Live with Integrity

• read the narration column first
• then do the exercises

D1. The word ‘integrity’ derives from being ‘whole’, ‘of one piece’. Applied to character it means: wholeness with one’s inner conscience; an uncompromising adherence to one’s code of moral values; sincerity and honesty; avoiding deception. Can you explain why al-Ghazali’s crisis was a crisis of personal integrity?

D2. It is sometimes said that we drink our religion with our mother's milk. There is a lot of truth in this. We receive our religious convictions from our parents and teachers. But that is, in itself, no sufficient justification for accepting them. Though we need guides to show us the way, we ourselves will have to walk. Others may cook for us; we ourselves will have to chew and digest. Spoonfeeding is alright for children, but unacceptable to grown up people.

What do you make of the sayings of wise men quoted here? Do you agree with them? Why or why not?

• D2.1 “Do not believe on the basis of one or other tradition; neither on the basis of a doctrine deduced from sacred writings; nor on the basis of purely speculative thinking; nor on the basis of the semblance of reality. Do not think: ‘The priest is my teacher. Therefore I believe what he says’. If you yourself understand that something should be rejected, simply reject it!”
  Anguttura Nikaya, Buddhistic Scripture
• D2.2“Truth that has merely been learned is like an artificial limb, a false tooth. a waxen nose; it adheres to us only because it is put on. But truth acquired by thought of our own is like a natural limb; it alone really belongs to us.” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
• D2.3 “Where different faiths flourish side by side, converts are looked upon with contempt even by the party whose belief they adopt; so completely has the idea of loyalty replaced that of truth seeking.”
  Charles Pierce (1839-1914)

D3. [personal exercise]
Is integrity an important value to you in your own life?

narration

2. 1 Integrity

It was October 1095 in the city of Baghdad. Hundreds of students had crowded into the lecture room to hear Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, the famous, enthusiastic, young lecturer of Nizamiyya College.

As al-Ghazali began his lecture, all took their seats. The shuffling of feet and hubbub of voices subsided. All eyes were fastened on his face. al-Ghazali consulted his notes. He opened his mouth to speak, but not a sound came . . . Drops of sweat stood on his forehead . . . .

“One particular day I was making an effort to lecture in order to gratify the hearts of my students. But my tongue would not utter a single word. I could not accomplish anything at all . . . . .”
Al-Ghazali, in Deliverance from error

Al-Ghazali picked up his notes and left the lecture room.

What was the reason of this strange behaviour?

Born in Tus, Persia in 1058 A.D, al-Ghazali achieved much fame even as a young scholar. Appointed professor of Muslim Law at Baghdad in 1091, he drew the record number of 300 students (a lot in those times). In spite of his youth (he was then 33 years old) he could outshine any contemporary Muslim scholar. His book on the “Inconsistency of Philosophers” caused a revolution in the Muslim world of learning. To all accounts it looked as if al-Ghazali was moving towards a glorious career. However, he went through a period of darkness and confusion.

For some time he even doubted the existence of God. He was attracted to the ideal of holiness, but he did not know where to seek it. He wanted to defend the truths of his religion, but could find no justification.

Meanwhile his classes continued. But the applause of his students and the praises of his critics could not make him forget the agony of his mind. His external teaching did no longer correspond to the inner convictions and feelings of his heart. A terrible conflict of conscience arose. Should he hang on to his lecturing post to gain even more influence and public recognition?

“I reflected on this for a long time, while the choice still remained open to me. One day I would form the resolution to quit Baghdad and get rid of my critical situation; the next day I would abandon my resolution. I put one foot forward and drew the other back. If in the morning I had a genuine longing to seek eternal life, by the evening the attack of my worldly desires had reduced it to impotence.”
Al-Ghazali, in Deliverance from error

The climax of his interior struggle was the breakdown in class described earlier. This decided the matter for al-Ghazali. He realised that for the sake of his integrity he needed to quit his succesful teaching career.

In November 1095, hardly four years after taking up his appointment, he left Baghdad and his teaching post. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca and retired to solitude for 11 years.

E1 The case study of al-Ghazali teaches us the function of doubt in the process of acquiring truth. We should not be afraid of doubt. Doubt is the ladder by which we can climb higher, the boat on which we can cross the river of ignorance. Do you agree that al-Ghazali’s doubts were justified?

