the effects of religiosity with emphasis on psychological views of al-ghazali in ihya ‘ulum al-din

al-ghazali was one of the islamic scholars who was concerned to revival of religious teachings. in ihya’ ‘ulum al-din, he tried to provide a pattern in this regard for the believers of his time. in this article, authors attempt to discuss effects of religiosity with emphasis on psychological views of al-ghazali. for this purpose, al-ghazali’s ideas which has been expressed in four parts of ihya’ ‘ulum al-din as ‘ibadiyyat, ‘adat, munjiyat and muhlikat has been debated under the titles of epistemic, spiritual, emotional, moral and social effects of religiosity. knowleldge based religiosity, depends on the answers to existential and interpretative questions. for believers, saviors of religion (munjiyat), in addition to the elimination of evils (muhlikat), help to create positive emotional feelings. ethics has a crucial role in religiosity. believers in their lives, must try to acquire moral virtues and avoid moral vices. in al-ghazali’s thoughts, religion provides happiness for believers both in this world and in hereafter.