Work · Philosophy in the Islamic World
Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh min al-dalal)
An account of his own search for certainty: a crisis of doubt, the claims of theologians, philosophers and Ismailis examined, and the Sufi path as the way to knowledge by experience.
Introduction
Al-Ghazali wrote this short Arabic work late in life, probably after he had returned to teaching at Nishapur in 1106. Looking back, he tells how a thirst for certain knowledge led him to distrust the senses and even reason; the crisis lasted about two months and ended not through a proof but through God’s placing of a light in his breast. He then examines four groups who claim to possess the truth – the theologians of kalam, the philosophers, the Ismailis, who rely on an infallible teacher, and the Sufis – and finds certainty only on the Sufi path, which is known by “tasting” (dhawq) rather than by learning. He also describes the breakdown of 1095, when he could no longer speak to lecture and gave up his chair in Baghdad. The book is often compared with Augustine’s Confessions and with Descartes’ method of doubt; scholars debate how far it is a stylised self-justification.
Connections
Builds on
- The Incoherence of the Philosophers1095 · al-Ghazali
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