In fact, these works awarded him the title of hujjat al-Islam. For example: Maqasid al-Falasifah and Tahafut al-Falasifah. The works of Imam Ghazali in debating philosophers are rarely read. Just mention the following books: Bidayat al-Hidayah, Minhaj al-‘Abidin, and (this is the most popular of all his popular works) Ihya Ulum al-Din. Al-Ghazali’s works that most widely studied are those related to the themes of Sufism. Even though Al-Ghazali was known as the hujjat al-Islam, the works which caused him to obtain this title were rarely, or even completely, not studied in the Islamic madrasas either in Indonesia or in other worlds. We know, NU put Al-Ghazali as a central figure in Sufism, Islamic mysticism. This writing will not review Al-Ghazali’s contributions, but to show an interesting fact which I believe less acknowledged by the Muslim community itself, including the pesantrens among NU (Nahdlatul Ulama, the major Muslim community in Indonesia) who recognized Al-Ghazali as an idolized figure. The exact meaning is that Al-Ghazali represented the Sunni argument, since Shia does not have a big problem with philosophical approach.
Since he was credited in saving the Sunni faith from the threat of philosophical approach, he was awarded by the honorific title hujjat al-Islam. In the view of Al-Ghazali, the arguments of the philosophers who tried to resolve between revelation and philosophy may risk a hidden danger – endangering the integrity of the Islamic faith according to Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah (Sunni). Al-Ghazali, known also as Imam Ghazali, was known as such because he was the one who defied the arguments of the philosophers, especially Ibn Sina (d.
Al-Ghazali, known as the “hujjat al-Islam” (and he was the only scholar who carried this title in the classical era) was a prominent Islamic figure in Islamic history.