Al-Ghazālī as a Representative and Initiator of the Idealized Attitude in the Relationship between the Class of Religious Scholars and Government

Abstract

There is no doctrinal approach for the nature of the relationship between the religious class (ʿulamāʾ) and government in Islam. From the early centuries of Islam onwards, there have been two different approaches. The first approach is to be a part of the governing mechanism, and the second is to be separate from the government. In Islamic tradition, the second approach is accepted as an ideal attitude because it has been supported by major scholars and Sufis from the early centuries on. Al-Ghazālī, who has a very important place in Islamic thought, also adopted this attitude and tried to behave consistently with it during his life. However, what distinguishes him from his predecessors is that he dedicated long passages to this issue in his major work, Iḥyāʾ. Al-Ghazālī’s attitude, because he is not only followed for his ideas but also for his personal life’s record (manqiba), plays an important role by idealizing this second approach. In this paper, I address the intellectual background and the socio-political structure that paved the way for al-Ghazālī’s thoughts and their emergence into the public stage.

References

1. Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ wa-ṭabaqāt al-aṣfiyāʾ, 10 vols., (2nd edn., Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1387 H.).
2. Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAṭiyya, Kûtu'l-Kulûb [Qūt al-qulūb], 4 vols., (translated into Turkish by Mu-harrem Tan; 2nd edn., Istanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 2004).
3. Armağan, Servet, İslâm Hukukunda Temel Hak ve Hürriyetler [Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in Islamic Law] (2nd edn., Ankara: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları, 1992).
4. Atçeken, İsmail Hakkı, Devlet Geleneği Açısından Hişam b. Abdülmelik [Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik in terms of State Tradition] (Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2001).
5. al-Bundārī, Abū Ibrāhīm Qiwām al-Dīn Fatḥ ibn ʿAlī, Zübdetü'n-Nusra ve Nuhbetü'l-Usra: Irak ve Horasan Selçukluları Tarihi [Zubdat al-nuṣra wa-nukhbat al-ʿuṣrā: History of the Seljuqs of ʿIrāq and Khurāsān] (translated into Turkish by Kıvameddin Burslan; Istan-bul: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1943).
6. Cebecioğlu, Ethem, Tasavvuf Terimleri ve Deyimleri Sözlüğü [Dictionary of Sufi Terms and Idioms] (Ankara: Rehber Yayın-cılık, 1997).
7. Çağrıcı, Mustafa, "İhyâu Ulûmi'd-Dîn (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn)," Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) [Turkish Religious Foundation Encyclopedia of Islam], XXII, 10-13.
8. Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nīsābūrī, Evliya Tezkireleri [Memoirs of Saints] (translated into Turkish by Süleyman Uludağ; Istanbul: Kabalcı Yayınevi, 2007).

