Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

on It was precisely concerning the division between the Mu'atazilites and the Ash'arites that al-Ghazali composed his famous ‘refutuation’ ( radd) in the book The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa)} 6 Many early Western Islamic scholars read al-Ghazali's Tahafut as the end of Arab- 23 Samuel M. Zwemer, A Moslem Seeker after God: Showing Islam at Its Best in the Life and Teaching of Al-Ghazali, Mystic and Theologian of the Eleventh Century’ (London: Fleming H. Revell, 1920), p. 21. Emphasis added. 24 Ibid. Admittedly, Zwemer's purpose in writing was to advocate al-Ghazali's writings as an intellectual bridge for Muslims towards Christ. However, virtually no one contests his point about al-Ghazali's place in Islamic thought. 25 Tibawi states that ‘with one notable exception, practically all educational literature down to the beginning of modernisation in the nineteenth century is either inspired by his writings or directly derived from them. Nothing of special value was added to theory; authors were content to reproduce their predecessors often in rather condensed form.’ Abdul Latif Tibawi, Islamic Education: Its Traditions and Modernization into the Arab National Systems (London: Luzac, 1972), p. 41. 26 Tahafut Al-Falasifah [The Incoherence of the Philosophers], trans. by Michael E. Marmura, 2nd edn (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2002). 62 Journal of European Baptist Studies 17:1 (2017) Islamic philosophy. 27 Yet, an end it was not. The tension between reason and faith that al-Ghazali proposed resembles the early church theologian Tertullian’s adaptation of philosophy to support theology. 28 Al-Ghazali certainly asserts the priority of revelation over reason in Tahafnt and in his other works, placing revelation as the most important source of knowledge. 29 He demonstrates the impossibility of reason reaching certainty, independent of spiritual understanding and revealed knowledge. 30 Essentially he argues that even the philosophers who claimed to prove certain knowledge through reason alone were themselves relying on revelation to reach their conclusions. 31 Therefore, revelation held priority over reason. The way al-Ghazali made this argument is important for understanding him. Rather than invalidating philosophical reasoning, al- Ghazali argued for its submission to revelation. Interestingly, al-Ghazali generally shared the conclusions of the Arab philosophers he critiques in Tahafut regarding the sciences and the metaphysical nature of the world. 32 His criticism concerns their use of reason in relation to revelation. They claimed to arrive at their conclusions using only reason, rather than revelation. Al-Ghazali demonstrates that the grounds for their claims still leave doubts in his mind. Thus, their claim to reason’s superiority fail. Fundamentally, they still rely on revelation. His point is that everyone has religious knowledge 33 informing their understandi