Information on above:

The above pictures have been done in recent times and do not for sure represent what al-Ghazali may have looked like. The picture on the left is a painting based on a sketch of al-Ghazali by Khalil Gibran did of al-Ghazali. Originally the painting and the sketch it was based on depicted al-Ghazali san headdress. This is of course unacceptable to the sensibilities of al-Ghazali's time. In fact it was a sign of that denotes a lack of manliness. I have attempted to give him a little more respect that he rightly deserves. I have drawn on Persian sources for headdress that could possibly be worn by al-Ghazali. Further enhancements were necessary to finish the image. The image on the right comes from an Iraqi illustrator who came up with that representation.  

Perhaps even more correctly would the use of Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Tabib's Jaw'at al-Tawarikh (The world history of Rashid al-Din) which contains an illustration of the Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah ibn Alp Arsalan and some scholars around him. Al-Ghazali is known to have been a scholar at the court of Malik Shah's Vizier Nizam al-Mulk. See image # 65 in David Talbot Rice, The illustrations to the 'World world history of Rashid al-Din', ed. Basil Gray, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1976.

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• This page was last updated on: 2007-05-09

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