ghazali's theory of virtue

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Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Hava Lazarus-YafehReviewed work(s):Ghazali's Theory of Virtue by Mohamed Ahmed Sherif

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 97, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1977), pp. 20202Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/599017

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Reviews of Bookseviews of Bookswith the three aspects of medieval Arabic literaturethat appear most alien to modern Western taste: thelimitation of themes, the sedimentation with conven-tions, and the use of reticent patterns of composition.There are three parts and three approaches. Thefirst part (Chapters I-III) is historical: it takes for itstheme the transformations in poetic genres and poeticattitudes (towards time and society) in the periodbeginning with the sixth century A.D. and ending withthe tenth. The second part (IV-V) concentrates onsome problems of poetic technique: how poems weremade to hang together, how conventions were handled.The third part (VI-VII) deals with methods of com-position in prose, examining the orders and disordersin two tales from the Arabian Nights.Because the material tapped is limited, the historicalsection is-if not less lively or stimulating than theothers-more open to question. In comparing the broad

features and the "driving spirit" of Arabic poetry beforeand after Islam, the effect of forgeries may well be dis-counted (p. 6), but what of the possibly extensive sup-pression of pagan material? And when a few pages laterthe author encounters a conflict of evidence on the prev-alence of the atlal motif, it is both inconsistent and agreat deal too facile to resolve it by blandly surmisingthat "there is just a chance that the mu'allaqat are ...brilliant forgeries" (p. 17). A few of the inferences, tooare drawn from dubious translations. For example, thereare social overtones to Abu Nuwas's "adhaqani s-saddasu'u tadbiri" only if sadd is taken to mean "an outcast'slife" (p. 41); and the whole tenor of the same poet'sline:

fa-raddahu sh-shaykhu 'an su'iibatihiwa-isra qawwadana wa-lam yazaliand consequently the function ascribed to the devil hingeon whether it is correct to translate qawwad as "guide"(p. 53) rather than "pimp." Precisely because ProfessorHamori has new insights to give, he ought to guardagainst being less rigorous in his scholarship than hismore pedestrian predecessors.This last sentence should also make it clear that thereservations expressed in this review are but the counter-

part of the high hopes raised by this bright and originalwork. There is hardly a page in it that does not containsome luminous observation, sharply focused and felicitous-ly formulated. It is in no sense a stricture to add thatthe judgments are personal and suggestive rather thanauthoritative. The reader may enthusiastically agree withthe interpretation of a poem by Mutanabbi (pp. 134-41);on the other hand he may well wonder whether the com-mentary on Sanawbari's poem (pp. 83-6) is not subtlerthan the text, or he may take the enumeration of cor-respondences between lady and camel in various parts

with the three aspects of medieval Arabic literaturethat appear most alien to modern Western taste: thelimitation of themes, the sedimentation with conven-tions, and the use of reticent patterns of composition.There are three parts and three approaches. Thefirst part (Chapters I-III) is historical: it takes for itstheme the transformations in poetic genres and poeticattitudes (towards time and society) in the periodbeginning with the sixth century A.D. and ending withthe tenth. The second part (IV-V) concentrates onsome problems of poetic technique: how poems weremade to hang together, how conventions were handled.The third part (VI-VII) deals with methods of com-position in prose, examining the orders and disordersin two tales from the Arabian Nights.Because the material tapped is limited, the historicalsection is-if not less lively or stimulating than theothers-more open to question. In comparing the broad

features and the "driving spirit" of Arabic poetry beforeand after Islam, the effect of forgeries may well be dis-counted (p. 6), but what of the possibly extensive sup-pression of pagan material? And when a few pages laterthe author encounters a conflict of evidence on the prev-alence of the atlal motif, it is both inconsistent and agreat deal too facile to resolve it by blandly surmisingthat "there is just a chance that the mu'allaqat are ...brilliant forgeries" (p. 17). A few of the inferences, tooare drawn from dubious translations. For example, thereare social overtones to Abu Nuwas's "adhaqani s-saddasu'u tadbiri" only if sadd is taken to mean "an outcast'slife" (p. 41); and the whole tenor of the same poet'sline:

fa-raddahu sh-shaykhu 'an su'iibatihiwa-isra qawwadana wa-lam yazaliand consequently the function ascribed to the devil hingeon whether it is correct to translate qawwad as "guide"(p. 53) rather than "pimp." Precisely because ProfessorHamori has new insights to give, he ought to guardagainst being less rigorous in his scholarship than hismore pedestrian predecessors.This last sentence should also make it clear that thereservations expressed in this review are but the counter-

part of the high hopes raised by this bright and originalwork. There is hardly a page in it that does not containsome luminous observation, sharply focused and felicitous-ly formulated. It is in no sense a stricture to add thatthe judgments are personal and suggestive rather thanauthoritative. The reader may enthusiastically agree withthe interpretation of a poem by Mutanabbi (pp. 134-41);on the other hand he may well wonder whether the com-mentary on Sanawbari's poem (pp. 83-6) is not subtlerthan the text, or he may take the enumeration of cor-respondences between lady and camel in various parts

of an ode (p. 19) to be a shade too neat and clever, butintriguing nevertheless; or he may end up feeling thatthe fascination of the story of "the Porter and the ThreeLadies" (pp. 164-80) derives not so much from the ironyof a cosmic music as from the contemplation of the kalei-doscopic changes that may be effected by a slight rotationof the repetitive patterns of an arabesque. What mattersis that the reader's perceptions have been challenged, re-directed, sharpened, deepened. For here at last Arabicliterature is being examined as literature, and not as aphilological quarry or an embellished social treatise.Let us have more of this.

