Ghazali and Purity

Jacob LesterIslamic Spirituality-Akrami

4/22/2014

Cleanliness as Dhikr

The teachings of Imam Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Al-Ghazālī have

continued to have profound significance in the centuries since his death. The most

readily complete collection of his thought to learners is The Rival of Religious

Sciences. This text describes nearly every aspect of the religious sciences1 of Islam.

It expands on the nature not only of the obligations in Islam, but also those

voluntary acts which one performs to draw near to Allah as it says in the hadith:

My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than the religious duties that I have imposed upon him; and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory work such that I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he acts, and his leg with which he walks. Were he to ask of Me, I would surely give him; and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it.2

In The Revival of Religious Sciences, Al-Ghazālī does not make obligatory

those acts which are not already obligatory but he places extreme importance both

on intentionality of an act and the implications for maintaining an act. These

emphases both strongly encourage the performing of supererogatory acts by the

faithful within a given community. In this way, Al-Ghazālī encourages the reader to

not only follow that which is obligatory for Muslims but to go above and show

unending love and devotion to Allah. In the third book of The Revival of Religious

Sciences, Mysteries of Purity, Al-Ghazālī instructs the faithful Muslim in purity and

cleanliness, not only those obligatory acts but the motivations and purposes behind

them.

1 Religious sciences- should be understood as religious motivations and practices which bears examination, study, and whose outcomes are repeatable. 2 "Hadith 38: The Wali of Allah." honey for the heart. http://honeyfortheheart.wordpress.com/40-hadith/hadith-38-the-wali-of-allah/ (accessed April 18, 2014).

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The state of cleanliness in Islam is a state to be desired for nearness to Allah.

“God loves those who cleanse themselves.”3 Al-Ghazālī teaches four distinct stages

of purity: first, there is bodily purification; second, purification of the mind and

senses from past wrongs; third, purification of the heart from vices and censurable

characteristics; fourth, purification of the inner self and one’s nature so completely

only Allah remains. Immediately, Al-Ghazālī denotes cost and reward of these

stages, “…purity is half of the activity that it entails. For the supreme aim of the

activities of the inmost self is to have the majesty and greatness of God revealed

unto it.”4 This raises two concerns. Purification is not done solely for the sake of

being purified. Neither is purification itself the full requirement of each stage. There

is also a requirement of replacing that which was impure with pure and desirable.

The intent then, in purification, is not only to empty oneself of the impurities and

undesirable traits but then also cultivating in the purified space of oneself qualities

which are pure and desirable.

Cleanliness, mandated and commonly associated with a cleansing ritual

before ritual prayer, is arrived by practice of Wuḍūʾ5. The practice of Wuḍūʾ is the

first “stage of purification” and thoroughly described by Al-Ghazālī’s Mysteries of

Purity. Though the chapter is filled with various specific rituals and restrictions of

what qualifies as pure or impure in cleansing, it is important to realize that for al-

Ghazālī, purity encompassed a wider field than the means of purification of the

body. Al-Ghazālī’s primary agenda is to establish reasonableness and intentionality

in the process of purification. This was necessary in al-Ghazālī’s context and perhaps 3 Arberry, A. J. 1996. The Koran interpreted: a translation. New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster. Surah 9. Verse 108. 4 Ghazza ̄li ̄, and Nabih Amin Faris. 1966. The mysteries of purity. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf. 3. 5 Wuḍūʾ is obligatory at other times but the nuances of application and varieties of interpretation of cleanliness and Wuḍūʾ do not concern this paper.

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in part is a response to his teacher, the Imam al-Haramayn (al-Juwayni). In al-

Ghazālī’s time, that a Muslim would follow a prescribed series of rituals for

cleanliness was given but some debate is generated over the nature and function

of those rituals. His writing serves to provide a dynamic application of those rituals

where rituals remain both sacred and tenable to the common Muslim.

