Al-Ghazālī and the Ismailis : a debate on reason and authority in medieval Islam / Farouk Mitha.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-122) and index.

1. Ecology of the Kitab al-Mustazhiri: Historical Place and Time -- Al-Ghazali and the Saljuqs -- Al-Ghazali and the Abbasid Caliphate -- Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis -- 2. Anatomy of the Kitab al-Mustazhiri: Content and Style -- Al-Ghazalis'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 Fiqh: Limits and Norms -- The Body Politic in Medieval Islam: Justification and Narcissism -- 3. Towards a Re-reading of the Kitab al-Mustazhiri -- Orthodoxy: A Problem of Interpretation -- Reason: Subjectivity versus Objectivity -- Authority: Spiritual versus Temporal.

"Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (450/1058-505/1111) 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. Al-Ghazali wrote several texts in refutation of the Ismailis, of which the most detailed is the Kitab al-Mustazhiri. The author examines the key themes and arguments in this text, and analyses the ways in which al-Ghazali was influenced by the Ismailis. Al-Ghazali's debate with the Ismailis constitutes an important chapter in the history of Muslim thought and this book explores the wider intellectual and political significance of this encounter, especially the central tensions and questions of the age in which al-Ghazali lived."--Jacket.