Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

dge based on its spiritual utility. That which is beneficial is permitted ( halal ), and that which is not beneficial is forbidden (haram). This valuation is quite evident in his categories of non-religious forms of knowledge. Throughout, he assigns a valuation to the sub-categories of non-religious knowledge as either praiseworthy (mahmud— subjects like the study of arithmetic, astronomy, agriculture) or blameworthy ( madhmum — magic, talisman, trickery, juggling), or sometimes permissible ( mubah — philosophy, poetry, theology). 47 Thus the value of knowledge is pragmatic, based primarily on the extent to which it serves man’s primary purpose in this world, which is to draw near to and please God. 48 An example of this binary valuation can be seen in al-Ghazali’s framing of the origins of knowledge. He divides between knowledge that is revealed (, naql — literally meaning ‘transmitted’) and that is produced rationally i^aql — by human reasoning). 49 Those artefacts of knowledge belonging to the naql category are understood to have their origins in God, transmitted through the Prophet’s encounter with mystical knowledge, not produced by human reasoning. Significantly, while the Qur'an was primary, the Sunna and shariah came to belong to this category of naql because they are transmitted by the Prophet. 50 By doing this, faith was extended to the truthfulness of Muhammad and everything faithfully recorded about him. 51 This assertion blurred the line between the Qur'an and Hadith , thereby 45 Munqidh Min Al-Dalal [Deliverance from Error], trans. by Claud Field (London: J. Murray, 1909) <http://legacy.fordham.edU/halsall/basis/l 100ghazali-truth.asp> [accessed 22 April 2016] 46 Alkanderi, p. 81. 47 Ihyd \ bk. 1, sec. 2. summarised by Yasin and Jani, p. 5. 48 Nofal, p. 526; Perry Shaw, ‘Madrasa and Church: A Comparative Study of Muslim and Christian Approaches to Religious Education’, Theological Review, 22.2 (2001), 216-44, p. 220. 49 Mizan Al- Amal [The Criterion of Action] (Cairo: Maktabat Sabi, 1963), pp. 32-33.; Ihyd \ bk 1, sec. 2; as noted by Nofal, pp. 7-8. 50 This becomes particularly clear in his short book Faysal al-tafriqa bayn al-Islam wal Zandaqa (The Decisive Criterion for Distinguishing Islam from Masked Infidelity) where he adopts Ibn Sina's prophetology, as noted by Griffel ( Al-GhazdlT’s Philosophical Theology, p. 106). 51 Griffel, Al-GhazdlT’s Philosophical Theology, p. 106. Hutcherson, The Relationship between Faith and Reason 65 elevating the texts of tradition as above the criticism of reason in the understanding of many. Islamic tradition took on characteristics of revelation, thus requiring submission rather than being open to rational inquiry through independent judgment ( ijtihad ). 52 The position that al-Ghazali takes on the relationship between faith and reason is a synthesis of others’ views. He emphasises the unification of all forms of knowledge in True know