9. al-Fārisī, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Ismāʿīl, al-Muntakhab min al-Siyāq li-tārīkh Nīsābūr (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1989).
10. al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, Faḍāʾiḥ al-Bāṭiniyya (Cairo: al-Maktaba al-ʿArabiyya, 1964).
11. al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, 4 vols., (Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1982).
12. al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, Letters of al-Ghazzali (ed. Abdul Qayyum; New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1992).
13. al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl (7th edn., Beirut: Dār al-Andalus, 1967).
14. al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, al-Mustaṣfā min ʿilm al-uṣūl, 2 vols., (Būlāq: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Amīriyya, 1322 H.).
15. al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, al-Tibr al-masbūk fī naṣīḥat al-mulūk (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1988).
16. Hodgson, Marshall G. S., İslâm'ın Serüveni [The Venture of Islam], 3 vols., (translated into Turkish by Alp Eker et al.; Istanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 1993).
17. Humphreys, R. Stephen, İslam Tarih Metodolojisi: Bir Sosyal Tarih Uygulaması [Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry] (translated into Turkish by Murteza Bedir and Fuad Aydın; Istanbul: Litera Yayıncılık, 2004).
18. al-Ḥusaynī, ʿAlī ibn Nāṣir, Ahbâru'd-Devleti's-Selçûkiyye [Akhbār al-Dawla al-Seljūqiyya) (translated into Turkish by Necati Lügal; 2nd edn., Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1999).
19. Ibn al-ʿAdīm, Abū l-Qāsim Kamāl al-Dīn ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad, Bughyat al-ṭalab fī tārīkh Ḥalab, 12 vols., (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, n.d.).
20. Ibn al-Athīr, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Shaybānī, al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh, 12 vols., (Beirut: Dār á¹¢ādir, 1965-1966).
21. Ibn al-Jawzī, Abū l-Faraj Jamāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī, al-Muntaẓam fī tārīkh al-mulūk wa-l-umam, 10 vols., (Hyderabad: Maṭbaʿat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyya, 1359 H.).
22. Ibn al-Jawzī, Abū l-Faraj Jamāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī, á¹¢ıfat al-ṣafwa (Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, n.d.).
23. Ibn ʿAsākir, Abū l-Qāsim Thiqat al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Dimashqī, Tabyīn kadhib al-muftarī (Damascus: Maṭbaʿat al-Tawfīq, 1347 H.).
24. Ibn Kathīr, Abū l-Fidāʾ ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar, el-Bidâye ve'n-Nihâye: Büyük İslâm Tarihi [al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya], 15 vols., (translated into Turkish by Mehmet Keskin; Istanbul, Çağrı Yayınları, 1994), X, 256-257.
25. Ibn Khallikān, Abū l-ʿAbbās Shams al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ al-zamān, 8 vols., (ed. Iḥsān ʿAbbās; Beirut: Dār á¹¢ādir, 1968-1972).
26. al-Jāḥiẓ, Abū ʿUthmān ʿAmr ibn Baḥr, Kitāb al-tāj fī akhlāq al-mulūk (Cairo: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Amīriyya, 1332 H. [1914]).
27. Kılıç, Ünal, Tartışmaların Odağındaki Halife Yezid b. Muaviye [In the Center of Debates: The Khalīfa Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya] (Istanbul: Kayıhan Yayınları, 2001). Korkmaz, Fahrettin, Gazâli'de Devlet [State Theory of al-Ghazālī] (Ankara: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları, 1995).
28. Naʿīmā Muṣṭafā Efendī, Naîmâ Tarihi [Tārīkh-i Naʿīmā] (ed. Zuhuri Danışman; Istanbul: Zuhuri Danışman Yayınevi, 1967).
29. Niẓām al-mulk, Abū ʿAlī Qiwām al-Dīn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Ṭūsī (as Nizâmü'l-Mülk), Siyâset-Nâme [Siyāsat-nāma] (ed. Mehmet Altay Köymen; 2nd edn., Istanbul: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, 1990).
30. Orman, Sabri, Gazâlî [al-Ghazālī] (Istanbul: İnsan Yayınları, 1986).
31. Öğün, Tuncay, "Müsadere: Osmanlılar'da [Muṣādara: In the Ottoman Period]," Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) [Turkish Religious Foundation Encyclopedia of Islam], XXXII, 67-68.
32. Özaydın, Abdülkerim, Sultan Muhammed Tapar Devri Selçuklu Tarihi [The Seljuq History in the Period of Sulṭan Muḥammad Tapar] (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1990).
33. Pakalın, Mehmet Zeki, Osmanlı Tarih Deyimleri ve Terimleri Sözlüğü [A Lexicon of Ottoman Historical Idioms and Terminology], 3 vols., (Istanbul: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1993).
34. al-Qaraḍāwī, Yūsuf, al-Imām al-Ghazālī bayna mādiḥiyya wa-nāqidiyya (Al-Manṣūra: Dār al-Wafāʾ, 1988).
35. al-Subkī, Abū Naṣr Tāj al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAlī, Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyya al-kubrā, 10 vols., (eds. ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Muḥammad al-Ḥulw & Maḥmūd Muḥammad al-Ṭanāḥī; Cairo: Maṭbaʿat ʿIsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1964-1976).
36. Şeker, Fatih M., Selçuklu Türklerinin İslam Tasavvuru [The Perception of Islam in the Seljuq Turks] (Istanbul: Dergâh Yayınları, 2011).
37. Tomar, Cengiz, "Müsadere [Muṣādara/Confiscation]," Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) [Turkish Religious Foundation Encyclopedia of Islam], XXXII, 65-67.
38. Turan, Osman, Selçuklular ve İslâmiyet [Seljuqs and Islam] (Istanbul: Turan Neşriyat Yurdu, 1971).
39. Watt, W. Montgomery, Muslim Intellectual: A Study of al-Ghazālī (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1971).
40. Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shihāb al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Muʿjam al-buldān, 5 vols., (Beirut: Dār á¹¢ādir, 1977).
41. Yılmaz, Saim, Mu'tazıd ve Müktefi Döneminde Abbâsîler [ʿAbbāsids in the Period of al-Muʿtaḍid and al-Muktafī] (Istanbul: Kayıhan Yayınları, 2006).
42. Yücedoğru, H. Kübra and Bilgin, Vejdi, "On birinci Yüzyılda Siyasal Gerçeklik ve İslam Siyaset Düşüncesine Etkisi [Political Reality at the Eleventh Century and Its Effect on Islamic Political Thought]," Uludağ Üniversitesi İlâhiyat Fakültesi Dergisi [The Review of the Faculty of Theology, Uludağ University] 17/2 (2008), 729-746.
43. Zerrinkub, Hüseyin [ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn Zarrīn Kūb], Medreseden Kaçış: İmam Gazzâlî'nin Hayatı, Fikirleri ve Eserleri [Ferār ez Madrasa: Dar Bāra-yi Zindagī wa-Andīsha-yi Abū Ḥāmid Ghazālī] (translated into Turkish by Hikmet Soylu; Istanbul: Anka Yayınları, 2001).