Al-Ghazālī and Rasā'il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā': Their Influence on His Thought

278 Pages·2016·1.71 MB·English

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Title
Al-Ghazālī and Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’: Their Influence on His Thought
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https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2tt514vw
Author
OZKAN, ABDULLAH
Publication Date
2016

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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Al-Ghazālī and Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’:
Their Influence on His Thought

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy
in Islamic Studies

by

Abdullah Ozkan

2016
© Copyright by
Abdullah Ozkan
2016
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Al-Ghazālī and Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’:
Their Influence on His Thought

by

Abdullah Ozkan
Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Studies
University of California, Los Angeles, 2016
Professor Khaled M. Abou El Fadl, Chair

In his Munqidh, al-Ghazālī states that there were four classes of seekers of truth at his
time: the theologians, the followers of the doctrine of Ta‘līm, the philosophers, and the Sufis.
He depicts himself here as a Sufi who denounces the others, especially philosophy. This
image of al-Ghazālī became the major perception of him from the beginning. But this
perception changed completely in the twentieth century. The most recent scholarship
challenges this image and views him as a kind of scholar who was heavily influenced by
philosophy and disseminated its teachings in disguise. However, the concentration is given
mostly to the philosophy of Ibn Sīnāwhile searching the source of this influence. While not
denying the influence of Ibn Sīnā, this study argues that Rasā’il Ikhwān Ṣafā’ must be taken
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seriously as a major source of philosophical influence on al-Ghazālī’s thought despite the
negative remarks he makes about them. It tries to prove its argument first by situating al-
Ghazālī’s negative remarks in the political and social conditions of his time and second by
comparing his works, especially his Mishkāt al-Anwār, with Rasā’il. For its purpose, this
study considers al-Ghazālī as a philosopher whose main concern was to direct the attention of
his readers to their inner states and the behaviors resulting from them. This concern led him to
search for and develop an ethical theology in which the theory of the soul and its purification
played a role of utmost importance. The study shows that during his search, al-Ghazālī found
the essential ingredients of this theology in the work of Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’, gave it a new form,
and put it on the market with a new name, “the Science of the Hereafter” (‘ilm al-akhirah)
with its two subdivisions: the science of practice (‘ilm al-mu‘āmalah) and the science of
unveiling (‘ilm al-mukashafah).

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The dissertation of Abdullah Ozkan is approved.
Calvin Normore
Michael Cooperson
Asma Sayeed
Khaled M. Abou El Fadl, Committee Chair

