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/76



but He was unwilling that it should be for the sake of anything but Himself." This instance doubt less throws light on the motives for his studies and his great diligence. At the outset he was in search rather of reputation and wealth through learning than of piety. 1

Of Al-Ghazali’s home life at Tus, and of his own family life afterwards, we know next to nothing. His name Abu Hamid was doubtless given him much later, and would seem to indicate that he had a son of that name who probably died in infancy. We know that he married before he was twenty and that at least three daughters survived him. Of his younger brother, however, who died fif teen years after he did (1126), and was buried at Kazvin, we know the following: He succeeded Al-Ghazali in the professorial chair at the Niza miyya School. Like him, he was a mystic and preached his views with great eloquence as well as with a prolific pen. We are told that he was a man of splendid appearance, and had the gift of healing. So fond was he of public preaching that he neglected his judicial studies. He wrote an abridgement of his brother’s great work, and also a celebrated treatise on mysticism called Minhaj al-albab (Path for Hearts), in which he deals with the advantages of poverty, and advocates the wearing of a special garb by the dervishes. An other of his books was in defense of music, called

1 Macdonald.