Al-Ghazali's Rationalist Promotion of Traditionalism and Its Political and Intellectual Context in the Eleventh Century

The role of Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (d. 1111) as an advocate of the authority and autonomy of reason while simultaneously criticizing philosophy is subtle and complex, giving rise to a variety of questions concerning the consistency of his thought.  The dominant trend in Ghazalian scholarship for the last thirty years revised the conception of al-Ghazali as a traditionalist Ash’ari theologian, often asserting that his ultimate commitment was to reason and philosophy.  The paper will focus on al-Ghazali’s use of philosophical concepts in the context of scriptural exegesis in his late work The Niche of Lights.  It will show that al-Ghazali uses reason to promote the traditional authority of scripture, employing traditionalist Ash’ari hermeneutics in order to make space for his philosophical, mystical, and theological commitments in the context of a variety of political and social threats to his status as a member of an elite scholarly class.  An understanding of al-Ghazali’s historical context allows for a more nuanced understanding of his thought and a clearer appreciation of his use of the authority of scripture and the autonomy of reason in order to support his intellectual and socio-political identities.