On the Necessity of Being a Reflective Individual

On the Necessity of Being a Reflective Individual

This is an excerpt from the book “Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination” by Ebrahim Moosa. It is a very rich, complex and dense book on Imam Ghazali, full of profound insights on human condition both at individual and social levels. Through out the next couple weeks I will be posting a lot more excerpts, ideas and my understanding of them in this blog in order to share this brilliant work with you

Ghazali addresses writes in his book Mizan al-amal

Avoid relying on the authority of discursive tradition or collectivities. Seek instead the truth by way of inquiry so that you become a person who holds an authoritative viewpoint. And do not allow yourself to be in position where you follow a guide like a blind person. The guide ostensibly directs you along a path, whereas you are [actually] surrounded by thousand guides similar to yours; each warns that your guide will lead you to peril and mislead you! Only when you act on your decision to follow your guide, then you come to realize the tyranny of your guide. Therefore there is no salvation except in independence [istiqlal] of thought

Forget all you’ve heard and clutch what you see
At sunrise what use is Saturn to thee?

If writing these words yields no other outcome save to make you doubt your inherited beliefs, compelling you to inquire, then it was worth it—leave alone profiting you. Doubt transports [you] to the truth. Who does not doubt fails to inquire. Who does not inquire fails to gain insight. Without insight, you remain blind and perplexed. So we seek God’s protection from such an outcome.” (pg 256)

I particularly found the last part quite intriguing. What is he exactly saying? Is there limit to this doubt? When does it switch from healthy to unhealthy? Is he addressing the laity or the scholars? Regardless of who he is addressing, it is a fact that he is speaking from his personal experience. Those of you who do not know, after reaching the height of his academic career Imam Ghazali went through a severe crisis of faith. He started doubting everything he knew and came to realize that discursive knowledge (logic, philosophy, theology, philology, natural science etc...) on its own did not provide certainty in matters of faith. Thereafter he quitted his professorial position at Nizamyah College of Baghdad and went into 10 years of exile (more on this later). And the rest is history.