E2 Can you comment on the following statements by religious leaders and great thinkers:

• E2.1 “The master says: ‘Tzu lu, will I teach you what knowledge really means? Knowledge means: realizing what you know and realizing what you don't know’.”
  Kung Fu Tse, also called Confucius, greatest Chinese moralist (551-478 BC)
• E2.2 “When to the strenuous, meditative Brahman there comes to light the elements of being, only then vanish all his doubts and eager questions ...”
  Gautama Buddha (563?- 483? BC), Maha Vagga 1.1.3. (Even Buddha himself passed through a stage of doubts and questions before reaching Enlightenment.)
• E2.3 “The business of the philosopher is well done If he succeeds in raising genuine doubt.”
  Raphael Cohen, a Jew (1880-1947)
• E2.4 “You call for faith, I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists. The more of doubt, the stronger faith, I say, if faith will conquer doubt.”
  Robert Browning, a Christian (1812-1889)
• E2.5 “William James used to preach the ‘Will to Believe’. For my part, I should wish to preach the ‘will to doubt’ ...... What is wanted is not the will to believe, but to find out...”
  Bertrand Russell, atheist (1872-1970).

E3. [personal exercise]
Do you have serious doubts? How do you deal with them?

2. 2 Healthy doubts

Al-Ghazali was troubled by doubts. He saw many contradictions in his faith. He felt the burden of religious traditions that could not be proved.

This is what he says about doubt:

“To thirst after a comprehension of things as they really are was my habit and custom from a very early age. It was instinctive with me, a part of my Godgiven nature, a matter of temperament and of my choice or contriving. Consequently as I drew near the age of adolescence the bonds of mere authority ceased to hold me, and inherited beliefs lost their grip upon me. For I saw that Christian youths always grow up to be Christians, Jewish youths to be Jews and Muslim youths to be Muslims.”

Al-Ghazali struggled to find truth. He wanted to discover the basis of knowledge, experience of God and the reasons for his own fear. It proved an agonizing search . . . . .

“I have ever recklessly launched out into the midst of all religions.
I have always bravely embarked on this open sea, throwing aside all cowardly caution.
I have poked into every dark corner.
I have made an assault on every problem.
I have plunged into every abyss.
I have scrutinized the creed of every sect.
I have tried to lay bare the inmost doctrine of every community.
All this I have done that I might distinguish between true and false . . . ”
Al-Ghazali

F1 Do you fully appreciate the wisdom of these cryptic sayings?

• F1.1 “For every man his thought is his queen” (Afghan Proverb) Why his QUEEN? Why not “his king” or “his wife” ?
• F1.2 “Men fear thought, even more than death!” (Bertrand Russell) Is there a link between thinking and dying?
• F1.3 “In the long run spoon feeding teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” (Edward Froster) Does the spoon of teaching have a ‘shape’?

F2. [personal exercise]
Can you learn from al-Ghazali if you are not a Muslim ourselves? Are you willing to admit to your own uncertainties? How will you find the right balance in your life?

2. 3 Finding the right balance

During the time of his ‘retreat’, al-Ghazali. regained the certainties of his life, through his personal studies and meditation . He became the most profound scholar of Islam. His career in Baghdad, however splendid it might have seemed at the time, would not have made him the outstanding theologian, thinker and the great mystic that he eventually became.

How do we know God? Al-Ghazali worked out that he would not have the light of his intelligence if it did not come from a creative Mind. He describes this in a metaphor.

“I see a patch of light on the floor of my room. I look up. It comes from the moon. It shines through my window, strikes a mirror on the wall and reflects from it down onto the floor. Again I look up, at the moon. Suddenly I realize that the light of the moon is itself reflected from the sun . . . ”
Al-Ghazali, in The Niche for Lamps

In other words: “There is light in my heart. There is light in teachers and guides. There is light in external laws. The ultimate source of all this light is God.”

This was his prayer:

“I ask God first to reform me then others through me. To guide me; then others through me. To show me the truth of what is true; and to grant in His goodness that I may follow it.”
Al-Ghazali

Only in 1106 did he take up lecturing again, a this time in Nishapur. He died five years later in 1111.

Titles of al-Ghazali:

• Hujjat il-Islam (Proof of Islam)
• Muhyi id-Din (Reviver of Religion)

The most important writings of al-Ghazali:

• The Inconsistency of Philosophers
• The Golden Mean in Belief
• Revival of Religious Sciences
• Deliverance from Error The Beginning of Guidance