Among the excellences of Imām al Ghazzāli ق is that when the Messenger ﷺ met with the Prophets ﵈ on the night of the heavenly Ascent, among them was Mūsā ﵇ and the latter asked our liege lord the Messenger of Allah ﷺ "Is it true that you said, 'The ulema of my Umma are like the Prophets of the Israelites.'?"
The Messenger ﷺ answered yes, then Mūsā ﵇ said, "I would like to meet one those whom you have commended." Thereupon our liege lord the Messenger ﷺ summoned the spirit of Imām al Ghazzāli ق.
When the latter came, the Messenger ﷺ said, "This is one of them."
Our liege lord Mūsā ﵇ asked him, "What is your name?"
He replied, “Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Muḥammad Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī.”
Our liege lord Mūsā ﵇ said, "Glory to Allah! I asked for your name, and you answered with your name, the name of your father and the name of your family. What do you go on instead of using brevity?"
Al-Ghazzāli ق said, "O our liege lord, we are in the presence of the Seal of Prophets and their liege lord, and in the presence of a Prophet-Messenger from those of high resolve, and this is the station of honour. However, I also ask you, when your nurturing Lord asked you, and what is that in your right hand, O Mūsā? (Ṭā Hā 20:17), O Prophet of Allah and His Messenger, why did you make your answer long, although your nurturing Lord had only asked you about the staff?"
Our liege lord Mūsā ﵇ said, "That is the station of honour and I wanted to lengthen the speech to derive honour."
Al-Ghazzāli ق said, "It is the same station. I wanted to lengthen the speech to derive honor."
At that time our liege lord Mūsā ﵇ said to our liege lord the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, "This is true. If all the ulema of your Umma are like this one, then I witness to your statement that 'The ulema of my Umma are like the Prophets of the Israelites.'"
Translated from the Arabic by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad ﵀