Al-Ghazali’s Search For Truth

“I became certain that I was already on the verge of falling into the Fire, unless I set about mending my ways.”

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are not meant to reflect the religious beliefs of the author. Rather, this article is intended to illustrate the life lessons that can be learned from Al-Ghazali’s life through the lens of the Hero’s Journey.

Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (most commonly known as Imam Al-Ghazali) is one of the most influential Muslim scholars of all time. He is known as a mujaddid, which is an Islamic term for one who brings “renewal” (tajdid) to the religion. He is often wrongly accused of singlehandedly ending the Islamic Golden Age, but his story is actually more complex than that.

Background

Al-Ghazali was born in 1058 CE in Tus, Persia (modern Iran), and was the older brother of Ahmad Al-Ghazali, who would later become known as Ahmad Ghazali, one of the most famous Persian poets in Sufism. He was raised in a learned family and was an outstanding student from a young age. His early education focused on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), logic, and philosophy.

At the age of 19, Al-Ghazali went to study in the city of Nishapur, which was a renowned centre of learning at the time…