Special Lecture: The Philosophical Foundations of al-Ghazali’s Sufism - Frank Griffel

Al-Ghazālī is considered one of the great Sufis of Islam. In his autobiography al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl, he writes about his conversion to Sufism in the fall of 488/1095 that led to his departure from the Niẓāmiyya madrasa in Baghdad. Writings by his students, however, suggest that his turn toward Sufism was a longer process that began years earlier. In this presentation, I will look at al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl and see what it says about Sufism, particularly about its relationship to the movement of falsafa. Al-Ghazālī acknowledges in that book that he accepts the falāsifa’s teachings on the soul, including their explanation of divine prophecy and the superior insight of God’s intimates (awliyāʾ). His own understanding of Sufism is very much shaped by Ibn Sīnā’s explanation, particularly in the last chapters of al-Ishārāt wa-l-tanbïhāt.