A Moslem seeker after God

by Samuel Marinus Zwemer

We have no information as to how Al-Ghazali spent his days during this visit at Jerusalem. It was a time of war and tumult throughout Syria, on the eve of the Crusades. One can imagine with what interest Al-Ghazali studied the whole situation and how this ardent champion of the Moslem faith was stirred by the coming events whose shadows were already resting on the Holy Land at the time of his visit there. We do know that he lived the life of a mystic, and devoted himself to prayer and fasting. Prayer occupies a large place in the life of every conscientious Moslem. Not only are there the five ritual prayers, but the night prayer which, according to Al-Ghazali himself, must be performed between midnight and the beginning of dawn. It has been calculated that a Moslem conscientiously performing his devotions recites the same form of prayer at least seventy-five times a day. In addition to these prayers, however, there are prayers called witr to be performed after the night prayer; dhuha, the prayer used in the forenoon; and the prayer of night vigils, which take place between the last evening prayer and midnight. In addition to observing all the above mentioned prayers, those who would reach a high degree of perfection are recommended by Al-Ghazali, in accordance with his own practices at this period, to engage in certain additional devotional exercises called wird. We may best note the character of this mystical devotion, in which he spent whole days and nights, by quoting in substance from the Ihya as follows:

“From many verses of the Koran it appears that the only way of becoming united with God is constant intercourse with Him. This is the object of the devotional services called wird in which the believer can engage at all times of the day as well as the night. The wirds to be observed during the day are seven: First wird. The Moslem on rising early mentions the name of God, and praises Him, reciting certain petitions; while dressing, he recites the appointed petitions, cleans his teeth with the miswak, performs the Wudhu, then prays two Sunna rakaʾs of dawn.[40] After this he repeats a petition and goes to the mosque with collected thoughts. He enters the mosque solemnly and respectfully with the right foot first, saying the appointed petitions on entering and leaving. He enters the first rank of worshippers if there be room, and prays the two rakaʾs of dawn, if he has not done so already at home; then two rakaʾs of ‘Saluting the Mosque,’ and sits down repeating petitions and praises, awaiting the assembling of the congregation. After having repeated the obligatory prayer of dawn, he remains sitting in the mosque till sunrise, meditating and repeating certain petitions, and praises a certain number of times, counting them by the rosary, and reciting portions of the Koran. [We know that the rosary was in general use from a reference to it in the “Assemblies” of al-Hariri, and in Al-Ghazali’s “Alchemy of Happiness.”] The second wird is between sunrise and an advanced forenoon hour; the worshipper says a prayer of two rakaʾs, and when the sun has risen the length of a lance above the horizon two more rakaʾs. This is the time when the believer may perform good works, such as visiting the sick, etc. When nothing of the kind requires his attention, he spends his time in repeating petitions, in zikr, meditation and reading the Koran. The third wird is between morning and the ascending of the sun; the believer, after taking care of his worldly affairs, engages in the devotional exercises as before mentioned. Between the time when the sun has become somewhat high and the noon prayer, four rakaʾs between the Azan and the Ikama are said and portions of the Koran are recited; this is the fourth wird. The fifth, sixth and seventh occur after this until vespers. Finally there are the wirds of the night which are five, divided and described as follows:—First night wird: after sunset, when the prayer of sunset has been performed, to the time when darkness has set in, the worshipper says two rakaʾs, in which certain portions of the Koran are recited, then four long rakaʾs, and as much of the Koran as time allows. This wird may be performed at home; but it is preferable to do so in the mosque. Second night wird: this is from the darkness of the last ʿIsha to the time when people retire to sleep. This consists of three things: (1) the obligatory ʿIsha prayer; ten rakaʾs, viz., four before it and six after it; (2) performing a prayer of thirteen rakaʾs, the last of which is the witr prayer. In this about three hundred verses of the Koran are to be recited. (3) The witr prayer before going to sleep, unless one is accustomed to rise in the night, when it may be performed later on, which is more meritorious. Third night wird: this consists of sleep, and sleep may well be considered a devotional act, if enjoyed in the proper way. Fourth night wird: this is from the time when the first half of the night is spent to when only one-sixth of it still remains. At this time the believer ought to rise from sleep and perform the prayer of tahajjud. This prayer is also called the hujud. Mohammed mostly made it a prayer of thirteen rakaʾs. Fifth night wird: this begins with the last sixth of the night, called the Sahar, the early morning before dawn to the appearing of dawn.” To these devotional exercises, described in the Ihya, it was considered meritorious to add four additional good actions: fasting, almsgiving, visiting the sick, attending funerals; and finally all this punctilious remembrance of God through prayer was supplemented by what is called dhikr—the special method of worship used by the Sufi saints.

Al-Ghazali describes the method and effects of this practice in a passage which Macdonald has summarized as follows: “Let the worshipper reduce his heart to a state in which the existence of anything and its non-existence are the same to him. Then let him sit alone in some corner, limiting his religious duties to what is absolutely necessary, and not occupying himself either with reciting the Koran or considering its meaning or with books of religious traditions or with anything of the sort. And let him see to it that nothing save God most High enters his mind. Then, as he sits in solitude, let him not cease saying continuously with his tongue, ‘Allah, Allah,’ keeping his thought on it. At last he will reach a state when the motion of his tongue will cease, and it will seem as though the word flowed from it. Let him persevere in this until all trace of motion is removed from his tongue, and he finds his heart persevering in the thought. Let him still persevere until the form of the word, its letters and shape, is removed from his heart, and there remains the idea alone, as though clinging to his heart, inseparable from it. So far, all is dependent on his will and choice; but to bring the mercy of God does not stand in his will or choice. He has now laid himself bare to the breathings of that mercy, and nothing remains but to wait what God will open to him, as God has done after this manner to prophets and saints. If he follows the above course, he may be sure that the light of the Real will shine out in his heart. At first unstable, like a flash of lightning, it turns and returns; though sometimes it hangs back. And if it returns, sometimes it abides and sometimes it is momentary. And if it abides, sometimes its abiding is long, and sometimes short.”

Such is the teaching of Al-Ghazali in regard to the true life of devotion and such we may believe was his own practice at Damascus and Jerusalem during the years that followed his life of exile—the endless repetition of God’s great names and “prayer without ceasing” in the Moslem sense. One wonders what part of the day remained for the literary work and teaching in which we know he was also engaged.[41]

An interesting story is told of his life at Jerusalem in these words: “There came together the Imams Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali and Ismail Al-Kakimi and Ibrahim Ash-Shibaki and Abu-l-Hasan Al-Basri, and a large number of foreign elders, in the Cradle of ʾIsa (upon him be peace!) in Jerusalem, and he (Al-Ghazali, apparently) recited these two lines:

“‘May I be thy ransom! were it not for love thou wouldst have ransomed me, but by the magic of two eye-pupils thou hast taken me captive.

I came to thee when my breast was straitened through love, and if thou hadst known how was my longing, thou wouldst have come to me.’

Then Abu-l-Hasan Al-Basri constrained himself to an ecstasy which affected those that were present, and eyes wept and garments were rent and Mohammed Al-Kazaruni died in the midst of the assembly in ecstasy.”

In Jerusalem he is said to have written his Risalat Al-Qudsiya; and the date of his visit there must have been shortly before A. H. 492, for in that year Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders.[42]