Apostasy - Ghazali

Question 1

What does the Qur’an say about apostasy?

Answer 1

“And if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief…in the hereafter they will be companions of the fire”

Question 2

What did Muhammad say about apostasy?

Answer 2

“Whoever willingly disbelieves in God after he has believed, kill him”

Question 3

What does tradition say about Muhammad’s dealing with apostates?

Answer 3

On one occasion, when Muhammad had taken over Mecca in 630AD, a tradition talks of him ordering the killing of 3 men for apostasy. However, in other traditions it states that the executions were not specifically for apostasy.

Question 4

What did Ghazali say about the law schools?

Answer 4

Claims that any person who says that unbelief is to contradict any of the schools of thought, then he is “dim-witted”. He argues why should one school of thought be correct about whether attributes are part of God’s essence or not.

Question 5

What does Ghazali say about supporting only one law school?

Answer 5

Anyone who tries to assign truth to one party is guilty themselves of unbelief and being contradictory. This is because by assigning truth to one party, he puts them above the Prophet who alone gives the truth.

Question 6

What makes someone an apostate for Ghazali?

Answer 6

If a Muslim does something to contradict the Shahadah and they can only do this by expressing that Muhammad was a liar.
If they say that the Prophet lied even if this is to do with a secondary issue
If they deny the three fundamental principles - God, the Prophet and Life after Death

Question 7

What did Ghazali say about secondary issues?

Answer 7

No one can be seen as an apostate over secondary issues e.g. status of the Caliphate and Imams, only fundamental beliefs such as God, Life after Death and Prophecy.

Question 8

What type of interpretation is not unbelief?

Answer 8

Where a text is open to figurative interpretation, scholars need to look at logical proof and if the proof is not definitive but not a threat, this is not unbelief

Question 9

What type of interpretation is unbelief?

Answer 9

Some legal matters do cause a threat to religion and then it is up to scholarly discretion (ijtihad) and speculative enquiry. they may or may not decide that these people are unbelievers. Ghazali thinks they should be executed as they are very harmful to the religion.

Question 10

What are the 3 categories of unbelief?

Answer 10

Jews and Christians because they deny the truth of Muhammad
Deists because they deny all the prophets
Atheists because they deny the prophets and God.

Question 11

What is ontological existence?

Answer 11

This is the real existence of things external to our senses and mind. The mind and senses receive impressions of these and this is apparent reality. So apparent reality is the reality which our senses and mind perceive.

Question 12

Give an example of ontological existence.

Answer 12

Muhammad talks of the seven heavens

Question 13

What is sensory existence?

Answer 13

This is the existence that our senses perceive. As this can be deceptive, there may be no existence outside of what we see.

Question 14

Give an example of sensory existence.

Answer 14

When the prophets see angels when they are awake and when in the Qur’an it says that Death will be brought forth on the Day of judgement in the form of a black and a white ram and slaughtered between paradise and hell.

Question 15

What is conceptual existence?

Answer 15

These are images in our brain. This is when we can produce an image of something in our mind even though it is not in front of us.

Question 16

Give an example of conceptual existence.

Answer 16

When Muhammad talks of Jonah and god commanding him. This happened prior to Muhammad.

Question 17

What is Noetic existence?

Answer 17

This is the purpose and value of something e.g. a hand can seize and strike, a pen can record knowledge.

Question 18

Give an example of Noetic existence.

Answer 18

When the Qur’an talks of God’s hands, it is really talking not of the physical form but the function e.g. seizing, striking, giving and withholding. As the hand can seize and hold it could be a reference to God’s power.

Question 19

What is analogous existence?

Answer 19

This is when something does not exist in the mind or in reality but something similar does exist.

Question 20

Give an example of analogous existence.

Answer 20

When the Qur’an refers to God’s anger, joy, etc. this is a reference to something else in God which can produce the same results as anger e.g. a will to punish.

Question 21

What did Ghazali say about conflict between the law schools?

Answer 21

the Mutazalites, Asharites and Hanbalites all call each other liars but they are wrong to do this. Truth is to accept what the Prophet told Muslims and to accept existence of everything.

Question 22

For Ghazali, what do the law schools overlook?

Answer 22

it is very important to realise that existence has 5 levels and these schools of thought ignore this and hence they argue. Provided what the Prophet said and what the Qur’an says is taken on one of these five levels then that is acceptable.

Question 23

What does Ghazali say about the interpretation of the Qur’an?

Answer 23

Any interpretation of the Qur’an on the five levels is true. To deny a statement on any of these levels is false, a lie and unbelief. These types of figurative interpretation are used by all groups in Islam and so cannot be denied.

Question 24

What does Ghazali say about Hanbal?

Answer 24

Said that Hanbal tried to deny this figurative interpretation but had to admit that he had to use it with 3 Hadiths e..g “The black stone is the right hand of God on earth.” (need to interpret this because otherwise it would imply that humans can have a physical relationship with God).

Question 25

When did Ghazali say to use the levels of interpretation?

Answer 25

When a statement is logically impossible. They need to work through the levels, starting with Noetic. They must prove why one level does not work before moving onto the next. They should neve call another party an unbeliever if they don’t agree with their proof. They should only be accused of being misguided.

Question 26

What does Ghazali say about the masses?

Answer 26

The masses must follow established doctrine and not argue about it. This sort of interpretation should be left to those who are well educated

Question 27

When should someone be accused of unbelief due to figurative interpretation?

Answer 27

Not if they have rushed into figurative interpretation, only if the statement is to do with the basic belief should it be questioned as unbelief. If their interpretation leads to confusing the masses.

Question 28

When is interpretation apostasy for Ghazali?

Answer 28

If something is altered from its apparent meaning to figurative and it has to do with basic belief and they have no definitive logical proof for moving it to figurative interpretation then this is apostasy.

Question 29

What does Ghazali say about God’s knowledge?

Answer 29

Disagrees that God only knows himself and that he does not know details, just universal truths. This goes against what Muhammad taught and so is suggesting that Muhammad is a liar. There are also too many references in the Qur’an to treat this figuratively and by the five levels.