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.