University of California, Los Angeles
2016

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ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................................ ii
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... vii
VITA/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .............................................................................................................. ix
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER I .............................................................................................................................................. 19
THE CHANGE OF PERCEPTIONS: AL-GHAZĀLĪ AND ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY ........................................ 19
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 19
1.2 Al-Ghazālī as the Cause of the End of Islamic Philosophy ....................................................... 20
1.3 Encounter with The Niche of Lights and “the Ghazālī Problem” ............................................. 33
1.4 Denying the Text: Debating the Authenticity of the Philosophical Content ........................... 41
1.5 The Objective of The Incoherence of Philosophers .................................................................. 46
1.6 New Analyses of the Seventeenth Discussion ......................................................................... 55
1.7 Al-Ghazālī between the Ash‘arite Theology and the Philosophy of Ibn Sīnā .......................... 70
1.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 78
CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................................................. 81
CONCEALED CONNECTION: AL-GHAZĀLĪ’S RELATION WITH RASĀ’IL IKHWĀN AL-ṢAFĀ’ ................. 81
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 81
2.2 The Problem of Hostility towards Philosophy in Islam ............................................................ 82
2.3 al-Ghazālī’s Reliance on the Philosophy of Ibn Sīnā ................................................................ 89
2.4 Ibn Sīnā and Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ ........................................................................................ 93
2. 5 Ismā‘īlism during the Era ...................................................................................................... 100
2. 6 The Perception of Ismā‘īlism During the Era ........................................................................ 107
2. 7 Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ and Ismā‘īlism .................................................................................. 115
2.8 The Nishapur Controversy ..................................................................................................... 119
2.9 Deliverer from Error as an Indirect Response to the Allegations of the Controversy ........... 131
2.10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 138
CHAPTER III .......................................................................................................................................... 141
AL-GHAZĀLĪ’S SCIENCE OF THE HEREAFTER AND ITS IKHWĀNIAN FOUNDATIONS ........................ 141
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 141
3.2 Politics of Baghdad During al-Ghazālī’s Stay There ............................................................... 144
3.3 Doubts on al-Ghazālī’s Narration of his Departure from Baghdad ....................................... 150
3.4 Al-Ghazālī’s Acquaintance with Rasā’il before His Departure from Baghdad ....................... 154
3. 5 Al-Ghazālī’s Science of the Hereafter ................................................................................... 160
3. 6 The Path to the Hereafter in Rasā’il ..................................................................................... 176
3.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 192
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CHAPTER IV .......................................................................................................................................... 195
THE SCIENCE OF UNVEILING IN COMPARISON WITH RASĀ’IL: THE CASE OF MISHKĀT .................. 195
4. 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 195
4. 2 From the Meanings of Light to God as the Only True Existent ............................................ 198
4. 3 God and His Relation to Creation in Rasā’il .......................................................................... 208
4. 4 Two Worlds and the Five Grades of Human Soul as the Means of Ascension ..................... 216
4. 5 Classifying Men According to Their Distance from the Light of God .................................... 224
4. 6 The Ending of Niche: Those Who are Veiled by Pure Light and Those Who Attain ............. 234
4. 7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 243
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 245
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 254

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a great pleasure to thank those who have helped me during the completion of this
project. I am grateful to my UCLA friends Osman Çelik, Subah Dayal, and Syed Atif Ridwan
for their constant friendship, encouragement, and support. I am grateful to Kenan Tekin from
Colombia University for his insightful conversations with me about the matters discussed in
this work. I am also grateful to Hugh Jefferson Turner and Ahmet Özer for their editorial and
technical support. I would like to thank my UCLA professors Michael Morony, Carol Bakhos,
Ismail K. Poonawala, and Latifeh Hagigi for their contribution to my education at UCLA. I
should also thank Magda Yamamoto for her presence in Islamic Studies as a problem solver
in official matters of the university throughout my stay in the USA.
I am grateful to my committee members Calvin Normore, Michael Cooperson, Asma
Sayeed, and Khaled M. Abou El Fadl. Professor Normore always encouraged me towards the
completion of this project with his kind and fruitful remarks. Professor Cooperson’s
meticulous reading of my chapters caused me to be more careful in my arguments and style,
and the outcome came out to be better than I ever expected. Besides her academical support,
Professor Sayeed helped me to complete this work in a timely manner with her administrative
support. I would like to thank especially Professor Abou El Fadl for being my advisor and the
chair of the committee. He allowed me to work on this project and contributed to its
completion more than an advisor.
I am grateful to Ministry of Education of Turkey for the funding they provided for me
to study abroad in the USA. Sami Erdem, Hızır Murat Köse, Mustafa Demiray, and Yavuz
Yıldırım agreed to be the guarantors of this funding and risked their finances by trusting my
academical abilities. Muhittin Gemici always assured me not to be worried about the financial
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matters and urged me to focus on the work during the last year of this project. I will always be
grateful to them for their support.
The support I received from my brother Halit Özkan was beyond everything. He is not
just a brother but the most special kind of advisor in my academical endeavors. I started
learning Arabic under his guidance, and I owe great deal to him in everything I did from the
beginning to this day. Other members of my family too were always there for me when I
needed help. I would like to thank them all, especially my parents who waited and prayed for
me to return to them by completing this project.
Finally, I would like to thank Hayrunnisa who agreed to be my family and endured
many hardships during the process of my studies. She deserves an extra special thank for
giving us Beyazıt and taking great care of both of us.

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