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IFS Al-Ghazālī Course: The Inner Collapse That Leads to Certainty


A free course inside the Everything IFS Academy





Al-Ghazālī is often remembered as one of the greatest intellectuals in Islamic history—a master theologian, philosopher, and legal scholar whose influence shaped centuries of thought. But that reputation can obscure the heart of his story.


This course begins where his most important work truly starts: not with brilliance, certainty, or authority, but with collapse. A moment when knowledge stopped satisfying, certainty fractured, and the life he had built could no longer hold the truth rising inside him.


This free course explores the inner journey of Al-Ghazālī through his crisis, withdrawal, purification, and return, drawing from his writings and life while being thoughtfully informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS). It is not therapy, and it does not replace Islamic theology or spiritual tradition. It is designed for seekers who want to understand what it means to move from knowing about truth to living from it.



What This Course Offers

This course invites you to walk alongside Al-Ghazālī as he confronts the limits of intellect, the dangers of ego-driven knowledge, and the necessity of inner transformation.

Inside the course, you’ll explore:

  • Spiritual crisis as an opening rather than a failure

  • The difference between certainty of the mind and certainty of the heart

  • Why intellect alone cannot deliver truth

  • Sincerity as the foundation of real knowledge

  • Detachment without withdrawal from the world

  • Practice as transformation, not theory

  • Returning to life changed, not perfected

Throughout the course, insights from Internal Family Systems (IFS) help illuminate the inner dynamics beneath Al-Ghazālī’s experience how protectors perform certainty, how collapse reveals deeper longing, and how sincerity emerges when the heart is no longer performing.


This approach does not replace Islam. It does not turn spirituality into psychology. It offers another lens for noticing what is already there.



Course Outline

  • Lesson 1: The Crisis That Broke Him Open

  • Lesson 2: What It Means to Seek Certainty

  • Lesson 3: The Limits of Intellect

  • Lesson 4: The Trap of Ego Knowledge

  • Lesson 5: The Purification of the Heart

  • Lesson 6: Sincerity

  • Lesson 7: The Real Turning Point

  • Lesson 8: Detachment in a Crowded World

  • Lesson 9: The Architect of the Inner Life

  • Lesson 10: The Secret Intentions

  • Lesson 11: The Light God Places in the Heart

  • Lesson 12: The Path of Practice, Not Theory

  • Lesson 13: The Return — Living What You Learned



How This Course Is Different

You won’t find:

  • A flattened biography focused only on achievement

  • Certainty presented as something to perform

  • Spiritual bypassing of doubt, collapse, or fear

You will find:

  • Al-Ghazālī’s crisis treated as central, not incidental

  • Space for rupture, sincerity, and inner honesty

  • A slow unfolding of spiritual maturity grounded in lived experience

Each lesson includes historical context and optional reflective elements, emphasizing careful, grounded engagement with Al-Ghazālī’s journey and its relevance for modern inner life.




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