Illusion and deception in Islam - A study of human vanities in Revivification des sciences de la religion by Abû Hâmid al-Gazâlî, by Lyess Chacal

This study on illusion and deception in Islam situates the subject in a particularly rich perspective on the border between ethics and mysticism. It addresses, in fact, the questions of the nature of sin at its most subtle levels, of the purposes of religious law, of the ambiguities of the spiritual path, in short, it opens up on almost all of the theological and legal questions of Sunni Islam.
The texts studied here by the great theologian Abu Hamid al-Gazali , already known to the Christian West as Algazel , contain a highly nuanced description of the seduction of this lower world . It challenges the human conscience; he has, indeed, a poor idea of human nature which is, according to him, only deceit , pride, sufficiency, hypocrisy and ostentation. Man thus becomes an easy prey for the Devil who plays with his weaknesses, all the more easily since these failings are inherent in the human race.
This study has the merit of having resituated his thought in a broader perspective by focusing on the Koran and the verses that deal with the illusion of the world. Then, by addressing the contribution of the Ancients in the thought of this author, while devoting a part to vanity as mentioned in Ecclesiastes or in Augustine. Before ending, finally, with the extension of his ideas in later authors.
The reader will be surprised, most certainly, by the universal character of the penetrating ideas of Illusion and deception in Islam which could very well have been called "illusion and deception" for short.

About the Author: Lyess Chacal

Lyess Chacal Doctor of the University of Paris IV Sorbonne, Lyess Chacal was more particularly interested in Islamic thought through the work of al Gazali. He is the author of numerous works on this author. He is, in particular, the author of illusion and deception in Islam, published by Oryms editions.