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/200

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third part is brief and shows that there are really more than ninety-nine names, but that this was the number fixed upon for good reasons. And finally there is a section telling how God may and may not be described.

Al-Ghazali teaches in this book that the imitation of God’s attributes is the highest happiness for the believer. There are three degrees in the knowl edge of God, and in this respect he says: "The virtues of the righteous are the faults of the Saints "; by which he means that the nearer we approach to God the more perfect is our standard of character. The three degrees of knowledge are (1) intellectual, (2) that of admiration and at tempted imitation, (3) that of actual acquirements of God’s attributes such as the angels. Nearness to God is by rank and degree, not in regard to posi tion or place. He quotes with approval the famous saying of Junaid: " No one knows God save God Himself Most High, and therefore even to the best of His creatures He has only revealed His names, in which He hides Himself." He says that two statements are true in regard to God and the believer. The true believer must say, " I know nothing but God," and " I know nothing of God."

The last book Al-Ghazali wrote was the Minhaj al-Abidin or " Guide of True Worshippers." It is said to have been written for those who could not understand the Ihya and deals with the cr