Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
Ihya Ulum Al Din Vol 1 to 4 (complete) by Imam Ghazali. Through the unbounded grace of the Almighty God and blessings of the greatest Apostle of God, the English version of the Book of worship of the world renowned Ihyaul Ulum (Revival of religious learning) of Imam Ghazzali, the greatest thinker of the world of Islam, the Proof of Islam, the famous Sufi and devout, has now been published in full. This book Ihya is a sea of knowledge full of reasons and arguments, full of Quranic verses, traditions of the Holy Prophet and of the companions and the famous saints of early ages. Each subject was supported by the Quran, traditions and sayings of the learned sages and wise men and established by reasons and arguments.
As the great Imam belonged originally to the Shafeyi Sunni sect, some of the religious doctrines will be found in line with that sect, but nevertheless its importance is very great. In his advanced age, the Imam was not a blind follower of sects but followed his independent thinking and as such indirectly created a sect of his own. As the world is advancing with ever new ideas and scientific discoveries, so also this work is full of novel and great ideas and scientific discoveries and thereby the Imam revived truly the religious sciences and gave them an impetus never given by his predecessors in such a manner. He saved Islam from the currents and cross currents of devilish thoughts and pagan ideas that inperceptibly entered into Islam and clearly showed their fallacies and misconceptions. For this reason, he was given the title of Hujjatul Islam or the Proof of Islam. His thoughts prevailed upon those savants who came after him. Had not the Almighty blessed him with the necklace of reason and intellect, the true belief of Islam would have been carried away by the strong current of irreligious and misguided thoughts.
Imam Ghazzali was bom in 450 A.H. (1058 A.D.) in the village Taberan in the district of Taus in Persia and his name is Abu Hamid Muhammad. His title is Hujjatul Islam or Proof of Islam and his dynastic title is Ghazzali. His father was not a famous person but his grand father was one of the leading men of that age. His father died while he was young leaving him under the care of his mother and grand father. Ghazzal is said to be the name of a village in the district of Taus in the province of Khorasan in Persia. According to Maulana Shibli Nomani, his ancestors had the business of weaving (Ghazzal) a”nd therefore he retained his family title Ghazzali (weaver).
LECTURES OF IMAM GHAZZALI: In the lectures of the Imam, hundreds of learned men and dignitaries of the State and even the ruling princes attended. His lectures were full of arguments and reasons and they were mostly recorded by Sayeed-b-Fares and Ibn Lobban. They recorded nearly 183 of his lectures which were completed in a book named Majalesse-Ghazzali.
The great Imam then turned his mind to gain spiritual heights and the circumstances leading to it were recorded by him in his book Munkezum Minaddalal (Deliverance from error). He was a follower of Imam Shafeyi in his early age but in Baghdad he mixed freely with the peoples of all sects and thoughts and ideas. There were then the Shias, the Sunnis, Zindiqs, Magians, Scholastic theologians, Christians, Jews, atheists fire-worshippers and idol worshippes. There were also the Deists, the Materialists, the Naturalists, the philosophers. They used to meet in mutual wars of argumentations and debates. This had such an effect in the mind of the Imam that his whole life became changed and he began to search for truth with a free mind.
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