al-GHAZZALI

Probably the highest regarded Muslim scholar in the early centuries following Muhammad. He was renowned teacher in all of the Islamic academic disciplines - law, philosophy and theology - and prolific writer - more than 400 books attributed to him. In his last fifteen years he retrenched all this outward learning in inner personal experience, without which he realised life is hollow. This brought together the mainstream public learning of Islam and the more intimate Sufi tradition found in the lives of ordinary believers. The truth of Islam is to be found in living morally and ethical action, but reason alone has its limits.

Life and work

Ghazali.org - a 'virtual online library' of materials by and about al-Ghazzali

An account of his life and work from the Imam Ghazzali Institute