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The Revival of the Religious Sciences

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The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Arabic: إِحْيَاء عُلُوم ٱلدِّين, romanized: Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn) is a 12th-century book written by the Muslim scholar al-Ghazali.[1][2][3] The book was composed in Arabic by al-Ghazali on his spiritual crises that stemmed from his appointment as the head of the Nizzamiyya University in Baghdad, which led to his eventual disappearance from the Muslim world for over 10 years.

The Revival of the Religious Sciences
AuthorAl-Ghazali
Original titleإِحْيَاء عُلُوم ٱلدِّين
LanguageArabic
SubjectIslamic ethics and philosophy
Publication date
Early 12th century
Publication placePersia

It is regarded as one of his chief works and a classic introduction to the pious Muslim's path to God, and is widely considered to be the most impactful book in Islamic history after the Quran.[4][5][6] It originally spanned 40 volumes and dealt with Islamic concepts and practices, demonstrating how these might be formed the foundation of reflective religious life, thereby attaining the higher stages of Sufism. Some consider Kimiyā-ye Sa'ādat (Alchemy of Happiness) as a rewrite of this work, which is a common misconception. Kimyā-ye Sa'ādat is shorter than this book; however, Ghazali said that he wrote the former to reflect the nature of the latter and a few of his other theological writings.[7]

Background

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Ghazali was the student of Al-Juwayni, under whom he studied religious sciences, including Islamic law and jurisprudence.[8] Nizam al-Mulk, the Seljuk vizier, recognized the great potential in Ghazali as a scholar and appointed him as the head of Nizamiyya madarasa in Baghdad.[9] Ghazali, at the peak of his fame and scholarship went into a spiritual and intellectual crisis. He left his post at the institution on request of pilgrimage. He went into a long journey, travelling to Damascus, Jerusalem and finally to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. Ghazali throughout the journey, was going through an inner spiritual struggle, and he became attracted towards the pathway of the Sufis. This journey influenced Ghazali to write his autobiography Deliverance from Error and then his famous book The Revival of the Religious Sciences, explaining in detail about mysticism, theology, Islamic rituals and practices.[10][11]

Structure

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An old page with marginalia from The Revival of the Religious Sciences

The book is divided into four parts,[12][13] each containing ten books. It explains the doctrines and practices of Islam and showed how these can be made the basis of a profound devotional life, leading to the higher stages of Sufism or mysticism.[14][15]

First Quarter - Acts of worship (Rubʿ al-ʿibadāt)

This part contains the following books:

  • Book 1: Book of knowledge
  • Book 2: Foundations of Belief
  • Book 3: Mysteries of Taharah (In The Mysteries of Purification (Kitab asrar al tahara), the third of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'ulum al-din), Abu Hamid al-Ghazali explains the fundamentals of the purification that is necessary in order to perform the five daily prayers. Over the following chapters, al-Ghazali examines the lesser ablution (wudu), the greater ablution (ghusl), and the “dry ablution” (ablution without water, or tayammum). He discusses the etiquette of the bathhouse and outlines exactly how to clean the body of external things and natural growths; finally, he discusses the beard and practices related to it.[16])
  • Book 4: Mysteries of Prayer
  • Book 5: Mysteries of Zakat (Charity)
  • Book 6: Mysteries of Fasting
  • Book 7: Mysteries of Pilgrimage (Hajj)
  • Book 8: Etiquette of Qurʾānic Recitation
  • Book 9: On Invocations and Supplications
  • Book 10: On the Arrangements of Litanies and Divisions of the Night Vigil
Second Quarter - Norms of Daily Life (Rubʿ al-ʿadat)

This part contains the following books:

  • Book 11: On the Manners Related to Eating
  • Book 12: On the Etiquette of Marriage
  • Book 13: On the Etiquette of Acquisition and Earning a Livelihood
  • Book 14: The Lawful and Prohibited
  • Book 15: On the Duties of Brotherhood
  • Book 16: On the Etiquette of Seclusion
  • Book 17: On the Etiquette of Travel
  • Book 18: On Music and Singing
  • Book 19: On Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil
  • Book 20: Etiquette of Living and the Prophetic Mannerism (In the Book of Prophetic Ethics and the Courtesies of Living (Kitab Adab al ma’isha wa-akhlaq al-nubuwwa), book twenty of the forty books which compose the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din), Abu hamid al-Ghazali gives an account of the customs and character of Muhammad.[17])
Third Quarter - The Ways to Perdition (Rubʾ al-muhlikat)

