THE IDEA OF LOVE IN AL-GHAZALI’S LITERATURE

Abstract

Al-Ghazali, one of the Sufi masters had written in relation to love for God in his magnum opus, Ihya’ Ulumuddin. The ultimate love, also known as mahabbah, is the highest and the greatest form of love for God. To attain such love, one must struggle and know Him through ma’rifah and idra’. Al-Ghazali gives a very serious account on knowing own self in the quest to know God. Without knowing Self, one is impossible to know his God. Al-Ghazali’s writing is converged towards Sufi training which on this account, al-Ghazali tells on how one may lessen his love to God and on the other hand, he also teaches how to intensify mahabbah through step by step approaches. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present an understanding of the literary writing of al-Ghazali on love for God who created the universe as universal manifestation of emotional and rational beings.

Keywords: Al-Ghazali, Ihya, magnum opus, Sufi, Allah, al-Qur’an, al-Hadith, mahabbah, love