The function of the intellectual -- The world of al-Ghazali. The political background ; The religious and intellectual background ; Al-Ghazali's early life -- The encounter with philosophy. The philosophical movement in the Islamic world ; The social relevance of philosophical ideas ; Al-Ghazali's period of scepticism ; "The inconsistency of the philosophers" ; The introduction of logic into theology -- Truth from the charismatic leader. Isma`ilite doctrine in its political setting ; The intellectual defence of Sunnism -- The reappraisal of theology. The achievements of Islamic theology; Theologians and governments ; Al-Ghazali's critique of the scholar-jurists ; Dogmatic theology from a new standpoint -- The bitterness of worldly success. The Sufi movement ; The crisis of 1095 ; Life as a Sufi ; "The revival of the religious sciences"--The intellectual basis of the "revived" community. The intellectual class and the conception of knowledge ; The new "intellectual structure" of the community -- The achievement. The tension between philosophy and theology ; The Batinite challenge ; The tension between the "Islamic sciences" and Sufism