Al-Ghazālī — Human Nature, Pride & the Pursuit of Happiness

Historical & Intellectual Context

• Born in the region of present-day North-Eastern Iran; spent a large part of his career in Baghdad.
• Life span is traditionally dated \approx 1058\,\text{CE} \text{ (October)} - 1111\,\text{CE}.
• Reputation: leading Muslim philosopher, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic.
• Works serve as a bridge between classical Islamic philosophy (influenced by Aristotle & the Neoplatonists) and later mystical / ethical traditions.

Fourfold Constitution of Human Nature

• Al-Ghazālī partitions the human being into four major impulses or faculties:

  1. Beastly (al-bahīmiyyah)
  • Seat of desire (lust, gluttony, cravings for food, drink, sex).
  • If unchecked ⇒ produces shamelessness, greed, voracious appetite.
  1. Brutal (al-sabʿiyyah)
  • Seat of passionate aggression and the urge to harm others.
  • Uncontrolled ⇒ gives rise to wrath, oppression, violence.
  1. Satanic (ash-shayṭāniyyah)
  • Faculty that manipulates the beastly & brutal powers through deceit.
  • Generates treachery, cunning, fraud, arrogance.
  1. Divine (al-rabbāniyyah)
  • Identified with reason (ʿaql).
  • Governs, disciplines, and harmonises the other three; produces virtue, knowledge, faith, honesty.

• Ethical vision: Salvation & moral excellence occur when the divine faculty rules, subordinating the beastly, brutal and satanic.

Catalogue of Vices Generated by Imbalance

• When the lower three faculties collaborate without rational control, they beget:
  • Shamelessness (lack of moral modesty)
  • Pride / arrogance
  • Wrath
  • Deceit & treachery
• Vice is not a single act but a habitual disposition (virtue-ethical framework, reminiscent of Aristotle yet theocentric).

The Vice of Pride (al-kibr)

• Definition: "Feeling inward superiority over others accompanied by elation."
• Condemned across the Qurʾān & prophetic traditions (e.g. Iblīs’ refusal to bow to Adam).

Three Degrees of Pride

1. Pride against God
   • Extreme delusion: one imagines oneself lord of the universe.
   • Theologically tantamount to shirk (associating partners with God).
   • Judged as “mere foolishness.”
2. Pride against Prophets & Saints
   • Refusal to acknowledge or submit to higher spiritual authority.
   • Rooted in the fear that reverence for another lowers one’s own rank.
   • Manifest today when individuals dismiss religious or moral exemplars to preserve ego.
3. Pride against Fellow Humans
   • Day-to-day haughtiness: being too lofty to listen, consult or accept advice.
   • Described as wishing to be “like God on earth.”

Seven Common Sources of Human Pride

Each source is an accomplishment which, if spiritually misinterpreted, feeds arrogance.

• Knowledge – Scholars may look down on the unlettered.
• Devotion (ʿibādah) – Ascetics may scorn less observant Muslims.
• Pedigree / Lineage – Nobility of birth used as a yardstick of worth.
• Beauty – Physical attractiveness breeding contempt for others.
• Strength – Physical or political power creating dominance behaviour.
• Wealth – Material affluence equated with personal value.
• Kinship & Connections – Influence used as a metric of superiority.

Psychological Mechanism

\text{Accomplishment} \; \rightarrow \; \text{Inordinate Self-regard} \; \rightarrow \; \text{Contempt for Others}

• Al-Ghazālī instructs self-examination to detect early pride; the “mirror of the heart” must be polished.

Hierarchy of Pleasures & Highest Human Happiness

• Distinction: External vs. Internal Pleasures
  • External – Sensory, immediate, transient (food, drink, sex, wealth).
  • Internal – Intellectual, spiritual, enduring (knowledge, contemplation, divine intimacy).

Argument for the Superiority of Internal Pleasures

1. Human Telos (purpose): Humans are uniquely equipped for reason & knowledge.
2. Suitability Principle: A pleasure is higher when it perfects the distinctive faculty of a being.
   • For humans, that faculty is reason \Rightarrow intellectual joy outranks sensory pleasure.
3. Perfection of the Object:
   • The more perfect the object contemplated, the greater the resultant happiness.
   • God (Ultimate Perfection) \Rightarrow Contemplation of God yields supreme felicity.

Spiritual Strategy

• Sensory delights, while lawful in moderation, can distract and dull the intellect.
• Discipline (e.g., fasting, night vigils) purifies the soul, sharpening its capacity to know God.

Ethical / Practical Implications

• A life structured around learning, reflection, and spiritual practice aligns with one’s highest end.
• Excess in external pleasures resembles an animalistic existence and impedes gnosis.

Integrative Observations & Cross-Lecture Links

• Echoes Aristotelian conception of virtue as mean governed by reason, yet al-Ghazālī re-anchors it in theocentric purpose.
• Prefigures later Sufi emphasis on maʿrifah (direct knowledge of God).
• Modern psychology parallels:
  • “Beastly” = limbic cravings;
  • “Divine” = prefrontal executive control.
• Contemporary relevance: pride sourced from social media metrics, educational elitism, or economic status fulfills the same pattern diagnosed centuries ago.

Key Take-Away Formulae & Mnemonics

• Four Faculties: B.B.S.D. (Beastly, Brutal, Satanic, Divine)
• Pride Ladder: \text{God} > \text{Prophets / Saints} > \text{Humans} – Three arenas where arrogance can appear.
• Path to Felicity:
  \text{Discipline of Senses} \; + \; \text{Activation of Reason} \; \rightarrow \; \text{Knowledge of God} \; \rightarrow \; \text{Ultimate Happiness}