ts have often been incompetent."

In the above extracts Ghazzali appears as a reformer, and it would not
be difficult to find modern parallels for the tendencies which he
describes. Professor D.B. Macdonald compares him to Ritschl in the
stress which he lays on personal religious experience, and in his
suspicion of the intrusion of metaphysics into the domain of religion.
Although intensely in earnest, he was diffident of his powers as a
preacher, and in a surviving letter says, "I do not think myself worthy
to preach; for preaching is like a tax, and the property on which it is
imposed is the acceptance of preaching to oneself. He then who has no
property, how shall he pay the tax? and he who lacks a garment how shall
he cover another? and 'When is the stick crooked and the shadow
straight?' And God revealed to Jesus (upon whom be peace). Preach to
thyself, then if thou acceptest the preaching, preach to mankind, and if
not, be ashamed before Me."[46]

Like other preachers of righteousness, Ghazzali strove to rouse men out
of lethargy by laying stress on the terrors of the world to come and the
Judgment Day. He was not one of those who think fear too base a motive
to appeal to; he strikes the note of warning again and again. Towards
the close of his life he composed a short work on eschatology "Al Durra
al Fakhirah" ("The precious pearl") of a sufficiently lurid character.
In it he says: "When you watch a dead man and see that the saliva has
run from his mouth, that his lips are contracted, his face black, the
whites of his eyes showing, know that he is damned, and that the fact of
his damnation in the other world has just been revealed to him. But if
you see the dead with a smile on his lips, a serene countenance, his
eyes half-closed, know that he has just received the good news of the
happiness which awaits him in the other life.

"On the Day of Judgment, when all men are gathered before the throne of
God, their accounts are all cast up, and their good and evil deeds
weighed. During all this time each man believes he is the only one with
whom God is dealing. Though peradventure at the same moment God is
taking account of countless multitudes whose number is known to Him
only. Men do not see each other, nor hear each other speak."

Regarding faith, Ghazzali says in the Ihya-ul-ulum:

"Faith consists of two elements, patience and gratitude. Both are graces
bestowed by God, and there is no way to God except faith.