Al Ghazali
Al-Ghazali was a political philosopher born at the time when the Abbasid caliphate was on a decline. He was born in the city of Tus. He took his early education from his hometown. After completing his education, he moved to work in the court of Nizam-al-Mulk, a wazir of the Seljuk sultans and a prominent sufi. Nizam was rumoured to be assassinated by the Ismailies. This might be the reason he wrote against Ismailies in his books. During the time of Nizam, Ghazali lectured for five years in the Nizamiyya College. However after the death of Nizam, Ghazali left Baghdad and then he became a sufi wandering the lands of Palestine and Syria.
Ghazali wrote several books on politics and his main focus was on imamate (caliph) and the role of sultans. It can also be noted that the situation at the time that the politics was being dominated by the Seljuk sultans, Imams (caliphs) and the divinely chosen imamate of the Ismailies. Therefore, at the time two muslim dynasties were running parallel; the Fatimiyads by Ismailies , and the Abbasids by Sunnis. Ghazali supported the sunni and therefore wrote a book validating the claim of the Abbasid Caliph sponsored by the caliph himself.
Fada ih-' al-Batiniyyah wa Fada'il al-Musta.zhiriyyah
This was the first book written Al Ghazali and this was sponsored by the then caliph, Al-Mutazhir Billah. This was written in order to validate the caliphate of the abbasid caliph and denounce the imamate of the ismailite Fatimiyad Caliphate. The writer fundamentally has two audiences, the masses which includes normal people and the scholars; and the caliph Al Mustazhir whom he advices in some chapters. Al Ghazali also studied Ismaili texts in order to refute them effectively. Ismailies also posed significant threat to the Abbasids by continually prospering in Egypt. Therefore Ghazali targeted the Ismailies.
First Ghazali tackles the writers who said that imam should not be appointed as no man had the prerequisite qualities needed for the imam. Ghazali says that the above claim by the writers is the proof of their negligence. The absence of the imam falsifies the validation of all the administrative posts, the authority of all qazis (therefore making all marriages illegal and haram), and also the implementation of the God’s law will not be possible. Thus he argues that the appointment of a imam is a religious duty. He argues that after the death of the Holy Prophet, a Caliph was immediately appointed in order to keep unity in the umma. Ghazali also argue that the appointment of a single person as the head instead of a consultative council is adamant in order to prevent disorder due to probable disagreement amongst the members of the council.
Ghazali says that there should be a imam in every age. Therefore the appointment of imam is paramount. He further states that only al mutazhir fulfills the requirements of the imam. Therefore he argues that al mustazhir is the rightful and deserving imam. Thus this leads to the question of the qualities required to become a caliph. Ghazali mentioned ten qualities that should be in a imam. Some of them are inbuilt. They are:
Maturity,
Intelligence,
Freedom,
Should be male,
Should be from Quraish tribe,
And Imam should be able to see and hear.
The other qualities mentioned by Al Ghazali can be learnt. They are:
Courage,
Competence,
Piety
Knowledge.
Ghazali therefore proved that Mustazhir fulfills all the requirements except Knowledge. However, Ghazali changed the notion of knowledge and said that this can easily be acquired through consultation with the ulemas or advisors.
In this book ghazali also advices the caliph on how to handle the people. Ghazali says that the two fundamental duties of the imam are associated woth knowledge which is theoretical and the other deals with the actions of the imam which is practical. Ghazali also associates some responsibilities with knowledge. These comprise that the imam shold know why God created man and what is man’s purpose in this world. Another thing associated is that the Caliph must know that piety leads to happiness in afterlife and that a person should be pious in his heart. Third is that the caliph must know that the caliph has responsibilities and he should work hard in order to achieve a good society. The caliph must also know that a man has many sides to it, man can be like a angel or can also show his savagery side.
Ghazali also in this book extensively criticizes the Ismailies. He lays down two significant points to disqualify the ismailies from the eligibility of imamate. Ghazali argues that the ismailies’ doctrines and leaders are guilty of innovation and of altering the religion. This includes the belief of two Gods, thus disqualifying them due to the unsoundness of belief. Secondly, Ghazali says that ismailies reject some details revealed in the quran therefore they are not eligible.
