*Abu Hamid al-Ghaz&*257;l&299;, a Muslim jurist-theologian and polymath
who lived from the mid-eleventh to the early twelfth century in
present-day Iran, is a figure equivalent in stature to Maimonides in
Judaism and Thomas Aquinas in Christianity. He is best known for his
work in philosophy, ethics, law, and mysticism. In an engaged re-reading
of the ideas of this preeminent Muslim thinker, Ebrahim Moosa argues
that Ghaz&257;l&299;'s work has lasting relevance today as a model for a
critical encounter with the Muslim intellectual tradition in a modern
and postmodern context.
Moosa employs the theme of the threshold, or dihliz, the space from
which Ghaz&257;l&299; himself engaged the different currents of thought
in his day, and proposes that contemporary Muslims who wish to place
their own traditions in conversation with modern traditions consider the
same vantage point. Moosa argues that by incorporating elements of
Islamic theology, neoplatonic mysticism, and Aristotelian philosophy,
Ghaz&257;l&299;'s work epitomizes the idea that the answers to life's
complex realities do not reside in a single culture or intellectual
tradition. Ghaz&257;l&299;'s emphasis on poiesis--creativity,
imagination, and freedom of thought--provides a sorely needed model for
a cosmopolitan intellectual renewal among Muslims, Moosa argues. Such a
creative and critical inheritance, he concludes, ought to be heeded by
those who seek to cultivate Muslim intellectual traditions in today's
tumultuous world.
