From the year 488 AH, which is considered the beginning of his revolution and spiritual transformation, Ghazali entered a new phase of life that was completely different from his previous period. As a result of this transformation, a new Ghazali emerged, one who was unique among Islamic scholars.
In the month of Rajab, 488 A.H., Ghazali’s spirituality became very harsh and erosive, and all his ideas and thoughts were disturbed. During the Abbasid and Seljuk caliphates, he was outwardly forced to obey, but inwardly he opposed the people of appearance. He could no longer fight against the masters of religions or write books against their beliefs.
Finally, Ghazali decided to leave Baghdad and give up everything. He wanted to emigrate from Baghdad and, internally, he intended to practice austerity and stay in Syria, which was an important center for Zahid and Sufis at that time. He did not want to return to Baghdad. However, out of fear of the caliph and the sultan, as well as familiar and foreign people, he used the Hajj journey as an excuse. He appointed his brother, Imam Ahmad Ghazali, as his successor in the teaching of Nizamiyyah, and according to famous reports, as stated by himself in the book “Al-Munqid Man Al-Dalal,” in the month of Dhul-Qa’dah, and according to “Taqabat al-Shafi’i,” in Dhul-Hijjah of the year 488 AH, he said goodbye to everything and left Baghdad. Abulqasem Hakimi Tusi, one of Ghazali’s classmates and old acquaintances, departed from Baghdad in 529 AH for the purpose of Hajj.
From 488 to 498 AH, Ghazali spent ten years in Sham, Jazeera, Jerusalem, and Hijaz. He appeared everywhere in the form and image of an unknown rag-wearing dervish, and during this period, he was continuously engaged in asceticism, worship, contemplation, solitude, composition, and ballads. According to reliable sources, he first went to Damascus and stayed there for about two years, taking refuge in the Damascus Mosque (also known as the Umayyad Mosque, one of the buildings of Walid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan). His place of austerity and solitude was the western minaret of the mosque. After that, he went to Jerusalem and spent some time there in austerity, solitude, and pilgrimage to holy sites, with his most secluded spot being the Dome of the Rock. He visited the tomb of Hazrat Ibrahim (peace be upon him) from Jerusalem. According to some of his Persian letters, in the year 489 AH, he made a vow at the grave of Hazrat Ibrahim that he would not go to the court of any sultan, accept the property of the king, or engage in debate and bigotry.
After traveling to Syria and Jerusalem, he left for Hajj. In 498, after performing the Hajj rituals and visiting Mecca and Medina and observing the Musharraf, he decided to return to his homeland and returned to Tus in the same year.
Ghazali in Damascus
According to the most famous traditions, Ghazali’s arrival in Damascus was in 489 AH. In this year, he entered Damascus anonymously, dressed in ragged clothes and in the manner of displaced dervishes and wandering desert Qalandars, making the western minaret of the Umayyad Mosque a place of remembrance and reflection. He practiced strict austerities and was busy going to and fro in the mosque, cleaning the garbage of the purgatory, and serving the people.
The duration of his stay in Damascus was two years, as he states in “Al-Munqid Man Al-Dalal.”
Ghazali in Jerusalem and his greatest achievement from the ten-year journey
As Ghazali himself mentioned in his book “Al-Munqid Man Al-Dalal,” and as great historians have also stated, most of his travels were spent in Jerusalem, where he engaged in austerity and solitude. His greatest achievement from this ten-year journey is the book “Ahyaya Ulum al-Din,” which is unique among moral texts. Anyone who has written anything in the field of ethics after Ghazali has either used, adapted, or imitated this book.
Ghazali also wrote “Arbain” and parts of other letters during this ten-year journey. It is known that he wrote the book “Revival of Ulum al-Din” in Jerusalem, and the house he chose for this work has been identified in the eastern area of Qabalat al-Sakhra.
According to historians and the available evidence, there is no doubt that “Revival of Ulum al-Din” was written between 488 and 498 AHS, and this great work is one of the memories and achievements of his ten-year journey. Before this date, the name of this book was not mentioned anywhere, but it became famous during this journey, and according to some traditions, Ghazali himself taught it in Damascus or Baghdad after returning from the trip and narrated its hadiths.
From the preface of the book, it is clear that this composition is one of the works of Ghazali’s transformation period. After trying to atone for a wasted life, he reached the stage of practice and self-cultivation from formal sciences and achieved true light from the darkness. He articulated what needed to be said in this book and entrusted the hidden secrets to the mind of the owner of the heart.
The end of a ten-year journey and Ghazali’s return from Hijaz to Tus in 498
Ghazali’s period of travel and austerity outside Iran lasted for ten years (488-498 AH). In 498, he went from Jerusalem to Hejaz, and after performing the Hajj rituals and visiting the blessed sites, he returned to his homeland, Tus. At the beginning of the journey, he intended not to return to his homeland, but the responsibility to his family and children brought him back.
