Al-Ghazali (c.1056 1111) was one of the most prominent and influential philosophers, theologians, jurists, and mystics of Sunni Islam. He was active at a time when Sunni theology had just passed through its consolidation and entered a period of intense challenges. He is generally acclaimed as the most influential thinker of medieval Islam. His writings have been regarded as the greatest in spirituality and have been, for centuries, the most read work after the Qur'an in the Muslim world.