Islam and Rationality Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science Texts and Studies Edited by Hans Daiber Anna Akasoy Emilie Savage-Smith Volume 94 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ipts Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Islam and Rationality The Impact of al-Ghazālī Papers Collected on His 900th Anniversary VOLUME 1 Edited by Georges Tamer LEIDEN | BOSTON Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Cover illustration by Georges Tamer and Allen Tuazon. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Islam and rationality : the impact of al-Ghazali : papers collected on his 900th anniversary / edited by Georges Tamer. volumes cm. — (Islamic philosophy, theology and science ; v. 94) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-29094-5 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-29095-2 (e-book) 1. Ghazzali, 1058-1111. 2. Faith and reason—Islam. 3. Practical reason. 4. Rationalism. I. Tamer, Georges. B753.G34I78 2015 297.2092—dc23 2015014839 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 0169-8729 isbn 978-90-04-29094-5 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-29095-2 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Allen Tuazon (25th November 1980–22nd November 2014) In Memoriam ∵ Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Contents Preface ix Notes on Contributors xx 1 God versus Causality Al-Ghazālī’s Solution and its Historical Background 1 Hans Daiber 2 Al-Ghazālī’s Changing Attitude to Philosophy 23 Wilferd Madelung 3 Al-Ghazālī and the Rationalization of Sufism 35 Binyamin Abrahamov 4 Revelation, Sciences and Symbolism Al-Ghazālī’s Jawāhir al-Qurʾān 49 Georges Tamer 5 Al-Ghazālī at His Most Rationalist The Universal Rule for Allegorically Interpreting Revelation (al-Qānūn al-Kullī fī t-Taʾwīl) 89 Frank Griffel 6 The Comedy of Reason Strategies of Humour in al-Ghazālī 121 Eric Ormsby 7 Al-Ghazālī on the Emotions 138 Taneli Kukkonen 8 Sex, Marriage and the Family in Al-Ghazālī’s Thought Some Preliminary Notes 165 Avner Giladi 9 The Duties of the Teacher Al-Iṣfahānī’s Dharīʿa as a Source of Inspiration for al-Ghazālī’s Mīzān al-ʿAmal 186 Yasien Mohamed Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto viii contents 10 Revisiting al-Ghazālī’s Crisis through His Scale for Action (Mizān al-ʿAmal) 207 Kenneth Garden 11 Al-Ghazālī on Knowledge (ʿilm) and Certainty (yaqīn) in al-Munqidh min aḍ-Ḍalāl and in al-Qisṭās al-Mustaqīm 229 Luis Xavier López-Farjeat 12 Ghazālī’s Hermeneutics and Their Reception in Jewish Tradition Mishkāt al-Anwār (The Niche of Lights) and Maimonides’ Shemonah Peraqim (Eight Chapters) 253 Scott Michael Girdner 13 Al-Ghazālī, Averroes and Moshe Narboni Conflict and Conflation 275 Alfred L. Ivry 14 The Changing Image of al-Ghazālī in Medieval Jewish Thought 288 Steven Harvey 15 The Influence of al-Ghazālī on the Juridical, Theological and Philosophical Works of Barhebraeus 303 Hidemi Takahashi 16 R. Marti and His References to al-Ghazālī 326 Jules Janssens 17 Al-Ghazālī’s Esotericism According to Ibn Taymiyya’s Bughyat al-Murtād 345 Yahya M. Michot 18 Arbitrating between al-Ghazālī and the Philosophers The Tahāfut Commentaries in the Ottoman Intellectual Context 375 M. Sait Özervarlı Bibliography 399 Index of Works by al-Ghazālī 440 Index of Authors 442 Index of Subjects 452 Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto Preface The studies included in this volume will discuss important topics of al-Ghazālī’s work, which demonstrate rational aspects of his interpretation of Islamic theology and spirituality, as rooted in the Qurʾān. In the Qurʾān, the root ʿ-Q-L – meaning at its core, “reason/reasoning” and “understanding” – occurs fifty-nine times; the verbs are not exclusively meant to imply rational activities. In almost all occurrences, these verbs are semantically related to the senses, and in several instances connote a conversion to the proclaimed religion as a result of the perception of natural phenomena.1 Rationality as presented throughout the Qurʾān is clearly a