Animal life Quote by al-Ghazâlî

““Firsyt of all, it must be realized that only God truly knows about Himself ( ya- rif aqq ma- rifatih) and fully comprehends the essence of His majesty. This need not be considered strange. For I say, only an angel truly knows about angels. Only a prophet truly knows about prophets. Indeed, only a scholar truly knows about scholars. I would even say that as long as a student has not attained his professor’s rank in scholarship, he does not truly know his professor. When he has attained his professor’s rank, he knows him almost in the way the pro- fessor knows himself . . . I would even say that it cannot be conceived that an impotent man could truly know about the condition attained by a person during cohabitation . . .” Al-Ghazzâlî goes on to say that even for low animal life such as ants and gnats, it must be assumed that any true knowledge of their being is possible only for ants and gnats, that man has no true knowledge of himself and as a rule knows about himself only through the actions and characteristics of his self (soul), while ignoring its quiddity, “and once man knows that he is of necessity unable to perceive the essence of God’s majesty, he has attained what is the end of his perfection, as this is the goal of human perfection.””

— al-Ghazâlî