Al Ghazali and the Asharite School - R.M Frank

Widely regarded among students of medieval thought as the most important of the medieval Islamic thinkers, al-Ghazali (1058-1111) remains an extremely complex figure whose texts continue to present serious challenges for scholars. In this book, Richard M. Frank confronts the traditional view of al-Ghazali as a loyal supporter of Asharite doctrine and reexamines his relationship to the school theologians. This reexamination, Frank argues, is essential to an understanding of al-Ghazali's work, a diverse series of texts made difficult by the various postures and guises assumed by their author. Statements by al-Ghazali regarding the kalam (the speculative theology of the schools) and its status as a religious science provide the focus for a detailed analysis that contrasts the traditional school theology with his own From this, the question of al-Ghazali's relationship to the Asharite school becomes a key to the basic characteristics of his method and language and therefore to the overall