Al-Ghazali's Epistemology of Happiness and Its Implications for Islamic Education
Abstract
This study aims to analyze the epistemology of happiness in Al-Ghazali’s thought by examining the sources of knowledge, the process of acquiring knowledge, and its relationship to the attainment of happiness (sa’adah). This research employs a qualitative approach using the library research method, with data analyzed through content analysis. The findings reveal that Al-Ghazali’s epistemology is integrative, combining the senses, reason, the heart (qalb), and kashf as successive stages in the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge begins with empirical experience, develops through rational reasoning, and is ultimately perfected through the purification of the soul (tazkiyat al-nafs), enabling the heart to receive divine light and attain ma’rifah. The study further demonstrates that happiness (sa’adah), according to Al-Ghazali, is the ultimate goal of human life, achieved through this epistemological process. Such happiness is understood as a spiritual state resulting from the attainment of ma’rifatullah (knowledge of God). Therefore, this research not only explains Al-Ghazali’s concept of happiness but also reconstructs his conceptual model of the epistemology of happiness by integrating the senses, reason, qalb, kashf, ma’rifah, and ma’rifatullah. The findings are expected to contribute to the development of Islamic philosophical studies, particularly concerning the relationship between epistemology, ma’rifah, and happiness.