Al-Ghazålì and Philosophy

The place of al-Ghazålì in Islamic Philosophy is seemingly well known. Many think that he opposed philosophy and prevented it from future development. The fact that his book, The Refutation of the Philosophers (tahåfut al-falåsifah) contains theological discussions and legal rulings which indicate the attribution of infidelity (zandaqah) and innovation (bidah) to the views of the philosophers cannot be doubted. However, many jurists before al-Ghazålì had considered philosophy and logic to be infidelity, and so if it was prohibition and the attribution of infidelity which stopped the progress of philosophy, al-Fåråbì and Ibn Sìnå should also have been stopped by the attribution of infidelity to logic and the claim that the science of grammar (naĕw) adequately replaces it.