Narrations on Virtuous Acts in Epitomes of al-Ghazālī’s Iḥyāʾ : From Ibn al-Jawzī’s Minhāj al-Qāṣidīn to Its Reception in Modernity

The genre of narrative virtue ethics in the Islamic tradition arguably finds its clearest expression in the field of ḥadīth literature, more particularly in the category of virtuous acts (faḍāʾil al-aʿmāl), as well as in sayings attributed to the earliest generations (al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ), and in the sayings and stories of prominent early Sufi figures. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn (“Revival of the Religious Sciences”) is a rich source for such narrative virtue ethics, which he copied from works from the earlier tradition, mainly Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī’s (d. 386/996) Qūt al-Qulūb (“Nourishment of the Hearts”). His seemingly uncritical incorporation of Prophetic narrations on virtuous acts, that were often classified as weak (ḍaʿīf) or forged (mawḍūʿ), has not been without dispute in the later tradition. Whether unreliable ḥadīth material on virtuous acts can be transmitted uncritically and acted upon plays a prominent role in modern critiques on the reliability of the Iḥyāʾ.

Historically, the role of this specific point of criticism on the Iḥyāʾ was more marginal, although always present. The eventual relative absence of ḥadīth criticism in early polemics against the Iḥyāʾ may have to do with the topics for which al-Ghazālī used Prophetic narrations. The Iḥyāʾ hardly deals with matters of fiqh, for which scholars historically have always demanded the highest standards of reliability for Prophetic narrations. Most narrations that al-Ghazālī employs are parenetic, stressing certain supererogatory acts of worship, addressing the ethical topics of good manners and virtuous character (adab and akhlāq), as well as “softeners” (raqāʾiq) and “exhortation and dissuasion” (al-targhīb wa-l-tarhīb), to all of which scholars historically applied different standards of reliability than to creed- and fiqh-related topics.

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Published in: Ḥadīth and Ethics through the Lens of Interdisciplinarity
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
See chapter on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004525931_007