The death of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

The Proof of Islam, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali — author of "Ihyaʾ ʿUlum al-Din," the jurist, legal theorist and theologian who abandoned the leadership of teaching in Baghdad and set out on a famous ascetic journey that changed the course of his life and thought — died at Tus.

al-Ghazali was born at Tus in 450 AH and studied under Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni until he excelled in jurisprudence, legal theory and theology. Nizam al-Mulk appointed him to teach at the Nizamiyya school in Baghdad before he was forty; his fame spread and students thronged to him.

Then a deep spiritual crisis befell him, which he recounted in "al-Munqidh min al-Dalal." He left rank and teaching and set out stripped of the world for about ten years between Damascus, Jerusalem and the Hijaz, writing during it his most famous book, "Ihyaʾ ʿUlum al-Din," on the reform of hearts and deeds.

He finally returned to Tus to teach and worship until he died on 14 Jumada al-Akhira 505 AH at fifty-five, leaving a vast legacy including "al-Mustasfa" in legal theory and "Tahafut al-Falasifa," which shook Greek philosophy in the Muslim world.