PIERRE CACHIACOLUMBIAUNIVERSITY

Ghazali's Theory of Virtue. By MOHAMEDHMEDSHERIF.Pp. 205, including two appendices, bibliography andindex. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITYOF NEW YORKPRESS. 1975.

The voluminous literature about Al-Ghazzali (1058-1111)is still growing steadily. There seems to pass no year with-out at least one new book about Al-Ghazzali appearingsomewhere in the academic world, let alone articles,translations, editions of his books, etc. The uniqueness ofthis great thinker still fascinates philosophers and scholarsall over the world and there seems to be no limit to theirefforts to penetrate Al-Ghazzali's thought more deeplyin order to find better solutions to the endless problemsand contradictions that his manifold books pose to hisreaders. M. A. Sherif's book is not only one more attemptof this kind but an extremely helpful one at that. Hetackles Al-Ghazzali from a new point of view and in adifferent way from his precursors and the result of hiseffort is a fine and valuable study of Al-Ghazzali'sethics-even for those who may not agree with Sherif onall details.

Sherif proves-successfully, I believe-that "Al-Ghaz-zali's ethics include philosophic, religious and mysticalelements and that he purposely brings all of them to-gether and blends them in such a way that they com-plement each other and form a whole which is not merelythe sum of the parts but has its own characteristics as anethical theory" (pp. 21-22). First (ch. II) Sherif showsthat although Al-Ghazzali's ethical theory was deeplyinfluenced by philosophic sources, he modified andchanged several philosophic concepts in order to adaptthem to the Muslim tradition and to his own Sufi ideals.Thus, e.g., Al-Ghazzali, unlike Aristo, states that manmay be born virtuous-not only acquire virtue throughhabituation alone. This-in order to account for theMuslim theories of Prophecy and Sainthood (p. 31). Inother cases, as with regard to all virtues subordinated

of an ode (p. 19) to be a shade too neat and clever, butintriguing nevertheless; or he may end up feeling thatthe fascination of the story of "the Porter and the ThreeLadies" (pp. 164-80) derives not so much from the ironyof a cosmic music as from the contemplation of the kalei-doscopic changes that may be effected by a slight rotationof the repetitive patterns of an arabesque. What mattersis that the reader's perceptions have been challenged, re-directed, sharpened, deepened. For here at last Arabicliterature is being examined as literature, and not as aphilological quarry or an embellished social treatise.Let us have more of this.

PIERRE CACHIACOLUMBIAUNIVERSITY

Ghazali's Theory of Virtue. By MOHAMEDHMEDSHERIF.Pp. 205, including two appendices, bibliography andindex. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITYOF NEW YORKPRESS. 1975.

The voluminous literature about Al-Ghazzali (1058-1111)is still growing steadily. There seems to pass no year with-out at least one new book about Al-Ghazzali appearingsomewhere in the academic world, let alone articles,translations, editions of his books, etc. The uniqueness ofthis great thinker still fascinates philosophers and scholarsall over the world and there seems to be no limit to theirefforts to penetrate Al-Ghazzali's thought more deeplyin order to find better solutions to the endless problemsand contradictions that his manifold books pose to hisreaders. M. A. Sherif's book is not only one more attemptof this kind but an extremely helpful one at that. Hetackles Al-Ghazzali from a new point of view and in adifferent way from his precursors and the result of hiseffort is a fine and valuable study of Al-Ghazzali'sethics-even for those who may not agree with Sherif onall details.

Sherif proves-successfully, I believe-that "Al-Ghaz-zali's ethics include philosophic, religious and mysticalelements and that he purposely brings all of them to-gether and blends them in such a way that they com-plement each other and form a whole which is not merelythe sum of the parts but has its own characteristics as anethical theory" (pp. 21-22). First (ch. II) Sherif showsthat although Al-Ghazzali's ethical theory was deeplyinfluenced by philosophic sources, he modified andchanged several philosophic concepts in order to adaptthem to the Muslim tradition and to his own Sufi ideals.Thus, e.g., Al-Ghazzali, unlike Aristo, states that manmay be born virtuous-not only acquire virtue throughhabituation alone. This-in order to account for theMuslim theories of Prophecy and Sainthood (p. 31). Inother cases, as with regard to all virtues subordinated

