Al-Ghazālī’s Dilemma between Unity and Individuation

There is wide spectrum of views by Muslim intellectuals as concerning the concept of God, from a “personified” view by Ash’arites to a “pantheistic” view by philosophers and mystics. In two of his intellectual periods, al-Ghazālī has propounded two diametrically opposing views of the concept of God. In fact, his view is characterized by a dilemma between two views, that is, the individuation of existence and unity. On one hand, al-Ghazālī as an orthodox Ash’arite theologian provides an account of God and His attributes based on the Ash’arite theology, and on the other hand, after an intellectual development and revision of his views, from a purely theological and Ash’arite view, has tended towards the mystical pantheistic view. Providing a Platonic analysis, he offers a pantheistic account of God. Such a revision has not only influenced the views of subsequent mystics and philosophers, shows that the closer a theologian or philosopher is to the mystical taste, the more distant he is from a personified understanding of God and the closer he becomes to a pantheistic conception thereof, and the change will affect other views of the intellectual as well.