RKUD 3020 : ISLAMIC ETHICS KIRKHS, IIUM

1. AL-GHAZALI’S HAPPINESS
• -Knowledge & good Act are man’s provision & perfection for
both exist in the soul eternally
• -It has 2 aspects positive and negative
• -against the hedonistic view that the aim of human life is to
enjoy the pleasure and delight of this world
• For 2 reasons :
i) the pleasure of this world lasts for a limited period of time
ii) the pleasure of this world is impure, every form of it is
imperfect and mixed with pain

2. • -the true aim of man is otherworldly happiness which can be obtained if
the necessary preparation for it be made in this life
• -this otherworldly happiness has 4 characteristics :
i) continuity w/out end
ii) joy w/out sorrow
iii) knowledge w/out ignorance
iv) sufficiency after which nothing more is needed for perfect satisfaction
• -happiness and misery are, according to him, both physical and spiritual
• -the spiritual is superior to physical happiness
• -the spiritual happiness which can be known with certainty from the
shariah
• -the cause of happiness and misery
• -what is cause of happiness and misery
• --it is not God’s pleasure in the virtuous, nor is misery caused by His anger
towards the vicious but by the condition of the soul

3. • 4 groups of peoples -states of the souls
• 1-the destroyed-will suffer everlasting misery in hell
• 2-the punished-will suffer misery in hell but will be transferred
to paradise
• 3-infidels’ children, the insane, and those unaware of religion
will be neither in hell
• or paradise, but in a’raf
• -they are the saved-absolute escape from hell but entitlement to
no reward
• -the successful-will pass into paradise without first entering hell
and achievement of reward in paradise

4. Happiness in paradise has 2 major grades :
i) Lower
- consist in the sensual pleasures
ii) Higher
- consists in nearness to God, and gazing upon His glorious face
for evermore
• each grade of happiness has innumerable sub-grades, the lowest
sub-grade of the higher grade touches the highest sub-grade of
the lower grade

5. • Knowledge & action as the 2 means to happiness
• -the goods of the soul are the primary means to happiness and
since these are reducible to k/ledge & action these constitute the
primary requirement
• ---what is good action
• -for some, it is a specific devotional acts
• -the Quran views any kind of good deed whether related to man’s
outward or inward self.
• -the latter is abandoned for not all people can accomplish it.
• the former includes the devotional acts as well as the good deeds
done in various areas of life
• -for al-Ghazali, it includes actions of the outward self and actions of
the inward self

6. • -what is knowledge
• --it is knowledge of God and of the path to Him
• --the former concerns the divine essence, attributes & works
• --the latter concerns
• -the devotional acts directed to god,
• -the performance of good acts in one’s life
• -the action of purifying the soul
• -the action of making the soul beautiful with good qualities
• -knowledge & action as a means to happiness is linked with the concept of
man’s moral perfection and of his provision for the next life
• -it is for K&A that the soul is brought to world of the body, and it is their
highest grade which forms the soul’s perfection, ensuring the higher
happiness

7. • -what is knowledge
• --it is knowledge of God and of the path to Him
• --the former concerns the divine essence, attributes & works
• --the latter concerns
• -the devotional acts directed to god,
• -the performance of good acts in one’s life
• -the action of purifying the soul
• -the action of making the soul beautiful with good qualities
• -knowledge & action as a means to happiness is linked with the concept of
man’s moral perfection and of his provision for the next life
• -it is for K&A that the soul is brought to world of the body, and it is their
highest grade which forms the soul’s perfection, ensuring the higher
happiness