"The Duties of Brotherhood," book XV, part ii of al-Ghazali's Alchemy
of Happiness translated by Muhammad Nur Abdus Salas (2002) spells out
one of that sage's most straightforward and systematic prescriptions
for interfacing with the "other." At the outset, al-Ghazali
expansively wraps all of humankind in the tolerant embrace of Tawhīd,
the oneness of God and all creation:

Know that the world is one stage of the stages of the journey to God
Most High. All in this station are travelers. Since the destination of
journey of this caravan of travelers is the same, they are all as one.
There must be friendship and unity among them and mutual aid. (Al-
Ghazzali,17)

The "friendship and brotherhood" that occur "for the sake of God Most
High" al-Ghazali calls "among the most meritorious forms of worship".
We must go beyond tepid abidance-tolerance, Ghazali urges, to the
loving embrace of one another. Al-Ghazali gives instances of God's
revealing to the Prophets Muhammad, David, and Jesus that friendships
are great gifts from God bringing with them grand rewards:

And (the Messenger) said: "For those persons who have friendship for
each other for the sake of God Most High a red ruby column is set up
on top of which are 70,000 pavilions. From there they will look down
upon the inhabitants of heaven, and the light of their countenances
will fall upon the inhabitants of heaven, like the light of the sun in
this world. The people of heaven will say, 'Come, let us go look at
them.' They will see them clothed in green brocade. On their foreheads
will be written Those who love each other in God: They are the friends
of God most high." (Al-Ghazzali, 20)

Al-Ghazali then further distinguishes two types of friendship for the
sake of God. One is that formed with another because he or she leads
one to greater knowledge. The goal of that knowledge is the Hereafter.
A teacher, or another whose acceptance of one's charity and
benevolence leads one to the "peace of mind for worship" (Al-Ghazzali,
21), exemplifies this.

The second type of friendship Ghazali describes, however, far exceeds
this. It is personal, and extends to another because he or she "is a
servant of God and created by Him." Al-Ghazali calls such love
"greater because this arises from the excess of love of God Most High,
so much so that it reaches the boundaries of passionate love." It
leaks out of the love of God over into love of another, and even
extends then to love of the walls of the beloved friend, the district
in which the beloved friend lives, and even the dog that roams the
beloved friend's part of town (Al-Ghazzali, 22). This friendship,
going far beyond merely putting up with another, al-Ghazali applies to
muslims. It must be remembered that the term "muslim" can mean to al-
Ghazali as to any Arabic speaker simply "one who surrenders", thus
this impassioned form of tolerance he references need not place limits
upon whom it admits into toleration's realm; however, if we take
"muslims" to mean "Muslims" in the sense of a member of a formal
religion, it might delimit. I suggest the former reading is more
appropriate. Even so, in how it links one to another it goes far
beyond the toleration that is mere abiding with another. Yet to stop
here in al-Ghazali's "Duties of Brotherhood" would be to stop short.

Al-Ghazali stresses, "They must respect each others rights" (Al-
Ghazzali, 17). Not all have the same rights, however. He carefully
describes seven categories of rights distinguished by with whom one
deals. For dealing with the unbelievers, sinners, and oppressors, al-
Ghazali has other guidelines than those for embracing People of the
Book, but there are overlapping areas of grey. For example, in
chapters 3 and 4, concerning "Enmity for the Sake of God" and the
"Degrees of Anger Against the Opponents of God," al-Ghazali counsels
that although one should love even a sinful Muslim for his being a
Muslim, one must "hold him as an enemy for his sinfulness" (Al-
Ghazzali, 24).

