and only conjectural in religious questions.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 80

It is therefore a great injury to religion to suppose that the defence of Islam involves the condemnation of the exact sciences. The religious law contains nothing which approves them or condemns them, and in their turn they make no attack on religion.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 87

(3) _Physics._ The object of this science is the study of the bodies which compose the universe: the sky and the stars, and, here below, simple elements such as air, earth, water, fire, and compound bodies—animals, plants and minerals; the reasons of their changes, developments, and intermixture. By the nature of its researches it is closely connected with the study of medicine, the object of which is the human body, its principal and secondary organs, and the law which governs their changes.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 51

God then raised up a school of theologians and inspired them with the desire to defend orthodoxy by means of a system of proofs adapted to unveil the devices of the heretics and to foil the attacks which they made on the doctrines established by tradition.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 131

Thus I remained, torn asunder by the opposite forces of earthly passions and religious aspirations, for about six months from the month Rajab of the year A.D. 1096. At the close of them my will yielded and I gave myself up to destiny. God caused an impediment to chain my tongue and prevented me from lecturing. Vainly I desired, in the interest of my pupils, to go on with my teaching, but my mouth became dumb. The silence to which I was condemned cast me into a violent despair; my stomach became weak; I lost all appetite; I could neither swallow a morsel of bread nor drink a drop of water.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 190

Brahma-Knowledge: An Outline of the Philosophy of the Vedānta

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 25

Sufism has no secrets into which I have not penetrated; the devout adorer of Deity has revealed to me the aim of his austerities; the atheist has not been able to conceal from me the real reason of his unbelief. The thirst for knowledge was innate in me from an early age; it was like a second nature implanted by God, without any will on my part. No sooner had I emerged from boyhood than I had already broken the fetters of tradition and freed myself from hereditary beliefs.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 113

Every word proceeding from an authority which they approve is accepted by them, even were it false; every word proceeding from one whom they suspect is rejected, even were it true. In every case they judge of the truth according to its professors and not of men according to the truth which they profess, a _ne plus ultra_ of error. Such is the peril in which philosophy involves its opponents.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 148

But even when we are deprived of the advantage of their society, we can comprehend the possibility of this state (revelation by means of ecstasy) by a chain of manifest proofs. We have explained this in the treatise entitled _Marvels of the Heart_, which forms part of our work, _The Revival of the Religious Sciences_. The certitude derived from proofs is called “knowledge”; passing into the state we describe is called “transport”; believing the experience of others and oral transmission is “faith.” Such are the three degrees of knowledge, as it is written, “The Lord will raise to different ranks those among you who have believed and those who have received knowledge from Him” (_Koran_, lviii. 12).

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 168

When we have verified these sayings in experience thousands of times, we shall be in possession of a certitude on which doubt can obtain no hold. Such is the path we must traverse in order to realise the truth of inspiration.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 115

Thus, by insensible degrees, we are led astray. In view of this danger the reading of philosophic writings so full of vain and delusive utopias should be forbidden, just as the slippery banks of a river are forbidden to one who knows not how to swim. The perusal of these false teachings must be prevented just as one prevents children from touching serpents.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 91

(1) Bodies do not rise again; spirits alone will be rewarded or punished; future punishments will be therefore spiritual and not physical. They are right in admitting spiritual punishments, for there will be such; but they are wrong in rejecting physical punishments, and contradicting in this manner the assertions of the Divine Law.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 13

III. The Sufis, who claim an immediate intuition, and who perceive the real manifestation of truth as common men perceive material phenomena.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 74

The first is this: Whoever studies this science admires the subtlety and clearness of its proofs. His confidence in philosophy increases, and he thinks that all its departments are capable of the same clearness and solidity of proof as mathematics. But when he hears people speak of the unbelief and impiety of mathematicians, of their professed disregard for the Divine Law, which is notorious, it is true that, out of regard for authority, he echoes these accusations, but he says to himself at the same time that, if there was truth in religion, it would not have escaped those who have displayed so much keenness of intellect in the study of mathematics.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 85

Logicians demand in reasoning certain conditions which lead to absolute certainty, but when they touch on religious questions, they can no longer postulate these conditions, and ought therefore to relax their habitual rigour.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 84

It may be asked, What, then, this has to do with the grave questions of religion, and on what ground opposition should be offered to the methods of logic? The objector, it will be said, can only inspire the logician with an unfavourable opinion of the intelligence and faith of his adversary, since the latter’s faith seems to be based upon such objections. But, it must be admitted, logic is liable to abuse.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 153

Man arrives at this knowledge by the aid of his perceptions; each of his senses is given him that he may comprehend the world of created things, and by the term “world” we understand the different species of creatures. The first sense revealed to man is touch, by means of which he perceives a certain group of qualities—heat, cold, moist, dry. The sense of touch does not perceive colours and forms, which are for it as though they did not exist. Next comes the sense of sight, which makes him acquainted with colours and forms; that is to say, with that which occupies the highest rank in the world of sensation. The sense of hearing succeeds, and then the senses of smell and taste.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 160

Now, if one can perceive certain things when one is in full possession of these faculties, how much more is their perception impossible when these faculties are suspended.”

