"Such is al-Ghazali’s prestige that none dare criticize him. But even al-Ghazali is not above criticism—I believe that historically his negative influence prevailed and far outweighs his positive contributions. First, he led Muslims back to an unquestioning faith in the Koran that was to be accepted literally—thus all the gains made by the rationalist Mu’tazilites were squandered as Muslims were enjoined to bend their knees in total and abject submission to revelation. All the crass anthropomorphic passages of the Koran, and all the Koranic descriptions of heaven with its voluptuous houris and hell with its pathological imagery of torments were to be accepted as literally true. Worst of all, al-Ghazali reintroduced the element of fear into Islam; in his preaching, he emphasized the “wrath to come” and the punishments of hell."
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Philosophers from PersiaReligious leaders from IranMuslims from IranTheologians from PersiaEconomists from Persia
Original Language: English
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Sources
Why I Am Not a Muslim (1995), Ibn Warraq
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abu_Hamid_al-Ghazali
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Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali (/ˈɡɑːzɑːli/; full name Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī أبو حامد محمد بن محمد الغزالي; latinized Algazelus or Algazel, c. 1058 – 19 December 1111) was a Persian polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential philosopher, theologian, jurist, logician and mystic of Islam.
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