Abu Hamid
al-Ghazali

Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali, more commonly known as Al-Ghazali, was born in 1058 in Tus, Persia, in present-day Iran. His intellectual journey began at a young age, influenced deeply by his early orphanhood and the profound Islamic education he received. Al-Ghazali excelled in jurisprudence and theology at Nishapur, one of the most prominent learning centers of the Islamic world. His brilliance and rigorous scholarship led him to become a distinguished professor at the Nizamiyya University of Baghdad by 1091, marking the beginning of his influential academic and spiritual contributions.

Al-Ghazali’s philosophical crisis and spiritual awakening around 1095 led him to abandon his position in Baghdad and undertake a decade-long period of introspective wandering and asceticism. This journey was pivotal, culminating in his return to Tus where he wrote his magnum opus, "Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din" (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), which profoundly influenced Islamic thought and spirituality. His work integrates Sufism with Shariah and emphasizes the importance of balancing the outer observances of religion with the inner spiritual life. Al-Ghazali's critical stance against the philosophers of his time, particularly against their metaphysical speculations, was articulated powerfully in "Tahafut al-Falasifah" (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), which argued that many of their assertions were contrary to Islam and relied heavily on flawed logic.