Al-Ghazali

About Al-Ghazali

Al-Ghazali, a towering figure of the Islamic Golden Age (1058–1111), was a polymath whose influence spanned theology, philosophy, and Sufism. His historical importance, reflected by an HPI Rank of #331, stems largely from his profound synthesis of Islamic thought, most notably challenging the rationalist philosophical traditions of his time in works like The Incoherence of the philosophers. This reconciliation of faith and reason cemented his role as a foundational thinker in intellectual history.

Despite his high historical ranking, Al-Ghazali garnered approximately 359K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This places him in an attention bracket similar to the philosopher Martin Heidegger (#432 importance, 590K views), but significantly behind contemporaries in the same field like Rajneesh (#568 importance, 1.7M views). His attention is roughly proportional to his importance, as indicated by an Attention Gap of $\sim$1x, suggesting a more stable, though modest, level of modern internet interest compared to others whose attention vastly outstrips their historical significance.

However, this interest is currently waning; Al-Ghazali saw an 11.1% year-over-year decrease in views and a negative 9% momentum in Q1 versus Q3 of 2025, signaling a slight decline in current online engagement.