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/247



AL-GHAZALI AS A MYSTIC 229

stead of Praise be to God! This kind of specu lation is extremely dangerous for the common people, and it is notorious that a number of crafts men have left their occupation to make similar assertions. Such speeches are highly popular, as they hold out to men the prospect of laying aside active work with the idea of purging the soul through mystical ecstasies and transports. The common people are not slow to claim similar rights for themselves and to catch up wild and whirling expressions. As regards the second class of Sufi speculation, it consists in the use of unintelligible phrases which by their outward apparent meaning and boldness attract attention, but which on closer inspection prove to be devoid of any real sense."

Not only did Al-Ghazali realize the danger on the side of pantheism, but he was aware that such religious enthusiasm often led to gross hypocrisy. In his Ihya he mentions " that the prophet com manded that whoever did not feel moved to tears at the recitation of the Koran should pretend to weep and to be deeply moved "; for, adds Al Ghazali sagely, " in these matters one begins by forcing oneself to do what afterwards comes spontaneously." Moreover, the fact that religious excitement was looked upon as the mark of a fervent mind and devout intensity, vastly increased the number of those who claimed mystic illumina tion. He divides the ecstatic conditions which the hearing of poetical recitations produces into four