Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

e is initially extrinsic, transmitted through education. However, it is not merely propositional. Tme knowledge is holistic — touching cognitive, affective, behavioural, and spiritual domains. For tme learning to have happened, it must have affected behaviour. 75 Therefore, al-Ghazali would stress that in the earliest educational stages, children ought to be taught through memorisation, particularly of the Qur'an, Hadith , and shariah. 76 Development into full humanity is utterly dependent on education. 77 Knowledge is the fundamental need. Acquiring it distinguishes man from the other animals of creation. 78 Through habituation into orthopraxy, the rational faculty (‘aql) could be cultivated, eventually leading to understanding. This ‘aql exists as potential in child, but must be converted into actuality in order for a person to be able to form concepts and make generalisations. 79 The conversion of the ‘aql from potentiality to actuality only happens under two conditions: through bodily growth (maturity into adulthood), 80 and through an external, inciting cause. 81 While God is the ultimate cause of the conversion of the rational faculty, the conversion is incited and mediated through knowledge transmitted by the religious sciences. 82 The mature man could reach the place of using reason (guided by faith) in the process of seeking understanding. For al-Ghazali, rational contemplation paved the way for mystic spirituality, which was the highest route possible to contemplation of Tme knowledge and happiness in proximity to God. 83 Al-Ghazali's belief that supreme knowledge exists in the all-knowing God allowed him to reject any final dichotomy between the rational and spiritual. 84 While this aspect of al- Ghazali's mysticism was preserved in the traditional Islamic educational 73 Nofal, pp. 524-25. 74 Halstead, ‘Islamic Concept’, p. 525; Nofal, p. 524. 75 Ihyd ', bk. 3, pp. 61-62. 16 Ihyd', bk. l,p. 12; bk. 3, p. 52;bk4, pp. 256-57. 77 Alavi, ‘Nearness to God’, p. 19. 78 Ihyd', bk. 3, p. 6.; also in Mizan al-’amal; For further elaboration, see Nakosteen, p. 91; M. Umaruddln, The Ethical Philosophy of AI-GhazzdlT (Delhi: Adam Publishers, 1962) p. 97. 79 Ihyd ' bk. 1, p. 71-77; see Umaruddln, p. 93. 80 Ihyd', bk3, p. 14. 81 Ihyd', bk. 1, p. 76-77; see discussion in Umaruddln, p. 99. 82 Alavi, ‘Al-Ghazali on Moral Education’, p. 312. 83 Munqidh. 84 Saeeda Shah, Education, Leadership and Islam: Theories, Discourses and Practices from an Islamic Perspective (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016) [Kindle location 610-615]. Hutcherson, The Relationship between Faith and Reason 69 orientation and theological thought, many other elements of al-Ghazali's mysticism were neglected or rejected in the transmission of his thinking by tradition. 85 1 suspect a significant cause for this neglect can be attributed to the elitist place that al-Ghazali held for this highest level of contemplation. Few could a