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Life
The theologian who turned against his own teachers to argue that reason must serve revelation, founding the school that became Sunni orthodoxy.
He held the most prestigious teaching post in the Islamic world, then abandoned it. Philosophy had failed him. Only direct experience of God would do.
Connection
Al-Ash'ari theological school Al-Ghazali — Al-Ghazali worked within, and brought to its height, the Ash'ari theology that al-Ash'ari had founded.
Ideas
Words
“Fire does not burn by its own nature, but because God wills the burning at every instant.”
“Knowledge without action is vanity, and action without knowledge is insanity.”
Key Moments
874 CE
Born in Basra
c. 912 CE
The Public Break
c. 920 CE
Reason Serves Revelation
936 CE
Death in Baghdad
1091 CE
Teaching at the Nizamiyya
1095 CE
Crisis and Departure
c. 1095 CE
The Incoherence of the Philosophers
1111 CE
Death in Tus
Works
The Elucidation of the Foundations of Religion
The Incoherence of the Philosophers