ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the place of Sufism as a means to certainty in Ghazālī’s epistemology. Furthermore, it touches upon his integration of philosophical elements in his Sufi oeuvre. Ghazālī was a middle-roader. His philosophical inclinations did not dispense with his Sufi commitments, and neither did his Sufi commitments undermine his philosophical inclinations. Ghazālī regards both paths as authentic, but believes that the Sufi path provides superior clarity and certainty. The chapter discusses Ghazālī’s spiritual crisis, and his epistemic quest to taste (dhawq) a part of prophecy, or the stage of knowing beyond the intellect. It discusses the paths to the knowledge of God, and the scope of our ability to truly know Him. Thereafter, the chapter introduces Ghazālī’s main intellectual focus, the revival of the “science of the path to the hereafter” (ʿilm ṭarīq al-ākhira), and its dual components: the “knowledge of praxis” (ʿilm al-muʿāmala) and the “knowledge of unveiling” (ʿilm al-mukāshafa). As the apex of certainty, it discusses his Sufi ontology of oneness, and the associated attributes of the people who attain this level of certainty. Finally, the chapter illustrates Ghazālī’s understanding of the Quranic triad of certainty.
