He puts history in the category of permis­sible sciences...

He puts history in the category of permis­sible sciences (mubah) and magic and sorcery in the category of the un­desirable fields of "knowledge". The "praiseworthy" sciences (mahmud), according to him, are those whose knowledge is necessary in the affairs of life and these are wajib kifai; the rest of them bring addi­tional merit to the learned who pursue them.

He puts medicine, mathe­matics and crafts, whose sufficient knowledge is needed by the society, in the category of sciences of which are wajib kifai. Any further research into the detail and depth of problems of medical science or mathematics is put by Al-Ghazzali in the second category which involves merit for the scholar without entailing any manner of obligation. Al-Ghazzali classifies the religious sciences also into two groups: praiseworthy (mahmud) and undesirable (madhmum).

By "undesirable religious sciences" he means those which are apparently oriented towards the Shari'ah but actually deviate from its teachings. He sub­divides the "praiseworthy" religious sciences into four groups: Usul (principles; i.e. the Quran, the sunnah, ijma ` or consensus and the traditions of the Prophet's companions) Furu` (secondary matters; i.e.

problems of jurisprudence, ethics and mystical experience) Introductory studies (Arabic grammar, syntax, etc.) Complementary studies (recitation and interpretation of the Quran, study of the principles of jurisprudence, `ilm al-rijal or biographical research about narrators of Islamic traditions etc.) Al-Ghazzali considers the knowledge of the disciplines contained in the above four groups to be wajib kifa'i.

As to the extent to which one should learn the "praiseworthy" sciences, Al-Ghazzali's view is that in matters of theology such as know­ledge of God, Divine qualities, acts and commands, one should try to learn as much as is possible. However, as to religious topics whose knowledge is wajib kifa'i, one should learn as much as is sufficient.

Here the summary of his views is that one should not pursue learning of those sciences if there are already others devoting themselves to their study, and if one were to do so, he should refrain from spending all his life for their learning, "for knowledge is vast and life is short. They are preliminaries and not an end in themselves." [^5] As to theology (kalam), his opinion is that only as much of it as is corroborated by the Quran and hadith is beneficial.