This part contains the following books:

  • Book 21: The Marvels of the Heart
  • Book 22: On Disciplining the Soul
  • Book 23: On Breaking the Two Desires
  • Book 24: Defects of the Tongue
  • Book 25: Condemnation of Rancor and Envy
  • Book 26: Condemnation of the World
  • Book 27: Condemnation of Miserliness and Condemnation of the Love of wealth
  • Book 28: Condemnation of Status and Ostentation
  • Book 29: Condemnation of Pride and Conceit
  • Book 30: Condemnation of Self-Delusion
Fourth Quarter - The Ways to Salvation (Rubʿ al-munjiyat)
  • Book 31: On Repentance
  • Book 32: On Patience and Thankfulness
  • Book 33: On Fear and Hope
  • Book 34: On Poverty and Abstinence
  • Book 35: Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence (In an axial volume from his celebrated compendium, the "Ihya ulum al din," al-Ghazali shares his startling and original exploration of the meaning of trust in Divine Providence and recommends specific spiritual skills to help the seeker develop a state whereby he or she may rightly respond to events as they happen. This judicious use of stories is intended to imitate the Sufi practice of the master/disciple relationship, where the novice is helped to discern correct action.[18])
  • Book 36: On Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment
  • Book 37: On Intention, Sincerity, and Truth
  • Book 38: On Holding Vigil and Self-Examination (The 38th chapter of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, this treatise follows on from Al-Ghazali on Intention, Sincerity & Truthfulness. Here, Ghazali focuses on the different stations of steadfastness in religion (murabaha), vigilance and self-examination being its cornerstones. As in all his writings, Ghazali bases his arguments on the Qur’an, the example of the Prophet, and the sayings of numerous scholars and Sufis. As relevant today as it was in the 11th century, this discourse will be of interest to anyone concerned with ethics and moral philosophy.)[19]
  • Book 39: On Meditation
  • Book 40: On the Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife

Influence

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Seyyed Hossein Nasr states that it is "perhaps the most influential work on ethics in Islamic history".[20] It became the most frequently read Islamic book after the Quran and the hadith. Its great accomplishment was to bring orthodox Sunni theology and Sufi mysticism together in a useful, comprehensible manner to guide every aspect of Muslim life and death.[21]

Reception

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The Ihya Ulum al-Din is considered to be one of the most widely read books in Islam across the world, having gained reverence from scholars and the general acceptance of the Muslim people (ummah). Here are few statements regarding the book from the most revered and renowned scholars:[22]

Al-Nawawi stated that: "Were the books of Islam all to be lost, excepting only the Ihya, it would suffice to replace them all."[23]

Ibn al-Subki said regarding it: "It (Ihya) ranks among the books which Muslims look after (preserve) and spread far and wide so that many people may be guided reading it. Hardly has someone looked into this book, except he woke up on the spot (came to Guidance) thanks to it. May Allah grant us insight that shows us the way of the Truth (Haqq), and protect us from what (darkness) stands between us and the Truth as a veil."[22]

Al-Safadi said: "It is among the noble and greatest books, to the extent that it was said concerning it - that if all the books of Islam were lost, except the 'Ihya' (of Al-Ghazali), it would suffice (be enough) for what was lost."[22]

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi said: "It (Ihya) was as if Allah (God) gathered all the Sciences (subjects) under a dome and showed them to Al-Ghazali."[22]

