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SpiritualRoadmapbyGhazali, page : 104
assent into that which he has not attained. Thus, this single property is a
sufficient basis for one‟s faith in the principle of prophecy.
If you come to doubt whether a specific person is a prophet or not, certainty
can only be reached by acquaintance with his conduct, either by personal
observation, or by hearsay as a matter of common knowledge. For example, if
you are familiar with medicine and law, you can recognize lawyers and doctors
by observing what they are, le, by hearing what they have to say. Thus you are
not unable to recognize that al-Shafi‟i (Allah have mercy upon him) is a lawyer
and Galen a doctor; and your recognition is based on the facts and not on the
judgment of someone else. Indeed, just because you have some knowledge of
law and medicine, and examine their books and writings, you arrive at an
8[10] This is a little obscure; al-Ghazali appears to regard certain miraculous signs as belonging
to
the spheres of medicine and astronomy; perhaps he was thinking of this when he spoke of events
occurring once
36
sufficient basis for one‟s faith in the principle of prophecy.
If you come to doubt whether a specific person is a prophet or not, certainty
can only be reached by acquaintance with his conduct, either by personal
observation, or by hearsay as a matter of common knowledge. For example, if
you are familiar with medicine and law, you can recognize lawyers and doctors
by observing what they are, le, by hearing what they have to say. Thus you are
not unable to recognize that al-Shafi‟i (Allah have mercy upon him) is a lawyer
and Galen a doctor; and your recognition is based on the facts and not on the
judgment of someone else. Indeed, just because you have some knowledge of
law and medicine, and examine their books and writings, you arrive at an
8[10] This is a little obscure; al-Ghazali appears to regard certain miraculous signs as belonging
to
the spheres of medicine and astronomy; perhaps he was thinking of this when he spoke of events
occurring once
36