Ep 55: Al-Ghazali [feat. Frank Griffel]

In this episode, we are joined with Dr. Frank Griffel to discuss the great 11th to 12th century Islamic jurist, theologian, polymath, and mystic, Al-Ghazali. We will discuss both the historical context of Al-Ghazali’s life, his contributions and famous disputations with the philosophers of his own time, as well as his lasting impact today.

After studying philosophy, Arabic literature, and Islamic studies at universities in Göttingen (Germany), Damascus, Berlin, and London, Dr. Griffel received his PhD in 1999 from the Freie Universität in Berlin. In his thesis he wrote about the development of the judgment of apostasy in classical Islam. Afterwards Dr. Griffel worked as a research fellow at the Orient Institute of the German Oriental Society in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2000 Dr. Griffel came to Yale where he teaches courses on the intellectual history of Islam, its theology and philosophy (both classical and modern), and the way Islamic thinkers react to Western modernity. In 2021 Dr. Griffel published The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam, which dealt with the profound changes the Islamic discourse on philosophy underwent as a result of al-Ghazali’s “Tahafut al-falasifa.”

Al-Ghazali’s Philosophical Theology: https://www.amazon.com/Al-Ghazalis-Ph...

Philosophy in the Islamic World: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Isl...

Al-Ghazali’s Tahafut al-falasifa: https://www.amazon.com/Incoherence-Ph...