Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

at the Nizamiyah madrasa in Nishapur. 4 When he was around thirty-three years old, he was promoted to professor at the famous Nizamiyah madrasa of Baghdad, which at that time was the central hub for science and learning in the Islamic east. 5 After a four- year period of teaching and writing, al-Ghazali left his official position and status to seek solitude and the mystical life. 6 Later in life he would end up returning to Baghdad to try to restore the educational system from what he perceived as growing theological confusion. Throughout his thirty-year scholarly life, al-Ghazali published extensively. While he is commonly viewed as a brilliant scholar, though largely inconsistent, some recent work 2 For further history about the institution and spread of the madrasa system in the early Seljuk period, particularly through the efforts of the minister Abu Ali al-Hasan at-Tusi Nizam al-Mulk, see Hussain’s history on education in the Muslim world: Amjad M. Hussain, A Social History of Education in the Muslim World: From the Prophetic Era to Ottoman Times (London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, 2013). 3 The ShafTi madhhab is one of four primary interpretive approaches to shariah (Islamic law) amongst Sunni Muslims. These four madhahib were not independent educational institutions, but existed as ‘guilds of law’ or ‘schools of opinion’ within the madrasas and mosques. The other three are Hanbali, Hanafi, and Zahiri. See Ibid., location 1208. 4 Frank Griffel, ‘Al-Ghazali’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. by Edward N. Zalta, 2016, p. 1 <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/al-ghazali/> [accessed 13 May 2016] 5 Nabil Nofal, ‘Al-Ghazali’s Theory of Education’, Prospects: The Quarterly Review of Comparative Education , Thinkers on Education (Paris: UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, 1993), 519-42 (p. 520). 6 Most scholars interpret al-Ghazali's departure as a result of his encounter with Sufi teachings, based on his own testimony from his autobiography Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh min al-dalal). However, Griffel contends that the testimony of his students (such as al-Arabi) as well as his own journal entries in Persian suggest other more personal reasons for his departure. See Frank Griffel, Al-Ghazali’s Philosophical Theology (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 8-9. Hutcherson, The Relationship between Faith and Reason 59 demonstrates a consistent maturation in his thinking. 7 This perceived ambiguity has led to various, sometimes contradictory, interpretations of his positions on the role of philosophy in Islam, the relationship between faith and reason, and the role of mysticism and tradition. 8 From very early in Islamic history, philosophy was a valued import. 9 As Arab Muslim civilisation rapidly came into contact with new cultures and ways of thinking, the great works of philosophy were collected, transmitted into Arabic, and weighed in Islamic scho