Read more
Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghaz¿l¿ (1058-1111) was one of the most influential philosophers of the classical Islamic period, with his intellectual innovations spanning the fields of theology, logic, and law. Despite this, contemporary assessments of Ghaz¿l¿ often present him as hostile to rationality, and a guardian of dogma and orthodoxy. This study provides an innovative reassessment of Ghaz¿l¿'s legacy, offering a compelling depiction of a reformer in his own time with increasing relevance to the issues gripping multicultural and globalized societies today. Ali Mirsepassi and Tadd Graham Fernée closely study Ghaz¿l¿'s major Persian-language text K¿m¿y¿-e sä¿dat (The Alchemy of Happiness) and its scholarly reception, alongside his lesser-read works, arguing that Ghaz¿l¿ shared a message of reform, and critique of Abbasid institutions. Ghaz¿l¿'s critical stance is revealed as both pragmatic and cosmopolitan in its recognition of autonomy from religion in many aspects of life, and in the value placed upon scientific contribution.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. The time and life of Ghaz¿l¿; 2. Reading Ghaz¿l¿ in the West; 3. The poetic imagination and the politics of ambiguity; 4. The new orthodoxy in the academic study of Islam; 5. A path to reform: escape from madrasa; 6. A cosmopolitan reading of Ghaz¿l¿; 7. Ghaz¿l¿'s practical ethics; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Ali Mirsepassi is the Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University. He is co-editor of The Global Middle East, a book series published by Cambridge. Recent publications include The Loneliest Revolution: A Memoir of Solidarity and Struggle in Iran (2023), The Discovery of Iran: Taghi Arani, a Radical Cosmopolitan (2022) and Iran's Quiet Revolution: The Downfall of the Pahlavi State (Cambridge, 2019).Tadd Graham Fernée is a lecturer in legal methodology and institutions at Tours University, France. Fernée is author of Enlightenment and Violence (2014) and Beyond the Circle of Violence and Progress (2023), and co-author of Islam, Democracy and Cosmopolitanism (2014).
Summary
This study investigates the intellectual legacy of Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058–1111), an influential thinker of the classical Islamic period. Ali Mirsepassi and Tadd Graham Fernée study Ghazali's major Persian-language text Kimiya-e sa?adat (The Alchemy of Happiness) presenting a new understanding of Ghazali as a reformer of his own time.
