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Spiritual_Roadmap_by_Ghazali, page : 16
Scholastic theology had already achieved a fair degree of elaboration in the defense of Islamic
traditions,
as a perusal of al-Irshad by al-Juwayni, (translated into French), will show. Al-Ghazali had been
brought up
in this tradition and did not cease to be a theologian when he became a mystic. His
criticism of the
theologians is mild. He regards contemporary theology as successful in attaining its aims, but
inadequate to
meet his own or anyone special‟s spiritual needs because it did not go far enough in the
elucidation of its
assumptions. There was no radical change in his theological views when he became a
mystic, only a
change in his interests, and some of his earlier works in the field of strict rules are quoted with
approval in
The Savior from Spiritual Error (al-Munqith).
The Philosophers with whom al-Ghazali was chiefly concerned were those he calls “theistic”, above
all, Al-
Faraabi and Avicenna (Ibn Sina). Their philosophy was a form of Neo-Platonism,
traditions,
as a perusal of al-Irshad by al-Juwayni, (translated into French), will show. Al-Ghazali had been
brought up
in this tradition and did not cease to be a theologian when he became a mystic. His
criticism of the
theologians is mild. He regards contemporary theology as successful in attaining its aims, but
inadequate to
meet his own or anyone special‟s spiritual needs because it did not go far enough in the
elucidation of its
assumptions. There was no radical change in his theological views when he became a
mystic, only a
change in his interests, and some of his earlier works in the field of strict rules are quoted with
approval in
The Savior from Spiritual Error (al-Munqith).
The Philosophers with whom al-Ghazali was chiefly concerned were those he calls “theistic”, above
all, Al-
Faraabi and Avicenna (Ibn Sina). Their philosophy was a form of Neo-Platonism,