(b Tus, Persia, 1058; d Tus, 1111). Persian theologian, jurist and religious reformer, brother of Majd al-Dīn Ahmad al-Ghazālī. After studying in Persia, he taught at the Nizāmiyya University in Baghdad from 1091 to 1095, and from 1106 in Neyshābur. Although of Persian descent, he wrote mostly in Arabic. Between his teaching duties he retired to Damascus and Tus, lived as a Sufi, and wrote his principal work, Ihyā’ ‘ulūm al-dīn (‘Revival of the religious sciences’) in which he attempted to reconcile Islamic orthodox tradition and Sufi experience. The four parts of the book cover all aspects of the religious life of a devout Muslim. In the first part, on the practice of worship, al-Ghazālī deals with Qur’anic recitation (tilāwa) and the call to prayer (adhān). The second part, on morals and customs, includes a detailed chapter on the extent to which performing and listening to music (samā‘) should be permitted. Noting that nowhere in the Qur’an is music expressly forbidden, al-Ghazālī demonstrates with numerous examples that the issue is not one of condemning specific musical forms or instruments, but depends on whether the intention is to arouse or strengthen good or bad qualities through music. He quotes many dogmatic and legal works, and refutes too strict interpretations of verdicts by recognized authorities that were against the practice of music. His views culminate in the remarkable statement that ‘singing (ghinā’) is more powerful than the Qur’an in arousing to ecstasy (wajd)’. This is substantiated by seven reasons (trans. D.B. Macdonald, adapted and abridged):
(1) All verses of the Qur’an do not suit the state of the listener. (2) The Qur’an is known too well. Whatever is heard from a song text for the first time makes a greater impression on the heart. The singer has at his disposal new verses of poetry for each occasion, but he has not at his disposal for each occasion a new verse of the Qur’an. (3) A pleasant voice with metre (wazn) is not like a pleasant voice without metre; and metre is found in poetry as opposed to verses of the Qur’an. (4) Metrically measured poetry varies as to making impression on the soul with the kind of melodies (alhān) called tarīqa or dastān. This is allowable in poetry, but in the case of the Qur’an it is only allowable to recite as it was revealed. (5) Measured melodies are strengthened by metre and rhythm (īqā‘), and by the use of instruments to underline the metre such as the wand (qadīb) and the framed drum (daff). But it is necessary that the Qur’an should be protected from such companions. (6) The singer sometimes sings a verse which does not fit the state of the hearer, so he rejects it and asks another. If the sense of a verse of the Qur’an does not fit the hearer, he must either pervert its sense or reject it – both are sins. (7) The Qur’an is the uncreated word of God. It is a truth which humanity cannot comprehend. But pleasing melodies and poetry stand in relationship to natural dispositions. They are nearer to the hearts of men, because created is joined to created.
His liberal attitude to the dervish dance (‘allowable, unless ecstasy is shown off’) and religiously motivated music (‘desirable’) has influenced the theory and practice of mosque and monastery music, especially in Turkey. The chapter on music in the Miftāh al-sa‘āda by the Turk Tāshkuprī-zādah (Tāshköprüzāde) (d 1561), for example, is wholly indebted to al-Ghazālī.
Ihyā’ ‘ulūm al-dīn [Revival of the religious sciences]; trans. D.B. Macdonald: ‘Emotional Religion in Islām as affected by Music and Singing: being a Translation of a Book of the Ihyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn of al-Ghazzālī with Analysis, Annotation, and Appendices’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1901), 195–252, 705–48; (1902), 1–28; ed. (Cairo, 1928–9)
EI2 (W. Montgomery Watt)
H.G. Farmer: ‘The Religious Music of Islām’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1952), 60–65
Tāshkuprī-zādah [Ahmad ibn Mustafā]: Miftāh al-sa‘āda wa-misbāh al-siyāda [Key to blissfulness and the lantern towards greatness], iii (Cairo, 1968), 285–301
A. Shiloah: The Theory of Music in Arabic Writings (c.900–1900), RISM, B/X (1979)
M. Abul Quasem, trans.: The Recitation and Interpretation of the Qur’ān: al-Ghazālī’s Theory (London, 1982)
J. During: Musique et extase: l’audition mystique dans la tradition soufie (Paris, 1988)
J. Michot: ‘L’Islam et le monde: al-Ghazâlî et Ibn Taymiyya à propos de la musique (samâ‘)’, Figures de la finitude: études d’anthropologie philosophiques (Paris, 1988), 246–61
A. Gribetz: ‘The samā‘ Controversy: Sufi vs. Legalist’, Studia islamica, lxxiv (Paris, 1991), 43–62
F. Shehadi: Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam (Leiden, 1995), 115–31
ECKHARD NEUBAUER