Al-Ghazālī's Deliverance from Error
This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method
For everyone
In this autobiographical work al-Ghazālī describes losing trust in the senses and in reason in his search for certain knowledge, passing through methodical doubt some five centuries before Descartes. After examining theology, philosophy and the Bāṭiniyya, he says he reached certainty on the Sufi path, through experience ("dhawq", taste).
For specialists
Al-Ghazālī relates that just as sense data can be corrected by reason, he wondered whether reason might be corrected by a higher faculty, as in a dream-like state. He explains his exit from the crisis of doubt not by proof but by "a light that God cast into the breast". Comparisons with Descartes have been made; whether Descartes knew the work directly is undocumented.
Claims
- The way to certain knowledge is not reasoning alone but Sufi experience (dhawq).[1]
Evidence
Supporting
Al-Ghazālī gives a first-hand account of a six-month crisis and the period of retreat that followed.[1]
Challenging
—
Positions
- TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam
- Al-Ghazālī's period of doubt and turn to Sufism mark the turning point of his intellectual life.[2]
Connections
Sources
- Book (1953). The Faith and Practice of al-Ghazālī (translation of al-Munqidh min al-Ḍalāl). George Allen & Unwin, London
- EncyclopediaGazzâlî. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisiislamansiklopedisi.org.trarchive
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Cite this page
Athena contributors. (2026). Al-Ghazālī's Deliverance from Error. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/gazali-munkiz/
@misc{athena_gazali_munkiz,
title = {Al-Ghazālī's Deliverance from Error},
author = {{Athena contributors}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/gazali-munkiz/}},
note = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history