Crisis

 

Research On his Crisis:

  • Bakar, Osman The Place of Doubt in Islamic Epistemology: Al-Ghazzali’s Philosophical Experience. (E-text) also pdf, in: Bakar, Osman. The History and Philosophy of Islamic Science. Cambridge, UK: The Islamic Texts Society, 1999, pp. 39-60
  • Nakamura, Kojiro An approach to al-Ghazali’s Conversion, (PDF) Orient, vol. XXI, 1985, pp. 46-59
  • Abu-Sway, Mustafa Mahmoud, Al-Ghazali’s “Spiritual Crisis” Re-considered, Al-Shajarah, vol. 1, no. i, pp. 77-94, 1996 (PDF.) 
  • Freedom and Fulfillment: Introduction to al-Ghazali’s Munqidh. R. McCarthy (PDF
  • Menn, Stephen, “The Discourse on the Method and the Tradition of Intellectual Autobiography,” in Hellenistic and Early Modern Philosophy, ed. by Jon Miller & Brad. Inwood (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 141-91. (PDF)
  • Al-Ghazali’s Crisis: a Re-evaluation of writings on his crisis. (old version) I have changed my mind on some of the issues mentioned here. 
  • Ma al-Ghazali fi munqhidhi (With al-Ghazali in his book al-Munqhidh) A. Abdrazak. (Arabic PDF) sympathetic account of his life.
  • Ormsby, Eric, The Taste of Truth: Structural analysis of al-Munqidh min al-Dalal. (PDF) cited in Wael B. Hallaq, Donald P. Little, Islamic Studies Presented to Charles J. Adams, Brill, Leiden 1991, pp. 133-152.
  • Halevi, Leor, The Theologian’s Doubts: Natural Philosophy and the Skeptical Games of Ghazali. Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume 63, Number 1, January 2002, pp. 19-39. (PDF)
  • Bargeron, Carol L. “Sufism’s Role in al-Ghazali’s First Crisis of Knowledge,” Medieval Encounters 9: 1 (2003): 32-78. (link to Article which is free for limited time!)
  • Moulder, D. C., “The First Crisis in the Life of al-Ghazali”, Islamic Studies, 11, 1972, pp. 113-23.
  • There are a few other works that deal with this to some extent written by neo-modernist who have a bone to pick with al-Ghazali who to them represents an anti modernity:
    • Al-A`sam, `Abd al-Amir, Al-faylasuf al-Ghazali. Beirut: al-Dar al-Tunisiya li al-Nashr, 1988. (pdf)
    • al-Ansri, `Abd al-daim abu al-`ata al-Baqari, I’trafat al-Ghazali: aw Kayfa arakha al-Ghazali li-nafasahu (Confessions of al-Ghazali or how al-Ghazali re-wrote his own biography (lit. history) by (Arabic PDF) Controversial account that claims al-Ghazali lied about his life. Cairo: Maktab al-Angelo-Misriya, 1985.
    • Mubarak, Zaki , al-Akhlaq ‘anda al-Ghazali [Ethics according to al-Ghazali] (pdf c1, c2, c3) See Al-Shihabi’s unpublished PhD thesis for an analysis of this book. (Zaki Mubarak – a critical study. Al-Shihabi, M.R.A. 1977,  Ph.D., Exeter)  This is Mubarak’s PhD thesis in which he blamed al-Ghazali for the general decline of Muslims. 
    • al-Jabiri, Muhammad A., al-sira’ al-mathhabi wa laysa al-din wa’ra` in the introduction to Tahafut al-Tahafut, Beirut: Markaza dirasat al-wahida al-`arabiya, 2001. (pdf)
    • Zarrinkub, `Abd al-Husayn, al-firar min al-madrasa: Dirasa fi hayat wa fikr abi Hamid al-Ghazali. Beirut: Dar al-Rawda, 1412/1992.  
  • Upper level University Course: Study al-munqhidh in Germany (link)

This is a topic that I worked on as it is of some interest to me. I have yet another version of the paper that is listed above. It is still in the works and has turned into a confused mess. If you are interested in this topic as well I would love to hear about it.

mh