Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in Russian Islamology: Soviet and Early Post-Soviet Period
https://doi.org/10.22311/2074-1529-2020-16-1-147-160
Abstract
The article provides a comprehensive picture of the state of research on the thought of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111), the greatest Islamic jurist, theologian and thinker, in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. The research is important because there is a widespread stereotypical view in the West and Russia that the decline of rationalism in the Muslim world and strengthening of Mysticism is due to al-Ghazali. The first part of the article traces down a number of research projects carried out during the aforementioned period, the dominant research trends and different approaches to al-Ghazali’s thought in general and certain his teachings. The author demonstrates that Soviet and Russian researchers have made a substantial progress in studying the intellectual legacy of al-Ghazali due to forsaking the one-sided approach that prevailed in Marxist Oriental studies during the Soviet era. According to their views, al-Ghazali developed a rationalistic trend of the Islamic Theology (Kalam) and Muslim Peripatetic Philosophy. Studies on al-Ghazali carried out in the late Soviet era and in Post-Soviet Russia will be analyzed in the second part of the paper.
About the Author
I. R. Nasyrov
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ilshat R. NASYROV, D. Sci. (Philos.), chief research fellow
Bld. 1, 12, Goncharnaya Str., Moscow, 109240
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Review
For citations:
Nasyrov I.R. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in Russian Islamology: Soviet and Early Post-Soviet Period. Islam in the modern world. 2020;16(1):147-160. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22311/2074-1529-2020-16-1-147-160
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