Imam Ghazali's understanding of following the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)

Imam Ghazali's understanding of following the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)

From the preface to the translation of Book XX of Ihya Ulum al-Din

Analogizing between the health and sickness of the body and that of the spiritual heart al-Ghazali states:

Further it became plain to me that as the body has a health in which is its happiness and a sickness in which is its destruction, so the heart, similarly, has a health and a sickness That ignorance with regard to God is a destroying poison; and that disobedience to God, through following the lusts, is the heart’s grievous ailment ; that knowledge of God is its reviving remedy, and obedience to God in opposition to the lusts is its healing medicine; and that there is no way of treating it, to do away with its disease and to gain for it health, except by medicines; just as there is no way of treating the body except by the same.

Just as the medicines for the body produce an effect in gaining health through a property in them, to which the intellect cannot attain, but with regard to which physicians must be believed who have learned that property from the prophetic property, so it became plain to me that the intellect could not attain to the mode of the working of the medicines of the heart, which are exercises of devotion, in their definitions and amounts, defined and prescribed by the prophets, but that, with regard to this, the prophets must be followed who attained unto these properties by the light of prophecy and not by means of reason. And just as medicines are made up of kind and amount and some are double in weight and amount ; and as in the difference of these amounts their lies a secret belonging to their properties; so acts of devotion which are the medicines of the disease of the heart are compounded of actions, differing in kind or amount, as prostration is double of bowing, and the prayer of the dawn is half the prayer of the afternoon in amount; and in this there is a certain secret belonging to the properties which cannot be learned except by the light of prophecy . . .. In a word, the prophets are the physicians of the diseases of hearts; and the only use and authority for reason is that it should teach us this, and should bear witness to the truth of prophecy and to its own inability to attain to what the eye of prophecy can reach; and that is should taken us by our hands and commit us to prophecy, as the blind are committed to their guides and the sick to their physicians. This is the work and bound of reason, and beyond this it may not go, except to make known what the physician has taught it.

Further in the twentieth book of the Kitab al-Arba‘in entitled “The Principle of Following the Sunna” al-Ghazili states:

Know that the key to happiness is the following of the Sunna (itiba‘ l-Sunna) and the imitation of the Apostle of Allah (iqtida’ bi rasul Allah) in all his comings and goings, motions, and rests even in the aspect of his eating, rising, sleeping and speaking. I do not say this only in regard to his practice in the arts of worship (adab l-‘Abadat), for there is no reason for the neglecting of the practices (al-Sunan) which appear therein, rather I say this in all the matters of customs. Thus there results the absolute following (of Muhammad). Allah said, “If you love God, follow me; God will love YOU." And Allah also said, “Whatever the Prophet gave you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, desist from it.” 3 It is incumbent upon you to put on full trousers (al-Sarawil) while sitting and to attire yourself with a turban while standing. It is also incumbent upon you that, when you put on your shoes, you begin with the right foot; that you eat with your right hand; that you cut your fingernails beginning with the forefinger of the right hand and ending with the thumb of the right hand; that you begin with the little toe with the right foot and finish with the little toe of the left foot. Thus in all your movements and rests.… Moreover you must not show levity in regard to these matters and say that these things appertain only to customs and that there is no meaning to follow these. For if you do this, there will close against you a great door of the doors of happiness.

In the following section al-Ghazali continues:

Perhaps you desire at this moment to know the reasons for striving for the following in regard to these activities and you may consider it farfetched to suppose that there is an important matter underlying this matter…. Know, therefore, that the mentioning of the secrets in regard to every one of these practices is long, and though it is not the purpose of this book to explain them, it is necessary that you understand that these secrets are restricted to three types.

The three secrets which al-Ghazali delineates deal with: (1) The attachment that exists between the visible world and the intelligible world (mulk wa malakut). The attachment between the productive members of the body and the heart. The modality of the influencing of the heart by the actions of the productive members of the body. The heart is like a mirror which can only reveal the reality of things by being polished. (2) The distinction between the influences on man which become known to him by a certain relation and analogy, and the influences which are to be explained only by certain principles and essences, e.g., the principle of medicine. Thus the influences on the heart which render it fit for future happiness or unhappiness are only known by means of the light of prophecy, and if the prophet chose to do one of two things, he did this because he knew the principle by means of prophecy. Hence man should follow even in regard to what he does not understand, since the principle was revealed to the Prophet. (3) Man, while he can resemble the angels by purifying his desire, can, if he follows his own lust, sink to the level of the animals. Thus man’s actions must be “bridled by a bridle” in order to keep him from forgetting his devotions and to keep to the right path. However, in this process of purification there is a secret, namely, that the benefit is achieved only by following the prescription of the law giver exactly in the manner in which he gave it, for the benefit changes as the manner changes. Therefore, in order that there be no error in man’s choice, he has to follow the manner exactly as given.