Algazel was convinced that there is in man an innate ground of religious experience that is generally oriented by parental authority. descartes but arising in a different context. He also endorsed mysticism, thitherto the object of suspicion and condemnation by the orthodox followers of Islam.Īlgazel's writings, especially Al-Munqidh mina ḍ- ḍal āl, show that his conversion expressed itself in the form of universal doubt, somewhat similar to that of R. He assured the triumph of the theology of al-ash ’ar Ī at the same time, he contributed to the decadence of philosophical speculation by his attacks on certain classical Neoplatonic doctrines held by Alfarabi and Avicenna. A polemist of first rank, he is mainly responsible for the intellectual orientation taken by orthodox Islam since his day. Algazel is among the profound religious teachers of Islam. This second period of teaching lasted until 1109, when he retired to T ūs, to remain until his death. He abandoned his life of private teaching and ascetical practices in 1106 when, on demand of the vizier, Fakhr al-Mulk, he returned to Nis āpour as professor at the Niz: āmiya College there. He then returned to Ṭ ūs, probably before 1098 or 1099. Following this, he spent two years in Syria, made the pilgrimage to Mecca, visited Jerusalem, and lived the life of an ascetic, studying and practicing mysticism.
In his Al-Munqidh min a ḍ- ḍal āl (Deliverance from Error), he explains this decision on religious grounds as a need to deepen his spiritual life and to free himself from worldly preoccupations scholars suggest, however, that political considerations had something to do with his retirement. In 1095 he resigned his post, left Baghdad, and on the pretext of making the pilgrimage to Mecca retired to Damascus. After six years in this group, he was named professor of Muslim law at the famous Ni ẓ āmiya College in Baghdad. When al-Juwayn ī died in 1085, Algazel joined the scholars whom the vizier, Ni ẓ ām al-Mulk, had gathered around him. This distrust accompanied him all his life, explaining in great part the distinctive features of his intellectual and spiritual evolution. From the beginning, Algazel shared with his teacher a distrust for authority in matters of religion. There he acquired a deep knowledge of Islamic theology and law and was initiated into the philosophical speculations of alfarabi and avicenna. The decisive period of his formation began, however, when he attended the lectures of a famous theologian, al-Juwayn ī, at Nis āpour. Algazel received his early education in his native city and at Jurjan, where the teaching of the mystics, or Sufis, was emphasized (see sufism). Ṭ ūs, province of Khor ās ān, Persia, 1058 d.