Al-Ghazali's Mystical Ethics

Abu-Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali was born in 1058 at Tus in Persia into a family of scholars and mystics. His father was a dervish, but al-Ghazali was orphaned at an early age and influenced by Sufi friends and relations. Al-Ghazali's brother Ahmad Ghazali became a Platonist, emphasizing pure love, and lived until 1126. In 1077 al-Ghazali went to Nishapur and studied theology, philosophy, and science under al-Juwayni, the renowned Ash'ari theologian at the Nizamiya college. Al-Ghazali also practiced Sufi exercises. After al-Juwayni died, al-Ghazali was favored for six years at the Baghdad court of Vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who appointed him to teach jurisprudence and philosophy at the Nizamiya academy in 1091. He wrote the influential Intentions of the Philosophers, and in The Incoherence of the Philosophers he criticized materialists who rejected God, naturalists who acknowledged God but doubted the immortality of the soul, and even theists like Aristotle for accepting the eternity of the world, making it equal to God. Al-Ghazali believed that only through faith could one come to ultimate truth, and he held that God not only had universal knowledge but knew all particulars as well. He became an extreme skeptic, challenging even sense perception, intellectual truths, causality, and the identity of the self. Noting that people do not doubt their experiences during dreams until they awake, he asked whether dying may not be awakening to a greater reality than this life. Eventually he found it a futile activity to try to establish theology based on reason.

In 1095 al-Ghazali faced a spiritual crisis in which he questioned his teaching work as motivated by the desire for an influential position and public recognition. In his autobiographical Deliverer from Error he described his philosophical and spiritual development. He wrote about the limitations of theology, philosophy, and the religion of the Batiniya (Isma'ili Shi'is) that is based on the authority of an imam(spiritual leader). Theologians tried to expose the confused doctrines of the heretics that varied from traditional orthodoxy. In ethics he learned that some philosophers accept falsehoods of those with whom they agree and reject truths of those with whom they disagree. As to the authority of the Qur'an, Hadith, and the imams, he found they could not possibly decide the infinite number of cases people face. Now he found that he had more affinity with the direct experience of ecstasy and moral change claimed by the Sufis or mystics who used intuitive understanding. He wrote that it is like the difference between knowing the definition of healthy and actually being healthy. At this point al-Ghazali felt he was caught in a thicket of attachments and was dealing with unimportant sciences instead of attaining eternal life.

It had already become clear to me that
I had no hope of the bliss of the world to come
save through a God-fearing life
and the withdrawal of myself from vain desire.
It was clear to me too that the key to all this was
to sever the attachment of the heart to worldly things
by leaving the mansion of deception and returning to that of eternity,
and to advance towards God most high with all earnestness.
It was also clear that this was only to be achieved
by turning away from wealth and position
and fleeing from all time-consuming entanglements.¹

Al-Ghazali could no longer bring himself to lecture nor even to eat properly. So he left and went to Damascus for two years, living in solitude and practicing spiritual exercises to cleanse his heart and improve his character by constantly focusing on God. Then he visited Jerusalem and Egypt before going on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Pleas from his children drew him home, and these anxieties of his family allowed him only occasional glimpses of pure ecstasy. So after making arrangements for his family, he gave away his wealth to become a reclusive Sufi. He found that the heart must sink completely into God and ultimately will be absorbed in God. Eventually one may perceive visions of angels and the spirits of prophets; but beyond this the higher states cannot be described by language.

In 1106 al-Ghazali was persuaded by Nizam al-Mulk's son to return to teaching at Nishapur, and he believed that now he was calling people to a knowledge that gives up worldly influence for real worth. Al-Ghazali came to believe that God sends a prophet at the beginning of each century after Muhammad and that perhaps he was the one teaching after the five centuries since Muhammad's migration that founded the Muslim calendar. He wrote his spiritual books The Revival of the Religious Learnings, The Forty Principles of Religion, and The Alchemy of Happiness. Shortly before he died in 1111, al-Ghazali returned to his native Tus, where he taught Sufism in a monastery. As one of Islam's greatest theologians and philosophers, he made Sufism more acceptable to many people.

Al-Ghazali often referred to the ethics of the Sufi Muhasibi and the philosopher Miskawayh. Al-Ghazali believed that only those purified of vices by virtues could attain mystical knowledge by intuition. Thus in his comprehensive Revival of the Religious Learnings he recognized the value of reason as well as mystical intuition in moral life. He began with the premise that whoever knows oneself knows God. Angels contemplate God and are free of animal characteristics. If we are of angelic nature, then we should realize our origin and be released from lust and anger. The first step of self-knowledge is to become aware that in the body is the heart or soul, which rules the body. He compared the body to a kingdom in which the soul is king, the senses an army, reason the prime minister, passion the tax collector, and anger the police. The soul which lets the lower faculties dominate is like turning an angel over to a dog or Muslims to the tyranny of an unbeliever. Beyond the five senses, the heart has a wonderful window into the unseen world. The first concern is to protect and nurture the soul; second is to take care of and nourish the body. Al-Ghazali described the duties of a teacher as being kind to students, following the ways of the prophet Muhammad, not withholding advice, carefully without harshness dissuading students from evil ways, not belittling other subjects of learning, teaching students according to their ability, and practicing what one teaches.

