Tentative Answer:2. What relation to society is necessary for finding the truth? Why does he return to society?

al -Ghazali left society because he was on the “verge of hellfire” (al - Ghazali, 78)if he did nothing to fix the way he was living. Initially al - Ghazali found it difficult to leave as “The temptations of the temporal world enchanted me and tugged at me to remain…” (78), however eventually he left after being in “dire need and desperation”(79). Leaving allowed al - Ghazali to obtain a new type of knowledge in the spiritual, one he was unable to acquire because he focused on the material world instead of devoting himself to God. By doing this he has fully realized that the mystics are”...the most correct, and their characters are most morally refined.”(80). However, he returns to society because of his duty to spread knowledge. al - Ghazali emphasizes the pursuit of knowledge, as well as, the spread of knowledge. He descibes that “...the proficient snake charmer who can handle the snake and distinguish the antidote and poison….should not withhold the antidote” (76) to one who has knowledge and someone who does not. Al - Ghazali implies that there is a responsibility to society to spread knowledge.