Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (c. 1058–1111) is often been referred to – by both Muslims and non-Muslims - as ‘the greatest Muslim after Muhammad’.
Avicenna and Averroes (still well-known in the West) were largely forgotten in the Muslim world but their influence in Europe was very strong. Ghazali, on the other hand, was more or less ignored in Europe yet his philosophy gained a supreme position in the Muslim world and it kept that position all the way to the 20th century and beyond.
In other words, two important sustainers of philosophy were forgotten in the Muslim world, whereas the destroyer of philosophy (in his own words) gained an overwhelming hegemony. [The Iconoclast] Read more
