Politics of the Islamic Tradition Over the last two centuries the Muslim world has undergone dramatic transfor- mations, impacting the Islamic tradition and throwing into question our understanding of tradition. The notion of tradition as an unmoving edifice is contradictedbytheveryprocessofitstransmission,andthecomplexrolehuman beings play in creating and sustaining traditions is evident in the indigenous mechanismsofchangewithintheIslamictradition. Politics of the Islamic Tradition locates the work of Egyptian cleric Muhammadal-GhazaliwithinthecontextofthisdynamicIslamictradition,with special focus on his political thought. Al-Ghazali inherited a vast and diverse heritagethathemanagedtoreinterpretinachangingworld.Aninnovativeexplo- ration of the change and continuity present within Muslim discourses, this book brings together disparate threads of the Islamic tradition, religious exegesis, the contemporary Arab Middle East, the Islamic state and idea of renewal in al- Ghazali’s thought. As well as being one of the first complete treatments of al-Ghazali’s works, this book provides an original critical approach to tradition and its capability for innovation and change, countering the dichotomy between traditionandmodernitythattypicallyinformsmostscholarlystudiesoncontem- poraryIslam. OfferinghighlyoriginalinsightsintoIslamicthoughtandengagingwithcriti- calnotionsoftradition,thisbookisessentialreadingforstudentsandscholarsof Islamicpoliticsandhistory. Mohammed Moussa is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies,whoseresearchinterestslieprimarilyintheIslamictraditionandchange. Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Democratization and Government Edited by Larbi Sadiki QatarUniversity This series examines new ways of understanding democratization and govern- mentintheMiddleEast.Thevariedandunevenprocessesofchangeoccurringin the Middle Eastern region can no longer be read and interpreted solely through theprismofEuro-Americantransitology.Seekingtoframecriticalparametersin light of these new horizons, this series instigates reinterpretations of democracy and propagates formerly ‘subaltern’, narratives of democratization. ReinvigoratingdiscussiononhowArabandMiddleEasternpeoplesandsocieties seek good government, Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Democratization andGovernmentprovidestestsandcontestsofoldandnewassumptions. 1 Revolution,RevoltandReforminNorthAfrica TheArabSpringandbeyond EditedbyRicardoRenéLarémont 2 InformalPowerintheGreaterMiddleEast Hiddengeographies EditedbyLucaAnceschi,GennaroGervasioandAndreaTeti 3 CrowdsandPoliticsinNorthAfrica Tunisia,AlgeriaandLibya AndreaKhalil 4 Egypt’sLongRevolution Protestmovementsanduprisings MahaAbdelrahman 5 SectarianisminIraq ThemakingofStateandNationsince1920 KhalilF.Osman 6 SufismandPoliticsinMorocco Activismanddissent AbdelilahBouasria 7 PoliticalandConstitutionalTransitionsinNorthAfrica Actorsandfactors JustinO.FrosiniandFrancescoBiagi 8 AlJazeeraandDemocratization TheriseoftheArabPublicSphere EzzeddineAbdelmoula 9 RevolutionaryEgypt Connectingdomesticandinternationalstruggles EditedbyReemAbou-El-Fadl 10 OilStatesintheNewMiddleEast Uprisingsandstability EditedbyKjetilSelvikandBjørnOlavUtvik 11 PoliticsoftheIslamicTradition ThethoughtofMuhammadal-Ghazali MohammedMoussa This page intentionally left blank Politics of the Islamic Tradition The thought of Muhammad al-Ghazali Mohammed Moussa Firstpublished2016 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2016MohammedMoussa TherightofMohammedMoussatobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas beenassertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfrom thepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanation withoutintenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acataloguerecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested ISBN:978-1-138-84121-5(hbk) ISBN:978-1-315-73237-4(ebk) TypesetinTimesNewRoman byFiSHBooksLtd,Enfield ForFeride Forourbelovedparents,KhamisaandMahmoudMokhtar, bizimbabamız,Hasan This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface x Introduction: Tradition: Muhammad al-Ghazali the scholar-reformer 1 1 Biography of Muhammad al-Ghazali 13 2 Survey of literature on Muhammad al-Ghazali 22 3 Renewal in the formation of the Islamic tradition 43 4 Muhammad al-Ghazali’s rethinking of Islam 78 5 The Shari’ah and politics in Muhammad al-Ghazali’s thought 99 6 The tendency of renewal among Muhammad al-Ghazali’s peers 121 Conclusion: Further reflections on Muhammad al-Ghazali and the Islamic tradition 145 Glossary 165 Bibliography 171 Index 180