Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ISLAM-ZEITSCHRIFT FUR GESCHICHTE UND KULTUR DES ISLAMISCHEN ORIENTS, cilt.86, sa.2, ss.286-311, 2011 (AHCI)
This article is intended to illustrate that the hermeneutics of al-Ghazzali influenced Ibn Rushd in a certain degree. One can come across a number of contexts in the works of Ibn :Rushd such as Tahafut al-tahafut, Fast al-maqal and al-Kashf, in which he criticizes al-Ghazzali in relation to the interpretation of religious texts. However, one can notice that Ibn Rushd is deeply influenced by the views of al-Ghazzali on the matter of hermeneutics, especially concerning the definition of interpretation, the categorization of the ambiguous wordings in the religious texts as well as the classification of the groups of people authorized to fulfill the task of interpretation. In fact, Ibn Rushd's threefold graduation of people as the masses, the theologians, and the demonstrative people was masterminded and introduced by al-Ghazzali. In addition, it is from al-Ghazzali and from his interpretation of the 125(th) verse of Surat al-Nahl that Ibn Rushd borrowed the suggestion that as regards the interpretation of religious texts, each of these three groups should adopt one of the three methods described as rhetorical, dialectical, and demonstrative. Another important context where Ibn Rushd is clearly under the influence of al-Ghazzali is the issue how the lawful method of interpretation is to be applied to the religious texts. Regarding this issue, he took up al-Ghazzali's fivefold categorization of "being" as essential existence, sensual existence, imaginative existence, mental existence and analogical existence, suggesting to interpret the religious texts on the basis of this categorization.