For al-Ghazali the soul is a substance, not an accident; so it exists by itself, and the body depends on the soul. Vices and virtues develop and may become stronger or change by their constant interaction. The soul knows God while its members are followers, servants, and instruments, and it uses the body the way a master uses a slave, a shepherd his sheep, or a worker his tool. Al-Ghazali described four elements of human nature that develop in stages. The first is the animal desire to eat, sleep, and copulate. The second is bestial protection of the body that includes anger. The third develops about the age of seven when discrimination allows one to use the mind for deception. The fourth to develop is the spiritual mastery of the soul that uses mature judgment. These four faculties correspond to the classical virtues of temperance, courage, wisdom, and justice.

In his ethics al-Ghazali adapted Aristotle's eudemonism to the next life by arguing that happiness in the world to come is many times longer and more valuable than happiness in this world because the soul is eternal. Pleasure in this world is impure, though the pleasures of knowledge are less impure than sensual pleasures. Al-Ghazali did approve of pleasures from lawful sexual intercourse and the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. One may prepare for happiness in the next world by controlling human qualities in this life. Spiritual happiness has no end, joy without sorrow, knowledge without ignorance, and is sufficient. Al-Ghazali believed that all improvement of human virtues is for the good of the soul, and in comparison to experiencing divine beauty all sensual pleasures are worthless. He categorized the means by which happiness may be attained into four groups of goods - goods of the soul, bodily goods, external goods, and goods of divine grace. The goods of the soul are knowledge of revelation and practical religion and the good character of temperance and justice. The bodily goods are health, strength, long life, and beauty. The goods external to the body are wealth, influence, family, and a good birth. The goods of divine grace are divine guidance, direction, leadership, and strengthening.

Al-Ghazali adapted Aristotle's doctrine of the mean to various vices and virtues. The virtue of wisdom is the intelligent mean between the extreme vices of stupidity and wickedness. Courage is a mean between rashness and cowardice. Temperance moderates between greed and the annihilation of desire. Al-Ghazali did not consider justice a mean although Miskawayh suggested it was a mean between doing injustice and suffering injustice. For al-Ghazali the mean is discovered by using reasoning and the Shari'a (Islamic law). Like angels, souls must be free from attachment to the world in order to be saved. Although he considered politics outside of the field of justice, al-Ghazali did write that political justice is the distribution of the government's wealth in appropriate ways.

Al-Ghazali emphasized changing character and described four levels that affect the ease of change. The ignorant are simply negligent and can be corrected rather easily. The ignorant, who have gone astray by persisting in bad deeds they enjoy, need more effort to change. Those who believe their evil dispositions are right are almost impossible to cure, and the most vicious are the corrupt who compete to gain fame by accomplishing as much evil as they can. Al-Ghazali recommended three methods of acquiring good character. First is divine generosity that bestows natural good character from birth. Second is the more common way of achieving it by mortification and self-discipline. The third way of achieving good character is by observing good people and associating with them; this is the main method for training children, who are more imitative than adults. Children especially need to be protected from evil associates. Al-Ghazali wrote that evil may be corrected in four ways. One may follow a spiritual guide, ask an honest friend, learn from an enemy, or correct in oneself the defects seen in others. One should listen to a spiritual guide just as one listens to a medical doctor for physical ailments.

Al-Ghazali recommended both knowledge and action as he believed these two were always interacting. Removing a vice by action is the practical remedy, but it requires patience to change the pattern, which also includes the disposition as well as knowledge. An especially difficult trait may be removed in steps by deflecting it with a less evil trait. For example, a miser may be encouraged to give away wealth to impress others. Once the miserliness is removed, one can then deal with the love of influence. In opposing one vice one must stop at the mean in order to avoid going to the opposite extreme. In the introduction to his treatise "On the Training of the Soul, the Refinement of Character, and the Treatment of Diseases of the Soul" al-Ghazali wrote that God incites humans by dread and cautioning to make their characters beautiful. He believed that only by the grace of God can one efface the smallest vice.

The root vices that al-Ghazali believed needed removing are gluttony, excessive sexual desire, wrong speech, strong anger, envy, rancor, love of the world, love of wealth, miserliness, love of influence, hypocrisy, pride, and conceit. Temperance is the virtue that controls immoderate eating and sex. Speech may err in cursing, making false promises, lying, slander, and finding fault. Al-Ghazali justified lying in some circumstances such as to protect someone from harm, to gain advantage in war, or to please one's wife. He also wrote that anger was needed in holy war (jihad) and to prohibit others from doing wrong; but anger that overpowers reason becomes reckless. Courage is important in struggling against one's own passions. He defined rancor as the persistence of anger, and it may be cured by justice or forgiveness.

