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Spiritual_Roadmap_by_Ghazali, page : 147
such criticism at the present time.
As for the fourth cause of weakness of faith, namely, the evil lives of the
religious leaders (`ulama’,
singular `alim) this disease is cured by three things.
(a) The first is that you should say to yourself that the `alim whom you consider to eat what is
prohibited
has a knowledge that wine and pork and usury are prohibited and also that lying and backbiting and
slander
are prohibited. You yourself also know that and yet you do these latter things, not
because you do not
believe they are sins, but because your desire overcomes you. Now the other man‟s
desire is like your
desire; it has overcome him, just as yours has overcome you. His knowledge of other matters beyond
this
(such a theological arguments and the application of legal principles) distinguishes him from you
but does
not imply any greater abstinence from specific forbidden things. Many a believer in medical science
does not
hold back from fruit and from cold water even though the doctor has told him to abstain from them!
That
does not show that they are not harmful, or that his faith in medicine is not genuine. Such a line
of thought
helps one to put up with the faults of the `ulama’.
(b) The second thing is to say to the ordinary man: `You must believe that the `alim has
regarded his
knowledge as a treasure laid up for himself in the future life, imagining that it
will deliver him and make
intercession for him, so that consequently he is somewhat remiss in his conduct in view of the
excellence of
his knowledge. Now although that might be an additional point against him, yet it may also be an
additional
degree of honor for him, and it is certainly possible that, even if he leaves duties undone, he
will be brought
to safety by his knowledge. But if you, who are an ordinary man, observing him, leave duty undone,
then,
Since you are destitute of knowledge, you will perish through your evil conduct and will have no
intercessor!‟
(c) The third point is the fact that the genuine `alim does not commit a sin except by a slip, and
the sins
are not part of his intention at all. Genuine knowledge is that which informs us that sin is a
deadly poison
and that the world to come is better than this; and the man who knows that does not give up the
good for
what is Lower than it.
This knowledge is not attained by means of the various special branches of knowledge to
which most
people devote their attention. As a result, most people‟s knowledge only makes them bolder in
disobeying
Allah most high. Genuine knowledge, however, increases a man‟s reverence and fear and hope; and
these
come between him and sins (in the strict sense) as distinct from the unintentional
faults which are
inseparable from man in his
As for the fourth cause of weakness of faith, namely, the evil lives of the
religious leaders (`ulama’,
singular `alim) this disease is cured by three things.
(a) The first is that you should say to yourself that the `alim whom you consider to eat what is
prohibited
has a knowledge that wine and pork and usury are prohibited and also that lying and backbiting and
slander
are prohibited. You yourself also know that and yet you do these latter things, not
because you do not
believe they are sins, but because your desire overcomes you. Now the other man‟s
desire is like your
desire; it has overcome him, just as yours has overcome you. His knowledge of other matters beyond
this
(such a theological arguments and the application of legal principles) distinguishes him from you
but does
not imply any greater abstinence from specific forbidden things. Many a believer in medical science
does not
hold back from fruit and from cold water even though the doctor has told him to abstain from them!
That
does not show that they are not harmful, or that his faith in medicine is not genuine. Such a line
of thought
helps one to put up with the faults of the `ulama’.
(b) The second thing is to say to the ordinary man: `You must believe that the `alim has
regarded his
knowledge as a treasure laid up for himself in the future life, imagining that it
will deliver him and make
intercession for him, so that consequently he is somewhat remiss in his conduct in view of the
excellence of
his knowledge. Now although that might be an additional point against him, yet it may also be an
additional
degree of honor for him, and it is certainly possible that, even if he leaves duties undone, he
will be brought
to safety by his knowledge. But if you, who are an ordinary man, observing him, leave duty undone,
then,
Since you are destitute of knowledge, you will perish through your evil conduct and will have no
intercessor!‟
(c) The third point is the fact that the genuine `alim does not commit a sin except by a slip, and
the sins
are not part of his intention at all. Genuine knowledge is that which informs us that sin is a
deadly poison
and that the world to come is better than this; and the man who knows that does not give up the
good for
what is Lower than it.
This knowledge is not attained by means of the various special branches of knowledge to
which most
people devote their attention. As a result, most people‟s knowledge only makes them bolder in
disobeying
Allah most high. Genuine knowledge, however, increases a man‟s reverence and fear and hope; and
these
come between him and sins (in the strict sense) as distinct from the unintentional
faults which are
inseparable from man in his