cognitive activity in which a sensual per- ception is involved that in turn leads man to believe in God. In reverse, to not believe in God means that man eliminates his rational faculty. Remarkably, this conception of a ‘towards-faith-oriented-rationality’ corresponds with the Qurʾānic characterization of Arabia’s pre-Islamic era as a period of ignorance, the jāhiliyya.2 While the faculty of reasoning – that is, the intellect – does not appear in the scripture of Islam, it is nevertheless declared in a statement attributed to the Prophet Muhammad as the noblest ability created by God. The first act the newly created ʿaql performs is the requirement of total submission to God’s obedience: God commanded the intellect to first approach Him, and then conversely to get away from Him, and each time the intellect obeyed God’s command. Furthermore, the intellect serves within this ḥadīth as a reminder of God’s reward and punishment of humans.3 The beginning of the state- ment might be interpreted in two different ways, however. According to one interpretation (awwalu mā khalaqa Allāhu l-ʿaqlu) the intellect is the very first 1 See for example: Q 2:164, 242; 3:118; 16:12; 23:80; 30:28; 37:138; 59:14; 67:10. 2 Q 3:154; 5:50; 48:26. In his MA-Thesis, Allen Tuazon provided a semantic study of the root ʿ-Q-L in the Qurʾān: “ ‘Understanding’ in Revelation: the root ʿ-Q-L in the Qur’ān,” 2011: https://etd. ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1306868259&disposition=inline. 3 “Awwal mā khalaqa Allāhu l-ʿaql qāla lahu: aqbil fa-aqbal. Thumma qāla lahu: adbir fa-adbar. Thumma qāl: wa-ʿizzatī wa-jalālī mā khalaqtu khalqan akrama ʿalayya minka, bika ākhudhu wa-bika uʿṭī wa-bika uthību wa-bika uʿāqib.” This is the wording of the ḥadīth as it is quoted by al-Ghazālī (s. below n. 10). The ḥadīth is weak without reliable authorities of transmission. It is not mentioned in the canonical collections. In aṭ-Ṭabarānī, Al-Muʿjam al-awsaṭ, Ed. Ṭāriq b. ʿAwaḍ Allāh b. Muḥammad and ʿAbdalmuḥin b. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥusaynī, 10 Vols., Cairo: Dār al-Ḥramayn 1415/1996, No. 1845 (Vol. 2, p. 235f.) and No. 7241 (Vol. 7, p. 190f.), the ḥadīth begins with a temporal assertion: “Lammā khalaqa Allāhu [. .],” “When God created [. .].” Georges Tamer - 978-90-04-29095-2 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2020 05:29:01AM via University of Toronto x preface being created by God and thus holds a primary position amongst all beings.4 Another version begins with a more temporal genesis (awwala mā khalaqa Allāhu l-ʿaqla), and states merely that the first thing that happened to the intel- lect upon its creation was that it immediately received God’s command, and consequently submitted itself accordingly.5 The former version corresponds to the cosmologies of the philosophers who ascribe to the intellect primacy in the chain of beings.6 By contrast, theologians who accept only the latter version indicate an accidental nature to the intellect.7 As confirmed by Ibn Taymiyya, this ḥadīth has been persistently subjected to extensive controversy within theological and philosophical circles, although its authenticity remains in doubt.8 Both the scriptural evidence as well as the contradictory versions of the above-mentioned prophetic statement demonstrates the strained position that rationality occupies in relation to religion in pre-modern Islamic intellec- tual discourses.9 Yet, the history of the Arab-Islamic civilization shows brilliant articulations of rational thought throughout different fields of scholarship. 4 “Awwalu mā khalaqa Allāhu l-ʿaqlu qāla lahu: aqbil fa-aqbal. Thumma qāla lahu: adbir fa- adbar. Thumma qāl: wa-ʿizzatī wa-jalālī mā khalaqtu khalqan akrama ʿalayya minka, bika ākhudhu wa-bika uʿṭī wa-bika uthību wa-bika uʿāqib.” “The first thing which God created was the intellect. On creating it He said to it: ‘Come forth!’ and it came forth. He then said to it ‘Return!’ and it returned. Thereupon He said: ‘By my power and glory! I have not created anything which is more reverent to me than you.