In the case of purified water, Al-Ghazālī carefully venerates the words of the

Prophet, “When water is sufficient to fill two pitchers it carries no impurities.6” while

going on to suggest that the “impurity” of water was not contingent upon the

amount of water present but instead, that there be a change in taste, color, or odor

of water if it is considered impure. He goes on to suggest that there is no difference

between (pure) water which was used to cleanse an impurity and water which was

already impure7. He argues that because water used to cleanse an impurity remains

pure after the cleansing, so is “impure” water that had been in contact with impure

bodies, without change in taste, color, or odor, rendered still pure. But this

argument is not given out some abstract notion of purity but pragmatically as a

historical basis, that scarcity of running water in regions with still water reservoirs

used for purification during the time of the Prophet and his Companions would have

generated commentary as to the whether amount of water should be considered in

its cleanliness.8

Al-Ghazālī also describes the importance of intention when using

questionable water, suggesting that ordinary impurities do not make water impure

except in the case of undergoing change of taste, color or odor. He suggests if 6 Al-tirmidhi, Tarahah, 69; ibn Majah, Taharah;32.7 Impure here is water without change in taste, color or odor, which has come into contact with that which impure. 8 Ghazza ̄li ̄, and Nabih Amin Faris. 1966. The mysteries of purity. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf. 14-20.

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quantity of water were determinate in regards to the purity of water then ascetics

and other early Muslims would not have had Wuḍūʾ, both because of water scarcity

and those ascetics regularly used common bathhouse water used by both the clean

and unclean, to purify themselves. In this way, Al-Ghazālī suggests that the matter

of purification is not determined by the application of water, clean or unclean but in

the motivation and intent of the faithful.

Al-Ghazālī’s teacher, Al-Juwayni placed great importance on certainty in the

ethics of one’s action—as revealed through scripture. For Al-Juwayni, all solutions

are contained within and revealed by Scripture regardless of the divinely revealed

solution’s symmetry with moral order9. The unique move made by Al-Ghazālī is not

to contrast Al-Juwayni because he still assumes scripture as the authoritative source

but then posits the necessity of intention in combination with adequate adherence

as that which determines acceptability to Allah.10 It is noteworthy that in removing

qualifications about the nature of pure Al-Ghazālī removes any hierarchy of purity

which could otherwise be established. It is now not possible for one believer to say

to another, “I am more pure than you, because I use more pure water.”

In the same vein, Al-Ghazālī warns against over purification or purification for

the sake of self-beautification, “For to go to excess is evil...”11 This again serves to

reinforce the point that intention is necessary in determining the morality of an act.

Al-Ghazālī is careful not to dictate strict universal interpretations of cleanliness

providing instead, “He, therefore, may do whatever he wishes so long as there is

9 This is a fundamental principle of the Mu'tazilite position, namely that G-d adheres to the created moral order.10 In this way, Al-Ghazali begins to show a preference neither for the Ash’arite nor Mu'tazilite stance. 11 Ghazza ̄li ̄, and Nabih Amin Faris. 1966. The mysteries of purity. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf. 8.

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neither waste nor extravagance therein. They become evil when they are made a

fundamental part of religion.”12 Reasonableness is also reinforced here. Al-Ghazālī ‘s

interpretation leaves room for those Muslims which decide that personally- their

cleanliness must adhere to a given higher standard without determining that all

Muslims must equally adhere to the same higher standard-especially in the case of

lacking resources. In this way, the community remains dynamic. He also offers a

warning about the adhering to external without also cleansing the heart or

interiority declaring one, “should, however, be ashamed of communing with G-d

without first purifying his heart.13” This is central to affirming Al-Ghazālī’s emphasis

on the role of intention in purification.

The role of purification as imparted by Al-Ghazālī shows that simply adhering

to ritual for sake of ritual or seeking to universally apply a stricter standard then

what is accessible to the common man both creates a religion that dissuades rather

encourages genuine communion with Allah. Al-Ghazālī instead suggests the

intention of devotion to Allah, alongside the implementation of purification rituals

encourages the community of Muslims to collectively be wholly devoted to

remembrance of Allah.

An observation should be made that the standards of bodily purification serve

not as a rejection of the body but an embracing the nature of humanness. In

cleansing the self internally and externally, one removes the impurity both of dirt

and sin of acquired in the world and approaches Allah as he is made, pure.

12 Ibid.13 Ibid. 37.

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This argument of intention alongside ritual remains a relevant paradigm to

be encouraged in the faithful of all religious traditions. Christianity, the tradition I

am must familiar with, does not have purity rituals so closely associated with the

body. In fact, Christianity often shuns the body with disdain-herein Islam offers

something deeply beneficial which Christianity could adopt. That the body can be

embraced for what and how it is and from that state, intentionally purified and

cleansed so that when interacting with G-d, we arrive fully as we are human with

human bodies. 14

14 Word count: 1665

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Ghazali and Purity