Chapter 7, "The Rights of Muslims, Neighbors, Relatives, and
Captives," enumerates the duties attendant upon brotherhood. Al-
Ghazali lists twenty-three rights that accrue to muslims with whom one
is not bound in friendship. The first is a reverse Golden Rule:
whatever one does not like done to oneself, do not do it to another
Muslim (Al-Ghazzali, 43). The second is interesting especially in that
it signals the requirement throughout for a carefully nuanced reading
of this text. It reads, "The second right is that no Muslim be
troubled by [one's] deeds or speech." This exchange immediately
follows:

The Messenger (pbuh) asked: "Do you know who is a Muslim?" They
answered: "God and His Messenger know best." He said: "That person
from whose hand and tongue the Muslims are at ease." They asked: "Who
is a believer?" He said: "He with whom the Muslims are secure in their
own bodies and property."

This anecdote underscores al-Ghazali's understanding "muslim" and
"believer" to mean anyone who has surrendered one's will to do harm to
the followers of Muhammad. It sounds very like a live-and-let-live
policy, one not picky about litmus tests of orthodoxy and more
interested in the orthopraxis of non-conflict. Tolerating everyone who
tolerates you would appear to be the message, especially upon reading
in the next lines, "no one should look at another scornfully; it may
be that the person is a friend of God Most High and (the scorner) not
know it; for God Most High conceals his Saints so that no one may
approach them" (Al-Ghazzali, 43). The friends of God become obvious in
Paradise, but not necessarily here. One must allow for the possibility
that another's position, differing even from one's own, may prove
fully acceptable to God. Recognizing that possibility and exercising
appropriate non-judgmental restraint is not "relativism."

Further down still, al-Ghazali invokes Sunnah, "Do good with everyone
you are able to; if that person is not of that disposition, you should
be so The basis of intelligence, after faith, is showing friendship to
people and doing good deeds to the chaste and the unchaste" (Al-
Ghazzali, 44, italics mine). Here the text clearly does not restrict
friendship either to the "muslim" or to the Muslim. Nevertheless,
Ghazali's injunctions here do seem to limit toleration to something
short of that practiced in impassioned friendship. It makes no
provision for loving the tolerated one's walls and district and dog.

In Chapter 7.II, al-Ghazali does draw clear distinctions concerning
the extent of toleration when he writes:

As for the rights of neighbors, there are many. The Messenger (pbuh)
said, "There is a neighbor who has one right: he is an unbeliever.
There is the neighbor who has two rights: he is a Muslim. There is the
neighbor who has three rights: he is a Muslim relative" (Al-Ghazzali,
57).

Just when it seems Ghazali will finally give his reader grounds on
which to draw the line between herself and her fellow believer, he
shifts the ground. Instead of making how closely one is linked in
Muslim blood-brotherhood the grounds for distinguishing those to whom
one must be most neighborly, Ghazali makes neighborliness to all the
grounds for distinguishing how Muslim one truly is. Again he quotes
the Prophet:

And he said: "A person is not a Muslim whose neighbor suffers or is
not safe from him." And he said: "The first of two judgments at the
Resurrection shall be with the neighbor." And he said "Whoever throws
a stone at his neighbor's dog gives offense to him."

You might not have to love your neighbor's dog - there is a limit - in
contrast to that of your friend's whom you will love, but you had
better not hound the neighbor's if you hope to get to heaven. The
neighbor will be annoyed, and the result will not be good:

The Messenger (pbuh) was told: "Such-and-such a woman fasts by day and
spends her nights in prayer, but she annoys her neighbor." He said:
"Her place is in hell."

Al-Ghazali's neighbor, moreover, is not just the guy next door, but
"forty houses to the right, forty houses to the left, forty houses to
the front, and forty houses to the rear." (Al-Ghazzali, 57) Even in a
thickly-settled city, that takes one several blocks. Outside it, one
could easily go a country mile before finding an end to the tolerance
that al-Ghazali hails. It ranges from what could be called
friendliness to that deep love inherent in friendship. Whatever is it
called, al-Ghazali considered it import enough to emphasize by
allowing a rare sardonic note to be sounded by the prophet: "Gabriel,
peace be upon him, has always counseled me about the rights of
neighbors to the point that I supposed they would inherit from me" (Al-
Ghazzali, 57).