Did Al-Gazali have any family of his own?

Question

Did Al-Gazali, author of "The Revival of Religious Sciences" ever marry? Had he any wife or children?

Answer 1

Yes. Actually his name Abu Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazali implies it (Abu Hamid means father of Hamid). In his book "al-Ghazaly, the Philosopher", ʻAbd al-Amīr Aʻsam mentions (p.27, Dar Qaba' 1998):

He is Muhammed of Muhammed of Muhammed of Ahmed, called as Abu Hamid referring to a son of his who died in his childhood, and known as al-Ghazaly.

For this information about his son, Aʻsam cities Mu'jam_al-Buldan and Wafayat al-Ayan: معجم البلدان، ط ليبزيك-ج3 ص561؛ طبقات الشافعية الكبرى، القاهرة، ط1 ج4 ص101 وما بعدها؛ ابن خلكان: وفيات الأعيان، القاهرة 1299هـ،ج1 ص49.

Answer 2

It is a fact that al-Ghazaly was called abu Hamid and abu 'Abdillah in many books that quoted at least a short biography of him like Wafayat al-'Ayan وفيات الأعيان وأنباء أبناء الزمان (see here) of ibn Khallikan who lived 2 centuries after al-Ghazaly or Mu'jam al-Buldan معجم البلدان (see here in the context of citing his city of birth Tus) of Yaqoot al-Hamawi ياقوت الحموي الرومي who live a century after al-Ghazaly.
This leads to the assumption that al-Ghazaly probably had a son or even two. But this must not be true, since for example abu Bakr as-Sidiq () didn't have a son called Bakr nor did 'Umar ibn al-Khattab had as son called Hafs even if he was also called abu Hafs.

Imam a-Dhahabi and Taj ad-Dyn as-Subki quoted from a lost book of 'abd al-Ghaafir an-Naysaburi (or al-Farisi عبد الغافر الفارسي) a contemporary scholar who personally met al-Ghazaly in Nishapur called as-Siyaq «السياق» في تاريخ نيسابور which is a history of Nishapur this book ends by the year 518 a.H. while al-Ghazaly is known to have died 505a.H. the author himself died 529 a.H.. Today only an abridged version of the book and a selection of its content exists in printed form. In some Bibliothek in Saudi Arabia there are manuscripts of around 192 pages out of it. As for the abridged version the author is seemingly unknown and it contains the same "story" of which both a-DHahabi and as-Subki quoted, while the selection seemingly canceled the biographical quotes on al-Ghazaly completely. Also, be aware that a-Dhahabi quoted this only partially in his siyar 'alaam an-Nubalaa' as the only positive or objective report of al-Ghazalys biography, as he was disliking him as other quotes show. While as-Subki quoted the full text without any commentary and without canceling any part. As the author 'Abd al-Ghaafir ended his report saying that al-Ghazly before his death started learning hadith and that he was expecting him to excel it if he continued as he did with all science or topics of wisdom he ever learned. In this quote you may find the following hint:

ولم يعقب إلا البنات
(literally): None followed (succeded) him but girls
(See in a-Dhahabi's Siyar 'alaam an-Nubalaa', as-Subki's Tabaqat a-Shafi'iya al-Kubra)

here the emphasis is on the verb:

يعقب

Which either means that al-Ghazly "had offspring" or "offspring that lived after him". The full translation of the above quote therefore is either:

He didn't leave children but girls

Or

He didn't leave after him children bu girls

So if we assume the assumption above to be true then al-Ghazaly was married and had children, but at he time he died only his daughters were alive. Otherwise, he had only daughters.

But the next statement saying:

وكان له من الأسباب إرثا وكسبا ما يقوم بكفايته ونفقة أهله وأولاده فما كان يباسط أحد في الأمور الدنيوية
He had an inheritance and earned income to support him and provide for his family and children, so he did not care about anyone in worldly matters.

May also favor to some extent the first assumption. Even if the statement would need some explanation since all biographers and al-Ghazly himself informed us in some of his books that his father was anything, but wealthy and he asked Allah for a pious preacher and knowledgable son and he got two sons he has never known since he died, one of them was abu Hamid who was a famous knowledgable scholar of his time and the other was Ahmad who was also known preacher and teacher in absence of his brother.