The Influence of al-Makkī on al-Ghazālī

Abstract

This article focuses on the influence that Abū Tālib al-Makkī had on the thoughts of al Ghazālī, and particularly on his writings on mysticism. This is explained in terms of the traditions of Muslim scholars who have usually unhesitatingly drawn upon the ideas of other Muslim scholars, as well as from sources outside Islam to expound and explain the teachings of Islam. Al-Ghazālī who has written extensively on Islamic law, philosophy, logic, kalām, ethics and mysticism, has delved deeply into the thoughts of al-Makkī and has elaborated and built upon his ideas, to the extent that at places he seems to have reproduced al-Makkī in verbatim.