Al-ghazali as a representative and initiator of the idealized attitude in the relationship between the class of religious scholars and government

Abstract

There is no doctrinal approach for the nature of the relationship between the religious class ('ulama') and government in Islam. From the early centuries of Islam onwards, there have been two different approaches. The first approach is to be a part of the governing mechanism, and the second is to be separate from the government. In Islamic tradition, the second approach is accepted as an ideal attitude because it has been supported by major scholars and Sufis from the early centuries on. Al-Ghazali, who has a very important place in Islamic thought, also adopted this attitude and tried to behave consistently with it during his life. However, what distinguishes him from his predecessors is that he dedicated long passages to this issue in his major work, Ihya'. Al-Ghazali's attitude, because he is not only followed for his ideas but also for his personal life's record (manqiba), plays an important role by idealizing this second approach. In this paper, I address the intellectual background and the socio-political structure that paved the way for al-Ghazali's thoughts and their emergence into the public stage.