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Description of  Ghazali s Epistemology (Routledge Studies in Islamic Philosophy)

1032517069 pdf Focusing on Ab mid al-Ghazl (d. 1111) one of the foremost scholars and authorities in the Muslim world who is central to the Islamic intellectual tradition this book embarks on a study of doubt (shakk) and certainty (yaqn) in his epistemology. The book looks at Ghazls attitude to philosophical demonstration and Sufism as a means to certainty. In early scholarship surrounding Ghazl, he has often been blamed as the one who single-handedly offered the death-blow to philosophy in the Muslim world. In much of contemporary scholarship, Ghazl is understood to prefer philosophy as the ultimate means to certainty, granting Sufism a secondary status. Hence, much of previous scholarship has either focused on Ghazl as a Sufi or as a philosopher this book takes a parallel approach, and acknowledges each discipline in its right place. It analyses Ghazls approach to acquiring certainty, his methodological scepticism, his foundationalism, his attitude to authoritative instruction (