Imam Gazzali and rationality

[saleemsulfikhar]

Assalamu Alaikum all,

after reading 'Deliverance from Error' of Imam Gazzali i had the impression that he went long way in criticizing the rational approach towards Islam and made clear the limitations of reason and logic . Later i came to read Sayyed Maudoodis comments on Imam Gazzali and it puts me in utter confusion. Hope somebody will make clear Gazzali's position on rationality.

These are from maududi's 'A short history of revivalist movements in Islam' :

1. ' he corrected the mistakes of those people who in
their enthusiasm to defend Islam were fighting the philosophers
and the scholastics without necessary weapons of rationalism'

2. ' he presented such a rational interpretation of the
fundamental beliefs of Islam that their validity could not be
questioned on rationalistic grounds for centuries afterwards'

3. 'Judged from the intellectual viewpoint, the work of Revival
carried out by Imam Ghazali suffered in general from three
main defects which may be ascribed to :
(a) his weakness in the science ofHadith 11
(b) the predominant influence of the rationalist sciences
on his mind, and
(c) his undue inclination towards tasawwuf'.

[Mustafa16]

These are serious concerns which need to be addressed, but I'm not knowledgeable enough. what is so bad about tasawwuf anyway? and why was he weak in hadeeth? i come from a jamaat heavily influenced by imam ghazzali.....who influenced said nursi...who influenced our sheikh...is that bad?

[فصيح الياسين]

Assalamu Alaikum all,

after reading 'Deliverance from Error' of Imam Gazzali i had the impression that he went long way in criticizing the rational approach towards Islam and made clear the limitations of reason and logic . Later i came to read Sayyed Maudoodis comments on Imam Gazzali and it puts me in utter confusion. Hope somebody will make clear Gazzali's position on rationality.

These are from maududi's 'A short history of revivalist movements in Islam' :

1. ' he corrected the mistakes of those people who in
their enthusiasm to defend Islam were fighting the philosophers
and the scholastics without necessary weapons of rationalism'

2. ' he presented such a rational interpretation of the
fundamental beliefs of Islam that their validity could not be
questioned on rationalistic grounds for centuries afterwards'

3. 'Judged from the intellectual viewpoint, the work of Revival
carried out by Imam Ghazali suffered in general from three
main defects which may be ascribed to :
(a) his weakness in the science ofHadith 11
(b) the predominant influence of the rationalist sciences
on his mind, and
(c) his undue inclination towards tasawwuf'.

Its better to not judge the great shawafi imam al ghazli by the opinions of a person who was expelled from madrasa and declined major ahadeeth which made him on the doubt line tht whether he was muslim or not . Name is mr moudodi...