INTRODUCTION

BIRTH OF GHAZZALI

ABOÛ HÂMID MUHAMMED IBN MUHAMMAD AL GHAZZALI was born in the city of Tus in Khorassan A region in northeastern Persia, modern-day Iran, A.D. 1058, one year after the great poet and freethinker Abu' l' Alā Referring to Al-Ma'arri, the famous blind Arab philosopher and poet died. He was the son of a dealer in cotton thread (Gazzâl The Arabic word for spinner or dealer in wool/cotton), whence his name. Losing his father in early life, he was confided to the care of a Sufi A practitioner of Islamic mysticism focusing on the inward search for God, whose influence extended through his subsequent career. On finishing his studies he was appointed professor of theology at Bagdad. Here he achieved such splendid success that all the Imāms Leaders or honored scholars within the Islamic community became his zealous partisans. So great, indeed, was his renown, so ardent the admiration he inspired, that the Muhammedans sometimes said: “If all the books of Islam were destroyed, it would be but a slight loss, provided Al Ghazzali’s work on the Revivification of the Sciences of Religion Original title: "Ihya Ulum al-Din," his most influential encyclopedia of Islamic spirituality were preserved.” The following short treatise gives