“What I seek is certain knowledge, in which the thing known is disclosed so that no doubt remains, and the mind cannot even entertain the possibility of error.”
Al-Ghazālī · Islamic philosophy
knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Al-Ghazālī
c. 1058–1111 · Islamic philosophy · Medieval
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali was a jurist, theologian, and writer in the Seljuk east, born around 1058, died in 1111. He taught in Baghdad, underwent a crisis of certainty that he describes as bodily as well as intellectual, left his post, and later wrote about what kind of knowledge he would accept. Deliverance from Error is the intellectual autobiography.
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It sets a standard so high that the senses and demonstrative reason both fail it for a time, and it narrates a path through theology, philosophy, and Sufi practice. The Incoherence of the Philosophers attacks, with technical care, claims of Ibn Sina and others about the eternity of the world, God's knowledge, and bodily resurrection.
He was not an enemy of every use of reason, and he was not a sceptic who stopped at the crisis. English readers often meet only the doubtful pages and miss the shape of the book. Quotations from him in short English are usually paraphrases. That is a reason for a short page, not for inventing epigrams.
Deliverance from Error stays a paraphrase. Two sentences from discussion 17 of the Incoherence are included in Marmura's English, and the Alchemy of Happiness adds the claim that self-knowledge is the key to knowledge of God. A fifth proverb was not invented.
Start here
Deliverance from Error, from the opening standard of knowledge through the account of philosophy
The famous sentence about certainty is the start of a narrative. Stopping at the doubt misses the book's claim about where certainty came from.
Quotations
“The connection between what is habitually believed to be a cause and what is habitually believed to be an effect is not necessary, according to us.”
Al-Ghazālī · Islamic philosophy
knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
“With any two things that are not identical and do not imply one another, it is not necessary that the existence or the nonexistence of one follow from the existence or the nonexistence of the other.”
Al-Ghazālī · Islamic philosophy
knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
“Knowledge of the self is the key to knowledge of God.”
Al-Ghazālī · Islamic philosophy
selfknowledgemeaning
Paraphrase or translation
Key ideas
Certain knowledge
Knowledge, as he first demanded it, leaves no room for the mind to entertain the possibility of error.
Critique of the philosophers
Selected metaphysical claims of the falasifa fail on their own demonstrative standards, especially about the world's eternity and God's knowledge of particulars.
Practice and certainty
The autobiography presents Sufi practice, not a further argument of the same kind, as what quieted the crisis.
Major works
Deliverance from Error (c. 1100)
An intellectual autobiography of his standard of certainty and of the path he says met it.
The Incoherence of the Philosophers (c. 1095)
A detailed attack on Avicennian metaphysics at selected points, not a rejection of all logic.
Revival of the Religious Sciences (c. 1096–1105)
A vast ethical and spiritual summa, the work by which many readers in his tradition actually know him.
Influences
- Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna)
- Ash'ari theology
- Sufi practice
Influenced
- Later Islamic theology and Sufism
- Thomas Aquinas
Common misreadings
- The opening demand for certainty is a sceptic's manifesto and the end of the book.
- The Incoherence is a ban on philosophy as such, rather than a targeted critique.
Famous lines Al-Ghazālī never said
None of the lines this library files for Al-Ghazālī is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
Deliverance from Error, from the opening standard of knowledge through the account of philosophy The famous sentence about certainty is the start of a narrative. Stopping at the doubt misses the book's claim about where certainty came from.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Al-Ghazālī that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “What I seek is certain knowledge, in which the thing known is disclosed so that no doubt remains, and the mind cannot even entertain the possibility of error.” (Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh min al-Ḍalāl), opening movement, Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Al-Ghazālī is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Certain knowledge: Knowledge, as he first demanded it, leaves no room for the mind to entertain the possibility of error.