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 93

(3) They maintain that the universe exists from all eternity and will never end.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 208

By RABBI BACHYE. Translated from the Hebrew with Introduction by EDWIN COLLINS, Hollier Hebrew Scholar, U.C.L. 1/- net.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 150

Among the number of convictions which I owe to the practice of the Sufi rule is the knowledge of the true nature of inspiration. This knowledge is of such great importance that I proceed to expound it in detail.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 201

Translated from the Aramaic with an Introduction by EDWIN COLLINS. 1/- net.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 110

How many verses of the Koran and traditions of the prophets and Sufi discourses and maxims of sages we must close our ears to because the author of the _Treatise of the Brothers of Purity_ has inserted them in his writings in order to further his cause, and in order to lead minds gradually astray in the paths of error! The consequence of this procedure would be that impostors would snatch truths out of our hands in order to embellish their own works.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 126

Coming seriously to consider my state, I found myself bound down on all sides by these trammels. Examining my actions, the most fair-seeming of which were my lecturing and professorial occupations, I found to my surprise that I was engrossed in several studies of little value, and profitless as regards my salvation. I probed the motives of my teaching and found that, in place of being sincerely consecrated to God, it was only actuated by a vain desire of honour and reputation.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 133

Finally, conscious of my weakness and the prostration of my soul, I took refuge in God as a man at the end of himself and without resources. “He who hears the wretched when they cry” (_Koran_, xxvii. 63) deigned to hear me; He made easy to me the sacrifice of honours, wealth, and family.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 195

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The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 35

A thing cannot both be created and also existent from eternity, living and annihilated simultaneously, at once necessary and impossible.’” To this the notions I derived from my senses made the following objections: “Who can guarantee you that you can trust to the evidence of reason more than to that of the senses? You believed in our testimony till it was contradicted by the verdict of reason, otherwise you would have continued to believe it to this day.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 184

I pray God the Omnipotent to place us in the ranks of His chosen, among the number of those whom He directs in the path of safety, in whom He inspires fervour lest they forget Him; whom He cleanses from all defilement, that nothing may remain in them except Himself; yea, of those whom He indwells completely, that they may adore none beside Him.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 47

III. The Sufis, who call themselves the elect of God and possessors of intuition and knowledge of the truth by means of ecstasy.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 31

I then examined what knowledge I possessed, and discovered that in none of it, with the exception of sense-perceptions and necessary principles, did I enjoy that degree of certitude which I have just described. I then sadly reflected as follows: “We cannot hope to find truth except in matters which carry their evidence in themselves—that is to say, in sense-perceptions and necessary principles; we must therefore establish these on a firm basis. Is my absolute confidence in sense-perceptions and on the infallibility of necessary principles analogous to the confidence which I formerly possessed in matters believed on the authority of others? Is it only analogous to the reliance most people place on their organs of vision, or is it rigorously true without admixture of illusion or doubt?”

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 104

But a liberal spirit will take as its guide this maxim of the Prince of believers, Ali the son of Abu Talib: “Do not seek for the truth by means of men; find first the truth and then you will recognise those who follow it.” This is the procedure followed by a wise man.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 128

In the morning I was sincerely resolved only to occupy myself with the future life; in the evening a crowd of carnal thoughts assailed and dispersed my resolutions. On the one side the world kept me bound to my post in the chains of covetousness, on the other side the voice of religion cried to me, “Up! Up! thy life is nearing its end, and thou hast a long journey to make. All thy pretended knowledge is nought but falsehood and fantasy.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 10

After describing the difficulty with which he escaped from an almost Pyrrhonic scepticism, “not by systematic reasoning and accumulation of proofs, but by a flash of light which God sent into my soul,” he reviews the various sects whom he encountered in his search for truth.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 186

THE HON. ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE ORIENT LIBRARY (WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES)

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 129

If thou dost not think now of thy salvation, when wilt thou think of it? If thou dost not break thy chains to-day, when wilt thou break them?” Then my resolve was strengthened, I wished to give up all and flee; but the Tempter, returning to the attack, said, “You are suffering from a transitory feeling; don’t give way to it, for it will soon pass.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 94

None of these propositions have ever been admitted by Moslems.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 12

II. The philosophers, who call themselves masters of Logic and Demonstration.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 136

Those who were on the spot and saw how the authorities wished to detain me, their displeasure at my resolution and my refusal of their request, said to themselves, “It is a calamity which one can only impute to a fate which has befallen the Faithful and Learning!”

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 57

I proceeded from the study of scholastic theology to that of philosophy. It was plain to me that, in order to discover where the professors of any branch of knowledge have erred, one must make a profound study of that science; must equal, nay surpass, those who know most of it, so as to penetrate into secrets of it unknown to them. Only by this method can they be completely answered, and of this method I can find no trace in the theologians of Islam.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 209

_All literary communications to be addressed to the Editors of_

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 18

Glory be to God, Whose praise should precede every writing and every speech! May the blessings of God rest on Muhammed His Prophet and His Apostle, on his family and companions, by whose guidance error is escaped!

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 101

The danger for their opponent is serious. A narrow-minded man, finding in their writings moral philosophy mixed with unsupported theories, believes that he ought to entirely reject them and to condemn those who profess them. Having only heard them from their mouth he does not hesitate in his ignorance to declare them false because those who teach them are in error.

The Confessions of Al Ghazzali, passage 28

In such a case it is necessary that the mind, fortified against all possibility of going astray, should embrace such a strong conviction that, if, for example, any one possessing the power of changing a stone into gold, or a stick into a serpent, should seek to shake the bases of this certitude, it would remain firm and immovable.