What is the school of thought of al-Ghazali, and is he a Sufi? And what is your opinion of the groups that contradict the Book and the Sunnah?

The questioner : The fifth question: Returning to the topic of Sufism, did Imam al-Ghazali have a role in manipulating terms and distorting meanings, or did the distortion come later? And how?

The Shaykh : We do not say that al-Ghazali had a role in manipulation, but we say that Imam al-Ghazali was predominantly of the Ash'ari school of jurisprudence. The Asha'irah were afflicted with some degree of figurative interpretation of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. Since al-Ghazali followed the methodology of the Asha'irah, he interpreted many of these texts in some of his books, including the famous book known as *Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din* (The Revival of the Religious Sciences). We have seen in all the sects and all the groups that contradict the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah, which is embodied in the methodology of the righteous Salaf, that they are deviating from Islam. But Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will hold each of them accountable for what He knows to be settled in their hearts. If, may Allah forbid, he intended to plot against Islam, he will have his reckoning. And if he tried to understand Islam with a correct understanding but then erred, he has, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the famous hadith, one reward. We do not truly distinguish between independent legal reasoning in the branches and independent legal reasoning in the principles, contrary to some scholars of the principles of jurisprudence who say that independent legal reasoning in the principles is not permissible. This is an error. First: because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) issued the previous ruling in the hadith without specifying the branches to the exclusion of the principles, or the principles to the exclusion of the branches, but rather his words encompassed both sides: the principles and the branches. Second: We believe that a person cannot be protected from error, even in matters of creed. Take a very beautiful example of how a person may err in creed, and yet Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forgives him, because He knows that his error was not a plot against the Shari'ah or a strike against the religion, but was due to a reason for which he is excused before the Lord of the Worlds (Blessed and Exalted is He). I mean by this example His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) There is no doubt that this is disbelief, and it is encompassed by the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the end of the verse. This man said: I was afraid of you. The language of his state indicates that I am admitting that I am the worst of people, that I have never done any good, and consequently admitting that if you punish me, you punish me as a just One. So, to escape this punishment, I bequeathed such an unjust will, for which there may be a parallel in the world in terms of injustice and oppression. When Allah knew the truth of what was in this person's heart regarding the sincerity of what he said, He said, "Go, for I have forgiven you," meaning He forgave his shirk and his disbelief in Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So, first, a person may err in matters related to creed. But if this error is a plot against Islam, it is not forgiven. However, if it is an attempt on his part without the intention of plotting against Islam, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forgives it for this person. Therefore, the figurative interpretation of the verses of attributes and the hadiths of attributes by all the Islamic sects, such as the Mu'tazilah, the Khawarij, the Murji'ah, the Asha'irah, and the Maturidiyyah, it is not permissible to declare them disbelievers, because we do not know that their motive was to plot against Islam. Rather, we are certain that some of them wanted to purify Islam from some concepts that appeared to them to be alien to Islam, even if they were mistaken in that. And this is, in reality, what we believe in general, not in detail, that the motive for many of the Asha'irah and Maturidiyyah in the figurative interpretation by which they deviated from the way of the righteous Salaf was not a strike against creed or a plot against Islam, but rather it was an attempt on their part to bring some texts, which they misunderstood, closer to some minds.

The questioner : His role in manipulation.

The Shaykh : We do not say that he or anyone else manipulated, but rather we say that he and others interpreted many of the verses of attributes and the hadiths of attributes. We do not know that they intended to plot against Islam; rather, we suspect that they intended good for Islam. This is what we say in answer to this question.