Ghazali and His Early Biographers (Report‪)‬

Introduction Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Ghazali (1) al-Tusi was born in the village of Tabaran near Tus (2) in northeast Iran in 450/1058; (3) he died there in 505/1111, at the age of 55. He came from a modest background. His father died (4) when he and his younger brother Ahmad were still young, leaving them with little money in the care of a Sufi friend of meager means. When their father's money ran out, their caretaker suggested that they enroll in a madrasa. (5) The madrasa system meant they had a stipend, room, and board. Ghazali studied fiqh in his home town under a Sufi named Ahmad al-Radhakani; he then traveled to Jurjan and studied under Isma'il b. Mas'ada al-Isma'ili (d. 477/1084). (6)