The Moderation in Belief

Al-Iqtisad fi al-i'tiqad, known in English as The Moderation in Belief, is a theological work by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazali (1056–1111). According to George Hourani, it was completed before or during Ghazali's crisis of faith, which led him to leave his post at the Nizamiyya of Baghdad and take up the path of Sufism (tasawwuf). Its exact publication date is unknown.

Scholars regard it as the best defence of the Ash'arite school of Islamic theology. Ghazali also expresses strong reservations about a theology based on taqlid (uncritical imitation of authority) and marked by polemics. Aimed both at extreme literalists and at the Mu'tazilites, it seeks a balance between reason and revelation, which gave the book its title. It opens with praise of God and the importance of revelation, holding that reason should be placed at the service of understanding revelation.