Inspired Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Al-Ghazali’s Theory of Mystical Cognition and Its Avicennian Foundation. Culture and Civilization in the Middle East

Authors : Abdullah Özkan

Pages : 113-118

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Publication Date : 2015-06-30

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Since the appearance of his polemical work, The Incoherence of the Philosophers  (Tahâfut al-Falâsifah,) Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (d. 1111) has stayed at the  center of the debate regarding the fate of philosophy in Muslim societies. The  reactions to his thought and writings have varied from one critic to another; while  Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd (d.1198) was defending ‘the first teacher’ of the Peripatetics,  Aristotle, against al-Ghazali and blaming his conclusions as incoherent in his  response to al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahâfut al-Tahâfut), another  book of al-Ghazali, The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihyâ’ ‘Ulûm al-Dîn), was being  burnt for its philosophical tendencies in the Muslim West. In addition to the alleged  philosophical tendencies of the Revival, his Niche of Lights (Mishkât al-Anwâr), and  especially the third chapter of the book,has raised some question marks regarding his  stance toward philosophy. 
Keywords : Inspired, Knowledge, Islamic