Of Piety and Heresy

Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Universität Utrecht, Niederlande.

"Of Piety and Heresy is a welcome addition to the literature on expressions of antinomian Islam, in this case, in the works of Muhammad Ghazzali who refuted what he considered to be libertine, misguided and reckless interpretations of Islam. Seyed-Ghorab's lucidly written book provides an excellent historical overview of antinomianism that includes insightful observations on the contribution to "Islamic" thought from various Sufis, qalandars, poets, and Umar Khayyam, while thoughtfully reflecting on Ghazzali's perspective on the topic. Of major importance, this work includes Ghazzali's writings in Persian as well as an accurate and eminently readable English translation. This is a milestone in scholarship and is essential reading for researchers of Sufism and Islam."

Lloyd Ridgeon, Reader in Islamic Studies at Glasgow University.

"This is a richly rewarding and elegantly succinct study. The title is spot on, since Abu Hamid Muhammad Ghazzali, one of the most influential thinkers of the Islamic world, himself lived a life on the strange hinterland between the 'ascetic gnosis' (irfan-i zahidana) of the pietists among the theologians and ascetic philosophers, and the 'amorous gnosis' (irfan-i ashiqana) of the 'heretic' antinomians (ibahatiyan). He wrote some of the most important Islamic theological works of all time, yet also rejected the life of a merely intellectual approach to God. After a crisis at the end of his thirties, he came to relinquish the exclusively scholastic life in order to embrace one of renunciation, practising and teaching Sufi knowledge. Professor Seyed-Gohrab has kept this book masterfully brief, with a focused plan that follows the pattern of Ghazzali's own life of two unequal halves. Giving an account of Ghazzali's life and times, he contrasts him with significant figures of the day, his brother, the mystically adept Ahmad Ghazzali, his contemporary 'Umar Khayyam, and poets such as Sana'i, 'A ar and Rumi . In the second three chapters the author naturally comes to his principal focus, which accords with the general topic of his ERC-funded project Beyond Sharia: The Role of Sufism in Shaping Islam. This monograph is the first in the series on antinomianism, namely the Islam of the ibahatiyan, vis à vis the 'orthodoxy' of the theologians. Rather than merely discussing the subject abstractly, Seyed-Gohrab illustrates the problem by first analysing, then presenting a translation of Ghazzali's treatise, the Treatise in Explanation of the Idiocy of the People of Ibahat, along with the appended Persian text."

Alan Williams, Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion, The University of Manchester