Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/145

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The details of his life during the mysterious ten years of his wanderings are most conflicting. Ac cording to Abd al-Ghafir, a personal friend of Al Ghazali, he went a second time to Mecca, after wards to Syria, and then wandered from shrine to shrine for nearly ten years. Next to " The Confes sions," the best authority on his life is undoubtedly this same Abd al-Ghafir. What he tells us of Al Ghazali’s life must have been gained from per sonal knowledge, or go back immediately to Al Ghazali himself. "According to him, Al-Ghazali set out on pilgrimage to Mecca, then went to Syria, and remained there wandering from place to place and shrine to shrine nearly ten years. At this time he composed several of his works, the Ihya and books abbreviated from it, such as the Arba in and the Rasa il; besides labouring at his own spiritual advancement and growth through the religious ex ercises of the Sufis. Then he returned to his home and lived there a retired life for some time, ab sorbed in meditation, but gradually becoming more and more sought after as a teacher and guide to the spiritual life. At length Fakhr al-Mulk AH b. Nizam Al-Mulk Jamal Ash-Shuhada, who had pre viously been Wazir to Barqiyaruq, became Wazir to Sinjar the son of Malik Shah at Nishapur, and by him such pressure was put on Al-Ghazali that he finally consented to resume teaching in the May r muna Nizamiyya Madrasa there."

1 Macdonald, " The Life of Al-Ghazzali," pp. 97-9&