Chosen Saints of God and the Bigoted Mullas — Page 20
mystic, a devout and a very saintly person. . He was a great thinker and an authority in mysticism and a notable writer on these subjects. It is mentioned about him that "Abu Othman. Maghrabi, who had, in his time, no one like him in learning, was taken out of Mecca and accused of heresy and apostasy". (Nazm-ul-Durrar Fi-Silk-us-Siyar: p. 168). The fifth century Hijra (1) HUJJAT-UL-ISLAM, HAZRAT IMAM GHIZAALI (born 450. H. died 505 Hijra). The venerable Imam Ghazali needs no introduction being one of the top-most leaders of Islam of the middle ages. Leaders like him could be counted on fingers. To his credit are his famous works like the 'Ahyaa-ul-'Uloom', 'Keemiya -i-Sa'adat' and several others besides these. His works are indeed a great credit to the Muslim nation. . Even an Imam renowned like him was not immune from the notorious ‘renegade-branding' mentality of the bigoted Mullah. . About him the notable writer of Pakistan, Maulana Raees Ahmad Jaffri has written, "Many a jurisprudent and worldly-minded scholars hated him and kept their enmity smouldering in their hearts. To oppose him was considered to be a great honour and a personal achievement. They taunted and ridiculed him and cast aspersions on his teachings and created very many doubts in the minds of many". (Anwar-ul-Auliya: p. 198). Imam Ghizali wrote a book called "Manhul", which dealt with the subject of jurisprudence. This, his opponents, contrived to make their starting point for inventing allegations against the. Imam for apostasy and backsliding. Referring to this book. Maulana Shibli writes, "For the opponents of the Imam, this book was a windfall which they produced as documentary evidence. They took this book to the court of King Sanjar and painted a highly exaggerated picture of the supposed ill-effects of this book on the minds of the general public. In addition to this they also referred to his other writings and misconstrued their meanings in the same vein so that they could allege that the Iman's views were unorthodox and un-Islamic. On these grounds they accused Imam Ghizali of being an athiest and an apostate". (Al-Ghizali: by Allama Shibli Nomaani: p. 56) 20