The Nature of Faith from Mohammad GhazalisViewpoint

According to the religions of revelation, salvation is based on faith. So it is a legitimate concern to ask about the nature of faith. Different theologians have assumed different approaches toward the study of the nature of faith which in some cases are contradictory. Some have considered it as the object of rational knowledge; some others as something beyond the scope of reason and some as a matter of trust and devotion. In this paper, Ghazali's viewpoint on this issue is discussed based on a thorough study of all his theological works. As he has dealt with the issue in very few cases, the purpose is to show the non-mentioned through discussing what is mentioned in his works. As an Asharite theologian, Ghazali sees faith as an object of admission of and devotion to the religious truths by heart. He opposes the theologians who think that faith is an object of obedience or of logical confirmation and raises objections to their attitudes through rational and narrative arguments. Based on this and also because of his mystical approach, he does not insist too much on teaching and learning of theology to reach a kind of faith, even we can say that he insists on a kind of imitative faith which is based on psychological not logical certitude.