Al-Iqtisad fi al-Itiqad
This is the second book by Ghazali which talks about politics. This text is used mostly used by scholars to generalize his theory. In this he discusses the importance of appointing an imam, secondly the way of appointing an imam and the relation between the sultans and the imam.
He supported the appointment of imams by syllogizing. He states that the Prophet’s aim was to have good order in religion. Then he argues that a good order can only be brought forth by an Imam. Thus the appointment of an imam is obligatory. After some time Ghazali realized that there can be connotations to invalidate that good order can only come due to an imam’s presence. Thus he used another syllogism to defend this claim. He said that the good order of the din can only be done through good order in this world. He then said that only an imam brings forth good order in this world. So he says that the good order in religion is brought forth by an imam whose commands are obeyed.
Ghazali also mentions that to fully focus on religious one must be relieved from worldly problems such as defending the family and earning livelihood. Therefore good order in this world is paramount.
One example of disorder that Ghazali gives is of the unexpected death of an imam or sultan. If the imam or sultan is not timely appointed than the matter of the appointment will convert into a battle of swords with the one emerging victorious claiming as the sultan or imam. This will also result in a bloodshed. Therefore it is important to appoint imam timely in order to avoid this bloodshed.
The book also deals with the process of appointing the imam. The qualities required to become an imam were already prescribed in his first book. Ghazali said that there can be three ways of choosing the imam:
By the Holy Prophet’s choice of being designated,
By the appointment by the current imam from his descendants or from any member of the Quraish tribe,
Or by the support of an individual who has strong military power and has followers so that the followers also accept the imam.
The third point interested al Ghazali the most. Ghazali considered the approval of only a single person who held military power and peoples support enough to appoint an imam. This is because the person has support from many people and therefore the people will unanimously agree with the imam and one of the reasons of appointing an imam, i.e. uniting the people, will be fulfilled. Ghazali says that if two or more share significant military power than they must decide amongst themselves for a single imam.
Ghazali also mentions that if there is only one quraish who claims to be a imam, and has military power, is followed and obeyed by many people, and fulfills the requisites for imam than he can be a candidate and the people should become obedient to him. Therefore, the person will also might be able to influence important men who might and ulema who might form a ijma and on behalf of the majority swear allegiance to the imam.
Ghazali also said that a imam might be replaced if he does not fulfill the knowledge criteria even if he regularly consults ulema by a person who fulfills all requirements. However, this might not be done if the appointment the new caliph causes chaos in the society and leads to unstability.
Ihya Ulum al-Din
In this book Ghazali explores the importance of sultans in the caliphate. Ghazali says that an unjust sultan supported by extensive military power should remain in power as his disposition might lead to civil war. Ghazali also says that the sultan who has power should be considered legitimate, even if he does not fulfills all requirements, if he has paid alliance to the imam. Ghazali also stays firm on the point that the only sultan can choose an imam due to its military power even if the sultan is ignorant.
Nasihat al Muluk
In this book, as can be seen from the title, relates to the advice given by al ghazali to sultans. Ghazali lays down ten points for how the sultan should interact with common people.
One of the points is justice and ghazali explains that the sultan should do justice to people as conveyed by the holy prophet that a day of rule by a just sultan is better than six decades of continual worship. Another principle is that the sultan must never hesitate in seeking help from the ulema. However he also warns to stay away from ulemas who indulge in worldly or materialistic things. Other principles are: not to be proud, to think as a common person, avoid doing things to brothers that he himself might not want, help those in need, also to not be luxurious and to follow the shariah.
Analysis
It can be said that the Ghazalian theory of the state is very specific and not generalized and applicable only to islam and is not able to address issues relating to the contemporary world. Thus one can never be sure that his writings were an intended or an unintended consequence of the circumstances that ghazali faced or they were not. Another critique of Ghazalian theory is that he seems to validate and legitimize an unjust sultan or imam. Therefore this can be seen as a weakness that Ghazali could not come up with a better solution.
However, it can appreciated that Ghazali’s stance does not change much throughout his writing, from the first till the last.