Moral Qualities in the Teachings of Al-Ghazali

Introduction

Abuhamid Muhammad Ghazali (1059-1111) is one of the outstanding philosophers of the medieval epoch. The scientist explored all aspects of morality and developed an ethical system. He also deeply studied and described the positive qualities as patience, generosity, gratitude, and the negative qualities of suspicion, arrogance, pride, ignorance, jealousy, greed [1].

Morality is a free human action and reflects the individual qualities of humans. Character is the covert of man and the seat of the qualities is a heart. A benevolent or unacceptable character is formed under the influence of the environment. Muhammad Ghazali mentions that the work of the world is a mixture of both evil and good; kind is dignity, righteousness and suitable; the evil is sin, crime and harmful [2].

Kindness is manifested in self-control and is achieved by patience. The man constantly necessary needs patience. Patience is a property of humans, and other creatures do not depend on it. Because everything will not always be expedient, for it is important to be patient; and should not grieve, shouldn’t be sad, should not cry, should not protest; Patience is the battle of angels and evil in the heart of man, in which sometimes victory, and sometimes defeat over good and evil with patience, problems become resolved. As the ancestors of Persian-Tajik people said: “With patience a stone becomes a jewel.” Al-Ghazali instructs that a man must be patient, especially during times of mourning. A mourning Commentary person should have solid patience and in appearance, he should not differ from others [3].

Al-Ghazali emphasizes that a person should be generous. Self-confidence is the basis of self-sacrifice. Great generosity is a person recognizes and loves himself [3]. Where there is generosity, there is comfort. It is important to know that generosity, no matter how late it may be, can lead to purpose. Forgiving others’ mistakes is also generosity.

The scientist admonishes that a man always should be grateful that this is a sign of humility and contentment. Love and enthusiasm come from gratitude. Gratitude must the by heart, tongue and body; in really should wish good for all people, and must not envy anyone’s welfare; express gratitude with the words, be glad in all situations, should be grateful in the tragedy also, because there is not misfortune except for unbelief and sin [2].

Al-Ghazali points out those evil traits arise from selfishness and bad suspicion prejudice and pollute the human’s heart; vile traits are the faults of man and constantly lead him to depression, and decline; evil is the result of ignorance and indiscipline and is get rid of them may only by the power of knowledge [2].

One of the most hated traits is egotism pride. Pride knows oneself ahead and better than others [2]. According to Al-Ghazali, arrogance arises in several ways: arrogance for beauty and such pride is more among women to elevate themselves; arrogance over wealthy, and some are proud of their possessions, while others are considered impoverished, arrogance for force, some are proud of the strength of their bodies and consider themselves superior to the weak; arrogance for asceticism, some ascetics, monks, and Sufis prefer others to their service and pilgrimage, and consider their resentment to be the cause of others’ calamities; the arrogance of lineage, a group of this or that noble generation, considering everyone as their master and slave; pride for science, if a scientist adorns himself with knowledge and sees in others uneducated, that is arrogance, and the hadith says that a cause of forgetting knowledge is egotistic [4].

A selfish person ignores the interests of others to achieve his desires. Arrogance leads to humiliation and morally traumatizes human.

Al-Ghazali considers anger to be the worst evil and describes it as follows: the cause of anger is arrogance, so the arrogant get angry, and arrogance will not disappear except in moderation; anger is a powerful human emotion that can hurt people with their hands and tongue at any moment. Anger is unconsciousness and it dulls the mind. The suppression of anger is the conquest of the devil [5]. Stopping anger is a victory for the mind, intellect and it brings peace of mind and wisdom to man. A wise person can control his emotions even in difficult situations and without resistance and settle calmly situation.

Al-Ghazali called anger “the triumph of greed over mind”. Scientist argues that person is naturally capable of curbing his anger once or twice, and then, involuntarily, it will dissipate; pressure, threats, harassment, etc. occur during anger; the cause of anger is frivolity, resentment, temptation, selfishness, stubbornness and suspicion, which in turn leads to a tendency to want to insult the enemy; in anger, a person involuntarily reaches the limit and even denies the truth, which is a threat to human dignity.

Al-Ghazali emphasizes that anger arises from greed and greed arises from envy. Envy is when someone is blessed with a blessing; the jealous person is greedy and wants that blessing to be rejected. Jealousy is the envy of the success or advancement of others [6].

The scientist explores greed by the example of the stingy: “So the stingy has bread and will see needful poor and hides bread and do not gives it. So a stingy is who what should give does not want to give it. Or if a neighbor is hungry, if he has a lot of food and does not give, he is stingy”. Envy is combined with greed. And man was created to be content with what he has, without contentment, can't get rid of greed. That is, if a person does not limit his desires, greed will prevail in him. Greed for wealth hardens the heart. The stingy will never be content, the angrier will never be happy, but the wise will never be greedy and the generous will never be envious [2].

Prophet Muhammad (s) called jealousy, greed, and arrogance the destroyer of man. These vices are the causes of the origins of negative qualities. Hatred, envy, lies, deceit, anger, greed, ingratitude, slander, greed, bureaucracy, immorality, arrogance, deceit, betrayal, greed, open friendship and secret enmity are evil and heresy. Modern psychologists proved that bad qualities not only harm others but also gradually humiliate a person and cause many mental and physical illnesses [4]. Selfish traits are the root of oppression and cruelty. Offending, insulting a person and irritating his soul is the most terrible sin and evil.

Al-Ghazali condemns the bad qualities and warns that anyone who oppresses others will kill himself. Therefore, every person must correct his ugly features; otherwise, they will make him impoverishes and even destroys. The elimination of bad qualities is the moral duty of man. It is necessary to calm the passion in correcting behavior. In a pure heart, good qualities can be found that a person should strive for. Because virtuousness is true beauty [7, 8].

Conclusion

In conclusion, Al-Ghazali in his ethical teachings specifically indicated the characteristic features. He instructs to cultivate and improve good qualities, as they are the sources of human well-being, and being aware of correcting negative qualities, they are the beginning of all misfortunes and tragedies. The meaning of human life is also in moral education.

Thus, scientist, revealing the consequences of negative qualities, calls for self-education and kindness. The ethical ideas of Muhammad Ghazali have ethical significance in the present day also and they will help to improve one’s morals.