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/45

 war and bloodshed, that Al-Ghazali spent the last years of his life. We may excuse in him much of what would otherwise seem intolerant and hateful, when we remember how the passion of war blinds human judgment and makes it impossible to see any virtue in the invader.

We must not forget that Al-Ghazali came into close touch with Oriental Christians from his boy hood. 1 Christianity was established in Persia at the time of the Moslem conquest, and the Nestorian Church withstood its terrific impact when Zoroatrianism was almost destroyed. The coming of the Arabs meant to the Christians only a change of masters. The Nestorians became the rayah, " people of protection," of the Caliphs. They did not immediately sink into their present deplorable condition. They still conducted foreign missions and during the entire Abbasside period remained a very important factor of civilization in the East.

That there was not only close social, but religious and polemical contact between the learned men of Christian sects and those of Islam long before this period, and especially during the life of Al-Ghazali is well known. See especially the life and writings of Al-Kindi, John of Damascus, and Theodor Abu Qurra as given by A. Keller in " Der Geisteskampf des Christentums gegen den Islam biszur Zeit der Kreuzziige" (Leipzig, 1896) and " Christliches Polemik und Islamische Dogmenbilding," by C. H. Becker ("Festschrift Ignaz Goldziher," pp. 175-195). The latter shows clearly that Islam borrowed considerably from Christianity, through controversy, both in its dogma and ritual even as late as the tenth century.