Inspired Knowledge in Islamic Thought : Al-Ghazali's Theory of Mystical Cognition and Its Avicennian Foundation

ISBN-13: 9780415783071 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 208 str.

Alexander Treiger

Opis

It has been customary to see the Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) as a vehement critic of philosophy, who rejected it in favour of Islamic mysticism (Sufism), a view which has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. This book argues that in the guise of a critic, al-Ghazali was, instead, one of the greatest popularisers of philosophy in medieval Islam. The author supplies new evidence showing that al-Ghazali was indebted to philosophy in two insufficiently investigated areas, his theory of mystical cognition and his eschatology, and that, moreover, he accepted even those philosophical teachings which he ostensibly criticized. Through careful translation into English and detailed discussion of more than 80 key passages, the author surveys how al-Ghazali's understanding of inspired knowledge, available to mystics, is patterned after the philosophical teachings of Avicenna (d. 1037).

Spis treści

Introduction: A New Paradigm in Ghazālian Studies  1. Heart, Intelligence, Knowledge  2. The Science of Unveiling  3. Tasting and Witnessing  4. Inspiration and Revelation  5. Al-Ghazālī and the Philosophical Tradition.  Conclusion

O autorze

Alexander Treiger is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. His research focuses on Islamic theology, Arabic philosophy, and Syriac and Arabic Christianity, with emphasis on the transmission of theological and mystical ideas from Late Antiquity to early Islam.