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 97.2 (1977)to temperance, Al-Ghazzali makes Aristo's "mean" to"incline toward the defect and sometimes to be almostidentified by it" (p. 65). Therefore, he regards modesty,for example, as a virtue in direct contradiction to Aristo(p. 67) or confirms liberality as a virtue only for the multi-tude, but not for the spiritual elite, who after relinquishingwealth have no more use for it (pp. 70-72).Ch. III of the book ("The Religious Legal Virtues")is a much weaker one and deals in a most general waywith what Sherif calls "the virtues of divine assistance,"based on the theological concepts of determinism anddivine aid, which are so fundamentally different from theconcepts of free human choice and unaided human reasonheld by the philosophers. In this context the religiouscommandments take precedence over everything elseand "virtue becomes primarily religious virtue" (p. 85).But it is exactly here that I feel Sherif is missing the mostbasic points: he touches upon central themes of Al-Ghazzali's thought inadvertently as it were, and doesnot seem to be fully aware of the principal fact that Al-Ghazzali totally subdues the philosophic ethical traditionto his religious ideals. Al-Ghazzili often states veryclearly that only through proper understanding andthrough right observance of the religious commandmentsman can attain that stage of virtue and moral perfectionwhich is a necessary condition for the supreme degreeof knowledge and love of God, in which lies man's destinyand true bliss.1 Here, in my view, is the core of whatAl-Ghazz5li felt to be his own mission: to bring about arenascence of traditional, though Siifi flavoured, Islamthrough absorbing as much as possible from the philo-sophical tradition. This is why Al-Ghazzali not only re-jected any heterodox and antinomian doctrine as Sherifrightly points out (p. 103), but he in fact puts an enormouseffort into explaining the "deeper meanings" of thereligious commandments and the central role they canplay in "extirpating evil from the heart of man andimplanting virtue in it."2 Thus, obviously, alms-givingmay uproot miserliness from man's heart and the pil-grimage to Mecca, through being considered a symbolicalrehearsal of man's last journey after his death, may helphim to realize more clearly the deeper purpose of his lifeand death.3 Al-Ghazzili even expresses repeatedly the

1 Cf. f.e. Ihy& 'Uliim Al-Din, Cairo 1356 Hg., Part I,Book 7, pp. 484-485 or Kitab Al-Arba'in, Cairo 1328Hg., pp. 114-116.2 See my Studies in Al-Ghazzali, Jerusalem 1975, esp.chaps. IV and VI. (Ch. VI "The Religious Commandmentsin the Philosophy of Al-Ghazzili" was first published inthe Muslim World LI, 1961).3 Cf. Ihya ibid., Part I, Book 5, p. 388-389, and Book7, p. 483ff.

idea that the performance of those commandments whichwe do not understand is the best means for our moral-religious education, whereby we reach the highest degreeof our piety and devotion, because we have no otherreason to perform them-except God's wish and com-mand.4 This, of course, stands in direct contrast to anyphilosophical attitude and puts Al-Ghazzali's theory ofethics in its proper subordinate place in the frameworkof his whole religious doctrine.The last chapter (IV) of the book deals with the mysticalvirtues as Al-Ghazzali explains them in the last quarterof the "Ihya."5 These are perhaps more known but Sherifadds here some very appropriate shifts of points of view(p. 157). Sherif also rightly stresses Al-Ghazzili's generaldependence on his Sufi precursors like Abu Talib Al-Makki, but he does not go enough into details and thuscreates sometimes the wrong impression that Al-Ghazzaliexpresses his own ideas where he is in fact following thegeneral Sufi path (cf. f.e. p. 44-45: "DjihSd" as an innerstruggle; p. 48: poverty as a virtue, p. 58: on the meritsof hunger; p. 101: on music, etc. The ideas quoted onp. 50 are actually Siifi Malamati ideals and the basicelements of Al-Ghazzali's definition of repentance men-tioned on p. 125 are already to be found with Al-Makki,Al-Qushairi and others).One may, of course, add some general remarks ofcriticism such as the fact that this study is based onlyupon a small number of Al-Ghazzali's books or the lackof some important bibliographical items.6 But all theseand other remarks should not detract from the greatvalue of this book, which certainly will be of much helpto every student of Al-Ghazzali. HAVA LAZARUS-YAFEH

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM

4 Ibid., Book 5, p. 385.5 Personally I do not share Sherif's view of the Ihya(see his book, p. 10ff.) as a book whose subject is "practicalknowledge" only. Inspite of Al-Ghazzali's declarationsthat he will refrain from dealing with the mystical"Science of Revelation" in this compendium-he includedin it many far reaching esoteric portions (See my Studiesin Al-Ghazzali, p. 363ff.).6 E.g., basic studies like: J. Obermann-Der philoso-phische und religiose Subjektivismus Ghazalis (Wien 1921)and A. J. Wensinck-La Pensee de Ghazzali (Paris 1940)or modern monographs like H. Laoust-La Politique deGazali (Paris 1970). Perhaps my own study of Al-Ghaz-zSli's use of philosophical terms (first published in StudiaIslamica XX V, 1966) would have been useful in corrobo-rating some of Sherif's theses (see pp. 27, 30, 109-110,128).

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