Minhaj al-Qasidin

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Al-Ghazali, despite being a scholar, was not an expert in the field of hadith and thus the hadith narrations contained in his book were scrutinized. Hadith experts like Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn al-Qudamah al-Maqdisi researched and sorted out the hadith narrations contained in the book on the basis of their authenticities. They then wrote the Minhaj-al-Qasidin and its overview called Mukhtasar.[24] The book was then carefully reworked by Ibn al Jawzi (597 AH) and the result of his work was named Minhaj al-Qāsidīn wa Mufīd al-Shādiqīn. Ibn al-Jawzi's efforts in rewriting the book is considered important and while he had similarities with Al-Ghazali in terms of mastery in mysticism, he also had the superiority of expertise in the knowledge of the hadiths. The reworking by Ibn al-Jawzi focused on the re-examination of the existing hadiths, elimination of weak and disputed hadiths and their replacement with the authentic and sound ones so that the integrity of the book was not compromised. Minhaj al-Qasidin was a fairly thick book and it was summarized in the form of Mukhtasar by Imam Ibn Qudamah. Whenever Ibn al Jawzi focused on the study of hadith, he found the Mukhtasar book in line with its name, aiming at summarizing and making the essence of the previous book to be more concise, organized, and easy to understand. It also added additional notes so that it may become an easy book for students to read. Ibn Qudamah remarked that whenever he read Ibn al Jawzi's Minhajul Qasidin, he felt that this book was very useful for society, so he would read it again in order to absorb the deeper meaning for the second time. He said that his admiration for the book grew such that he also added some important missing topics that were readily available in other prominent books of his time with additional notes such as hadith and commentary.[25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Garber, Marjorie (13 September 2013). One Nation Under God?: Religion and American Culture. Routledge. ISBN 9781135207854 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Ghazzālī (1978). Ihya Ulum Al-din. Sind Sagar Academy.
  3. ^ al-Ghazzali (16 April 1997). Ihya' Ulum Al-din. Dar al-Tauzi'. ISBN 9789772651894 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Watt, Montgomery. "Ghazali, /Abu /Hamed /Mohammad, ii, iii." Encyclopedia Iranica. 1-12. Print.
  5. ^ Team, Content (2014-03-25). "The Revival of the Religious Sciences - Studying the Ihya". SeekersGuidance. Retrieved 2023-09-13.
  6. ^ "Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn – ghazali.org". Retrieved 2023-09-13.
  7. ^ Netton, Ian R. "(Untitled)." Rev. of The Alchemy of Happiness Translated by Claud Field. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Apr. 1993: 117-18. Print.
  8. ^ "THE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE ELITE LIVES OF THE SCHOLARS, IMAMS & HADITH MASTERS: Biographies of The Imams & Scholars". Zulfiqar Ayub. 2 May 2015 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: Revelation against rationalism". Daily Sabah.
  10. ^ "Reading al-Ghazali in Ramadan". Daily Sabah. 15 June 2016.
  11. ^ Al-Ghazzali (1 January 2010). The Alchemy of Happiness. Cosimo, Inc. ISBN 9781616405014 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Revival of Religious Sciences".
  13. ^ https://bookstore.zaytuna.edu/collections/al-ghazali/products/revival-of-the-religious-sciences-an-abridgment [dead link‍]
  14. ^ "al-Ghazali - Muslim jurist, theologian, and mystic".
  15. ^ Ghazali, Imam. "Ihya Ulum al-Din {إحياء علوم الدين} by Imam Ghazali - Maktabah Mujaddidiyah".
  16. ^ "Al-Ghazali the Mysteries of Purification: Book 3 of the Revival of the Religious Sciences".
  17. ^ "Al-Ghazali: The Book of Prophetic Ethics and the Courtesies of Living".
  18. ^ "Al-Ghazali Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence".
  19. ^ "Al-Ghazali on Vigilance & Self-Examination".
  20. ^ Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2014). "Happiness and the Attainment of Happiness: An Islamic Perspective". Journal of Law and Religion. 29 (1): 76–91 [80]. doi:10.1017/jlr.2013.18. JSTOR 24739088.
  21. ^ Hunt Janin, The Pursuit of Learning in the Islamic World 610-2003, p 83. ISBN 0786429046
  22. ^ a b c d Ayub, Zulfiqar (2 May 2015). THE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE ELITE LIVES OF THE SCHOLARS, IMAMS & HADITH MASTERS Biographies of The Imams & Scholars. Zulfiqar Ayub Publications. p. 206.
  23. ^ Joseph E. B. Lumbard, Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Essays by Western Muslim Scholars, p. 291. ISBN 0941532607
  24. ^ al-Maqdisi, Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn Qudamah (19 May 1998). "Mukhtasar minhaj al-qasidin". Dar al-manar – via Google Books.
  25. ^ ABSTRACT OF THE GUIDE FOR THE ONES TRAVELING TOWARDS ALLAH - Google Search. January 2014. ISBN 9782745176592.
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