The study of Al-Ghazali’s life and writings will, more than anything else, awaken a deeper sympathy for that which is highest and strongest in the religion of Islam; for the student of his works learns to appreciate Islam at its best. As Jalal-uddin says:
"Fools buy false coins because they are like the true.
If in the world no genuine minted coin
Were current, how would forgers pass the false?
Falsehood were nothing unless truth were there,
To make it specious. 'Tis the love of right
Lures men to wrong. Let poison but be mixed
With sugar, they will cram it into their mouths.
Oh, cry not that all creeds are vain! Some scent
Of truth they have, else they would not beguile."
There is a real sense in which Al-Ghazali may be used as a schoolmaster to lead Moslems to Christ. His books are full of references to the teaching of Christ. He was a true seeker after God.
Islam is the prodigal son, the Ishmael, among the non-Christian religions; this is a fact we may not forget. Now we read in Christ's matchless parable of the prodigal how "When he was yet a great way off his father saw him and ran out to meet him and fell on his neck and kissed him." Have missionaries always had this spirit? No one can read the story of Al-Ghazali’s life, so near and yet so far from the Kingdom of God, so eager to enter and yet always groping for the doorway, without
