Realm of Religion in View of Al-Ghazali and Ibn Sina

Although, the question of the realm of religion belongs to the contemporary thought, but its roots can be found in the views of early Muslim thinkers. Looking at the views of the two main thinkers in the Muslim world, Ibn Sina and al-Ghazali, explains different approaches to religion. While Ibn Sina insists in his philosophical analysis on legal aspects and social functions of religion, Ghazali’s focus is on spiritual and moral dimensions of religion. Of course, this does not mean ignoring the spiritual aspect of religion by Ibn Sina and the elimination of social aspect of religion in al-Ghazali. Ibn Sina’s analysis is close to the Social model of religion and al-Ghazali’s prospective is closer to the individualistic model of religion.