nd sought to defend
orthodoxy and confute the heretics on philosophical grounds.

The Mutazilites had cultivated the study of philosophy with especial
zeal, and therefore the struggle with them was a fierce one, complicated
as it was by political animosity. The most dangerous sect of all was
that of the Ismailians and Assassins, with their doctrine of a hidden
Imam or leader. In some of his works Ghazzali gives special attention to
confuting these.

The whole aspect and condition of Islam during Ghazzali's lifetime was
such as to cause a devout Moslem deep distress and anxiety. It is
therefore natural that a man who, after long and earnest search, had
found rest and peace in Islam, should have bent all the energies of his
enthusiastic character to oppose these destructive forces to the utmost.
Ghazzali is never weary of exhorting those who have no faith to study
the Muhammadan revelation; he defends religion in a philosophical way
against the philosophers, refutes the heretics, chides the laxity of the
Shiites, defends the austere principles of the Schafiites, champions
orthodoxy, and finally, by word and example, urges his readers towards
the mysticism and asceticism of the Sufis. His numerous writings are all
directed to one or another of these objects. As a recognition of his
endeavours, the Muhammadan Church has conferred upon him the title of
"Hujjat al Islam," "the witness of Islam."

It is a fact worthy of notice that when the power of the Caliphs was
shattered and Muhammadanism, already in a state of decline, precisely at
that period theology and all other sciences were flourishing.

The reason of this may be found in the fact that nearly all the
Muhammadan dynasties, however much they might be opposed to each other,
zealously favoured literature and science. Besides this, the more
earnest spirits, weary of the political confusions of the time, devoted
themselves all the more fervently to cultivating the inner life, in
which they sought compensation and refuge from outward distractions.
Ghazzali was the most striking figure among all these. Of his early
history not much is known. His father is said to have died while he was
a child, but he had a brother Abu'l Futuh Ahmed Alghazzali, who was in
great favour with the Sultan Malik Shah, and owing to his zeal for Islam
had won the title of "Glory of the Faith." From the similarity of their
pursuits we gather that the relationship between the brothers must have
b