Envy is wrong because it wants to take away another's good even though one will not gain by the removal. Humility may cure envy by removing its causes, which are pride, conceit, enmity, love of influence, and greed. For al-Ghazali love of the world also causes many vices, but these enjoyments are only found before death. Yet al-Ghazali acknowledged that many must produce worldly goods so that a few may turn away to seek the spiritual joy that comes mostly after death. He observed that enjoying superfluous things hardens the mind. Temperance also moderates the greed and extravagance that comes from the love of wealth. This is done by knowing the purpose of wealth for basic needs, not acquiring wealth in unlawful ways, preserving what one needs oneself while giving excess to those in need, being cautious in spending, and having the correct intentions in acquiring, preserving, and spending. The virtue of generosity is the mean between the miserliness of keeping wealth when it should be spent, and the extravagance of spending it when it should be kept. Al-Ghazali even went further than Aristotle in recommending altruism as the highest generosity in giving wealth despite one's own need.

Love of influence is the desire for power and fame. Ostentation is the hypocrisy of pretending to be pious when one is not; but in trying to deceive others one may deceive oneself but not God. The worst kind is to use piety to try to cover up crime. Al-Ghazali considered pride the worst of all vices, and he found dignity in humility. Conceit is similar but is so self-absorbed that one does not even need another person of less merit. The antidote to pride is prayer, and conceit may be corrected by self-knowledge.

Al-Ghazali described the main virtues that are means to an end as repentance, patience, hope, fear, poverty, and asceticism. They are supported by intention, sincerity, truthfulness, vigilance, self-examination, and meditation. Virtues that he considered ends in themselves are gratitude, faith, and love. Al-Ghazali believed that repentance should be acquired first so that one may become aware of the harm of sin. As one acquires the disposition of regret, one may act to abandon vice and atone for sin. Atonement may be accomplished by giving the poor wealth wrongly acquired or by seeking forgiveness of the one wronged. Al-Ghazali considered patience a quality that can control desires and anger. He called this a mental patience that is superior to the physical patience of enduring pain. Al-Ghazali defined legitimate hope as the expectation of a desirable thing after one has done all one could. He wrote that real hope is found in working to attain nearness to God. Fear is a virtue for al-Ghazali because it helps one to avoid what is harmful. The higher piety restrains one from whatever is doubtful.

Mystics prefer poverty to the wealth that distracts one from seeking God. Al-Ghazali described asceticism as turning away from desiring one thing for something better. The ascetic knows that this world is insignificant compared to the next, and the world's delights are much inferior to heaven's. Al-Ghazali agreed with those who defined asceticism as giving up everything that comes between a person and God. Al-Ghazali described intention, sincerity, and truthfulness as interrelated. Will or intention is guided by knowing what is most useful in this world and the next. The sincere motive is to attain nearness to God, but for this one must control desires for bodily pleasures. In truthful action one's outward behavior matches one's inner self. Al-Ghazali's conception of vigilance and self-examination included struggling, reproaching, and punishing oneself. He recommended that novices examine their day in the evening to see if they fulfilled their intentions. The ultimate means to the end for al-Ghazali is meditating on God.

According to al-Ghazali gratitude is the first of those virtues that are ends in themselves, and it is necessary for the gifts that God bestows on humans. The appropriate action in response is to do good to all people. Faith is trusting in the unity of God. The highest stage of this trust is the mystic's annihilation in God. This faith implies that God is the only agent of action, has perfect wisdom, complete power, and is merciful to everyone. Al-Ghazali believed that love is the highest virtue and the ultimate station in pursuing God. The more one loves God in this world the higher will one's happiness be in the next. Al-Ghazali argued that all love comes from the divine. Love of one's own existence leads to loving one's things and relatives. Love of doing good or receiving good is really love of goodness. Also love of the beautiful is really the love of beauty. Thus all love points to God. Al-Ghazali described the fruits of love as the consequential virtues of yearning, intimacy, and satisfaction.

Al-Ghazali related duties to rights. In a community if an individual has a right, then other individuals have a duty to fulfill that right. Since children have a right to education, parents have the duty to make sure they are taught. The golden rule of treating people as you would like to be treated was also the general principle for al-Ghazali. He suggested that its higher aspect is to respect all and make them happy by doing good, and the lower aspect is at least not to harm others. Al-Ghazali delineated the duties to relatives, neighbors, and brother Muslims. He believed that women are weaker than men both intellectually and morally, and thus men should use moderate harshness for the evil tendencies and extra kindness for the weakness. He warned men against being too jealous. Al-Ghazali also recommended religious acts of devotion to God as a way of purifying oneself. He recommended love and friendship as the best way to become near God.