Imam Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) (b. 450 – d. 1111) is a scholar, theologian, Shafi’i jurist, mystic and thinker known by the title of Hujjat al-Islam, meaning the proof of religion. According to general acceptance, Allah Almighty sent a scholar to protect the Islamic world from the discords that emerged every century, and Imam Ghazali is one of those scholars. He thoroughly researched all the sciences that were valid in his time, and was able to discuss them with the scholars of those sciences and answer their questions. He especially fought against the esotericism that emerged in his time and the corrupting views of philosophy. Long before Imam Ghazali became aware of this scientific power, he encountered bandits during a journey and had his notes taken during his studentship stolen. We present this great scholar, whose perspective on science has completely changed with the conversation he had with the bandit chief and the answer the chief gave him, to you, our valued readers, with a short story written with fictional characters.
The Power of Knowledge is Carried in the Mind
Would you like me to tell the story of Mehmet Hoca, who owed his knowledge to a bandit? Actually, everyone I tell this story to says in the end, “Mehmet Hoca did not owe it to a bandit, but to Imam Ghazali.” But I still want to make this introduction, which I find interesting. Let me tell it, and see what you say.
Mehmet Hoca was a young man who had never been able to get by in any job he had before starting theology, and who had never been able to go beyond apprenticeship with any master he was given. He had barely finished school and had dropped out of high school. Since his father was very close to the imam of the only mosque in town, he convinced the imam to let his son do the daily work of the mosque. In fact, one of his aims was to gain inspiration from the spirituality of the environment. Of course, Mehmet Hoca did not want to go with a thousand excuses, but in the end he agreed. He worked and slept there for a whole summer; since it was very hot, he always slept in the afternoons thinking that the mosques would be cool.
When autumn came, they had to move because his father found work in Istanbul. They mixed in with a few families who had packed their bags like themselves. Back then, there were a lot of highway robbers on the intercity roads, so they drove carefully, but as things turned out, towards evening, a group of bandits came down from the mountains onto the road.
They started to line up people with rifles in their hands and headscarves on their faces. Since everyone was moving their houses, they had taken everything they had with them, so the women’s bracelets, the men’s belts and watches were all collected. When it was the turn of a boy who was a friend of Mehmet Hoca’s from primary school, they also took bundles of paper and a few thick books from his bag. The chief of the bandits was quite pleased, knowing that paper was also very valuable. Seeing his friend crying heartily, Mehmet Hoca remembered a story the imam used to tell his students during his days as a mosque employee; the story of Imam Ghazali and the bandits. Of course, he was very surprised, he had never thought that he would experience almost the same event that he had been half-listening to, and he took courage and stepped forward: “Bandit chief! Bandit chief!” Although his mother and father tried to silence him, the chief came to him and said, “Are you going to say something?”
“Yes. You’ve already taken many things with you. You don’t need those papers and books. What a shame, give them back to the student…” Upon this request, the chief laughed heartily and said, “You were a very brave young man. Where did you get this courage?”
“From Imam Ghazali. Because he also experienced such an event.”
“Who is that?”
“ Proof of Islam .”
“Huj… What? I only understood Islam.”
“Here is Imam Ghazali, a scholar who devoted his entire life to knowledge so that you could understand Islam.” When the leader of the bandits stopped laughing, the others also fell silent. The leader took a few steps closer and said, “So, what is this incident that Ghazali experienced?” And Mehmet Hoca told the following incident that the imam of the mosque told him and that interested him very much: “When Imam Ghazali had just started his student career, he went to learn knowledge outside his hometown. On his way back, bandits stopped his caravan. At that moment, they took the only thing Ghazali had in his bag, his lecture notes. Ghazali got very upset about this and went to the leader and said, ‘You can keep whatever you take, but for the love of Allah, give me my notes. I have worked hard for them for years, they are of no use to you.’ The leader of the bandits replied both laughing and mockingly:
‘When your papers are taken away from you, you remain ignorant. Is there such a thing as knowledge?’
Ghazali was very impressed by these words and learned a good lesson. When he returned to his homeland, he memorized everything he had written in a short time. Then his knowledge grew so much that it became a solid barrier against all the bad ideas of his time…”
The other bandits, along with the chief, listened to this story carefully. The chief took the floor and said, “So, Ghazali is a great scholar and a man like me taught him… Okay, I will give these papers back to your friend, but on one condition.”
“What was that condition?”
“You too will memorize all the papers like that man. Even if all the papers and books are burned, you will be the unbreakable and upright wall of Islam.” Mehmet Hoca was surprised by this condition because he never thought that it would affect him. He looked at his friend, his mother and father, and when he saw that they were also looking at him with admiration, he accepted this condition with alacrity. Later, the bandit leader took his word for it and returned the papers, and before the gendarmes arrived, they all ran away towards the mountains.
Forty-two years have passed since this incident. When he first told me about it, I asked Mehmet Hoca, “Did you immediately keep your promise?” Mehmet Hoca replied , “Even if he was a thief or a highwayman, that man kept his promise immediately and returned the papers. No matter how hard it was for me, I had to keep it.”
As soon as Mehmet Hoca returned to Istanbul, he enrolled in school, then entered theology with the university exams. His teachers and friends never saw him walking around with books or notebooks, but they always got the right answer to whatever they asked him, and they witnessed that he always won with whomever he debated.
Mehmet Hoca, who wrote his doctoral thesis about Imam Ghazali, now says:
“After that incident, Imam Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) acquired a knowledge that no thief could steal. He had a destiny that eliminated in a few years a discord that would last perhaps a thousand years. I, who experienced a similar event a thousand years after him, have been writing footnotes to his writings for forty years…”
Knowledge written on paper accumulates stitch by stitch.
Information that remains on paper and is not processed into the mind is deleted.
A true scholar transmits knowledge from the mind to the mind.
The one who gives everything to knowledge is known as Hujjat al-Islam.