The issue of faith and good deeds had triggered several controversies in early Islam, particularly raised by Kharijites, Murji’ites, and Mu‘tazilites. Among the Sunnite schools, the Hanafites holds a slightly different view of faith and its relationship to good deeds. Since the Hanafites exclude good deeds from being an element of faith, there are some parties who charge them with holding the heretical view of the Murji’ites concerning the issue, or at least, they are labelled as “the Sunnite Murji’ites.” This article argues, however, that this charge is erroneous and indeed, this article affirms that the Hanafites held a pure Sunnite position. To prove this stance, this article examines and compares briefly different views of the concept of, and relationship between, faith and good deeds, before critically scrutinize the Hanafite view and position on the issue. This article found that although the Hanafites do exclude good deeds from being an element of faith, their conception of faith is still dynamic, in which good deeds are absolutely still required, and this run counter the Murji’ite ultra-passive attitude towards good deeds. The slight difference between the Hanafites and the other three Sunnite Schools is due to the different socio-political context and different approaches employed by the two groups to the concept of faith. Thus, any allegation that the Hanafites are the Murji’ites or even “the Sunnite Murji’ites” is not only improper but is erroneous.

Imam al-Ghazali has been regarded as the mujaddid (the reviver or the Islamic reformer) of the 5th century AH of Islam, and has been credited with various titles, of which the most famous is as Hujjat al-Islam (Proof of Islam). This article investigates the development of al-Ghazali's thought and spiritual journey through different stages of his life. Employing library research and historical analysis, this article divides al-Ghazali's life into three main periods, namely, before, during, and after seclusion. Initially he was mainly jurist and theologian, but radically transformed to become a personal Sufi during the seclusion period, leading to his subsequently becoming an active public Sufi. The result from the analysis of the first phase of al-Ghazali's life shows that al-Ghazali experienced a radical spiritual and intellectual transformation, which led him to discover Sufism, but without neglecting theology, jurisprudence, and philosophy. There was significant evolution in al-Ghazali's life towards a spiritual orientation as shown by the analysis of his second phase, in which he later sought to share with others after seclusion. If in the phase of seclusion al-Ghazali was personal-namely, focused on personal reformation, devotion, and inner spiritual self-the phase of al-Ghazali's life after seclusion marked the beginning of an active spiritual public life. The result shows that this new al-Ghazali actively tried to reform every class of society (the public, elites, theologians, philosophers, mystics, and others) through teachings, writings, and by sharing his personal spiritual experience. It is evident that with all his efforts and achievements, al-Ghazali offered a great and abiding contribution in reviving the spiritual dimension of Islam, furnished and served it to the Muslim world.