Margaret Smith

Al-Risālat Al-Laduniyya. By Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad Al-Ghazālī (450/1059–505/1111)

The Risālat al-Laduniyya is a short treatise giving an account of al-Ghazālīs religious philosophy, in a compact form. It includes his theory of Knowledge, which is discussed very fully in regard to its nature, its different types, and the means by which it is acquired. The author gives special attention here to Revealed Knowledge and distinguishes between Revelation ( ), which was limited to the prophets and ceased with them, and Inspiration ( ), which is granted also to the saints and is, in fact, the awakening of the individual, human soul, by Universal Soul.

The Forerunner of al-Ghazālī

In his al-Munkidh min al-Ḍalāl al-Ghazālī states that he studied the works of al-Muḥāsibī, together with those of Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī, al-Junayd, Shiblī, and Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī, and of these Ḥārith b. Asad al-Muḥāsibī (ob. 243/857) was the earliest and the most prolific writer, and to him al-Ghazālī owes more of his teaching than has been generally realized, and much that has been attributed to al-Ghazālī as representing his original ideas, is in fact based upon the earlier teaching of al-Muḥāsibī and, in many instances, is directly borrowed from him.