AL-GAZALI'S CONCEPT OF PROPHECY: THE INTRODUCTION OF AVICENNAN PSYCHOLOGY INTO AŠ‘ARITE THEOLOGY

The traditional argument of Muslim theologians that aims to verify the claims of a true prophet and distinguish him from an impostor is based on the acceptance of miracles performed in history and testified through an uninterrupted chain of tra- dition (tawatur). A second argument that equally involves transmission through tawatur is based on the prophet's virtu- ous and impeccable character establishing the trustworthiness (sidq) of the prophet. These are, for instance, the types of proofs (singl. h *ug yg ya ) mentioned by the Baghdadian Mu'tazilo ¯ al-G { ah *iz * (d. 255/869) in his monograph H * ug ya gy al-nubuwwa. 1 For theologians of the As'arite school this approach to the verification of prophecy posed a problem. According to classi- cal As'arite theology, good is what God commands and bad is what he forbids. 2 If God chooses prophets to reveal knowledge about what is right and what is wrong, and thus also reveal knowledge about how to live a virtuous life, how can those whom the prophets call upon know that the prophets have a virtuous character before they even know the criteria for virtue? Early As'arite theologians indeed accepted that all prophets had a most virtuous character. This fact, however, 1 Al-G { ah *iz *, H * ug ya gy al-nubuwwa (Rasa ¯ 'il al-G { ah *iz *, ed. 'Abd al-Salam Muhammad H * ar un, 7 vols. (Cairo, 1399/1979), vol. 3, pp. 223-81), pp. 246, 260. On miracles and their definition as ''bringing-about original e#ects'' (ih u tira ¯ ' al-timar ) cf. pp. 259#. On al-G { ah *iz *'s view that all of Muh *ammad's character points towards his prophethood cf. pp. 280f. Both criteria are brought to knowledge either through eyewitness evidence ('iyan ), or through credible report (h