Reconstruction of Four Models of Believe in God in Al-Gazali’s Thought

Abstract

Al-Gazali is one of the thinkers who has tried to build a strong foundation for theism. In his theory of belief in God, he introduces four models which pertains to four different classes of people. This models include prophetic, saintlike, theological and the vulgar ones. Al-Gazali believes that the first model which is based on mystical experience is the strongest one. This model is similar to what we call belief in God on the basis of religious experience. Thus, it can be considered as an evidential model which is based on religious experience. Al-Gazali’s theory can be reconstructed in a graded model of belief in god in which the prophets and saints attain the higher grade and others have the lower ones.

Keywords

• religious experience
• models of belief in god
• al-gazali
• evidentialism