Knowing God - Islamic perspective

Basic to the doctrine of Islam is the transcendence of God and the inability for His creation to know Him. Instead, what can be known about God is merely his attributes as are revealed in the Qur'an. What does al-Ghazali mean by "knowing" God? S.R. Shafaq argues that al-Ghazali "rejects the idea of crude pantheism" which the more extreme forms of Sufism claimed, such as identification or unification (ittihad), incarnation (hulul), inherence or joining (wusul) with God (1954:46). This claim receives credibility in Deliverance from Error when al-Ghazali says: "In general what they manage to achieve is nearness to God; some however, would conceive of this as inherence, some as union, and some as connection. All that is erroneous" (Watt 1982:61). And yet, al-Ghazali seemingly embraced the experiential state of the Sufis. Al-Ghazali has often been accused of paradoxical statements, but on this point it is not a paradoxical dilemma but rather a different meaning of the term to "know". For al-Ghazalii, knowing God is knowing His revelation. It is not personal, relational knowledge. Love for God is to love the revelation He has given in the Qur'an. David B. Burrell confirms al-Ghazali's affirmation in an unknowable God when he says: "So if God be unknowable, the way to God is unchartable, except as a set of invitations to set out on a journey of self-becoming, which defines our central task in life" (1987:178-179). In other words God is not knowable in the familiar sense, but more in a sense of "gnosis". The excursions into the realm of experiencing God is more of ecstasy induced by reflections on what is known about Him. According to al-Ghazali, obedience to the commands of God affords the "seeker" to maintain a "polished mirror" and thereby facilitating him in his/her pursuit of "loving" God. Loving God compels the Muslim to obedience. Al-Ghazali defines this reciprocal relationships in terms of science of revelation and science of action.