Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis: A Debate on Reason and Authority in Medieval Islam: English 2001

Al-Ghazali is arguably one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Islam, and his writings have received greater scholarly attention in the West than those of any other Muslim scholar. This study explores an important dimension of his thought that has not yet been fully examined, namely, his polemical engagement with the Ismailis of the Fatimid and early Alamut periods. Table of Contents Ecology of the Kitab al-Mustaziri: Historical Time and Place * Al Ghazali and the Saljuqs * Al-Ghazali and the Abbasid Caliphate * Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis * Anatomy of the Kitab al-Mustaziri: Content and Style * Al-Ghazali's Muqaddima : A Justification * Defining a Method * The Adab al-Firaq Legacy: A Taxonomy of Exclusion * The Place of Kalam : Reason and its Limits * The Demands of the Fiqh : Limits and Norms * The Body Politic in Medieval Islam: Justification and Narcissism * Towards a Rereading of the Kitab al-Mustaziri * Orthodoxy: A Problem of Interpretation * Reason: Subjectivity Versus Objectivity * Authority: Spiritual Versus Temporal