Revitalisation of the Sciences of Religion : Al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din (abridgement) Single Volume (Abd El-Salam Haroun)

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ISBN: 9772651890
Author: Abd El-Salam Haroun; Dr. Ahmad Zidan
Publisher: Islamic Inc. for Publishing and Distribution (1997)
Pages: 500 Binding: Hardcover

Description from the publisher:

INTRODUCTION

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate “Whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and whatever he forbids you, desist from it.” (Chapter 59 verse 7)

First, I praise Allah, continuously though the praise of the fervent does not do justice to His Glory. Second, I invoke the blessing of Allah upon His Messenger, peace and prayers be upon him, the master of mankind, and upon all the Messengers. Third, I ask His help having resolved to write a book on the revival of the religious sciences. Fourth, I proceed to enlighten you, who are the most self-righteous of those who reject belief, and you, who are the most immoderate of the thoughtless unbelievers.

I am no longer obliged to remain silent, because the responsibility to speak, as well as warn you, has been imposed upon me by your persistent straying from the clear truth, and by your insistence upon fostering evil, flattering ignorance, and stirring up opposition against him who, in order to conform to the dictates of knowledge, deviates from custom and the established practice of men. In doing this he fulfills Allah’s prescriptions for purifying the self an reforming the heart, thus somewhat redeeming a life, which has already been dissipated in despair of prevention and remedy, and avoids by it the company of him whom the Lawgiver (Mohammad peace and prayers be upon him) described when he said: “The most severely punished of all men on the Day of Resurrection will be a learned man whom Allah has not blessed with His knowledge.” For, by my life, there is no reason for your abiding arrogance except the malady which has become an epidemic among the multitudes. That malady consists in not discerning this matter’s importance, the gravity of the problem, and the seriousness of the crisis; in not seeing that life is waning and that what is to come is close at hand, that death is imminent but that the journey is still long, that the provisions are scanty, the dangers great, and the road blocked. The perceptive know that only knowledge and works devoted to Allah avail.

To tread the crowded and dangerous path of the Hereafter with neither guide nor companion is difficult, tiring, and strenuous. The guides for the road are the learned men who are the heirs of the Prophet (peace and prayers be upon him) but the times are void of them now and only the superficial are left, most of whom have been lured by iniquity and overcome by Satan. Everyone of them was so wrapped up in his immediate fortune that he came to see good as evil and evil as good, so that the science of the religion disappeared and the torch of the true faith was extinguished all over the world. They duped the people into believing that there was no knowledge except such ordinances of government as the judges sue to settle disputes when the mob riots; or the type of argument which the proud display in order to confuse and refute; or the elaborate and flowery language with which the preacher seeks to lure the common people. They did this because, apart from these three, they could find no other ways to snare illegal profit and riches of the world. On the other hand the science of the path of the Hereafter, which our fore-fathers trod and which includes what Allah in His Book called law, wisdom, knowledge, enlightenment, light, guidance and righteousness, has vanished from among mankind and been completely forgotten. Since this is a calamity afflicting religion and a grave crisis overshadowing it, I have therefore deemed it important to engage in the writing of this book; to revive the science of religion, to bring to light the exemplary lives of the departed immans, and to show what branches of knowledge the prophets and the virtuous fathers regarded as useful.

I have divided the work into four parts or quarters. These are: the Acts of Worship, the Customs of Life, the Destructive Matters in Life, and the Saving Matters in Life. I have begun the work with the Book of Knowledge because it is of the utmost importance to determine first of all the knowledge which Allah has, through His Messenger, ordered the elite to seek. This is shown by the words of the Messenger of Allah when he said: “Seeking knowledge is an ordinance obligatory upon every Muslim.” Furthermore, I have begun with Book of Knowledge in order to distinguish between useful and harmful knowledge, as the Prophet (peace and prayers be upon him) said: “We seek refuge in Allah from useless knowledge.” And also to show the deviation of the people of this age from right conduct, their delusion as by a glistening mirage, and their satisfaction with the husks of knowledge rather than the path.

The quarter on the Acts of Worship comprises ten books: 1. The Book of Knowledge 2. The Articles of Faith 3. The Mysteries of Purity 4. The Mysteries of Prayer 5. The Mysteries of Almsgiving 6. The Mysteries of Fasting 7. The Mysteries of Pilgrimage 8. The Rules of Reading the Koran 9. On Invocations and Supplications 10. On the Office of Potions

The quarter of Customs comprises ten books: 1. The Ethics of Eating 2. The Ethics of Marriage 3. The Ethics of Earning a Livelihood 4. On the Lawful and the Unlawful 5. The Ethics of Companionship and Fellowship with the Various Types of People 6. On Seclusion 7. The Ethics of Travel 8. On Audition and Emotion 9. On Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil 10. The Ethics of Living as Exemplified in the Virtues of the Prophet

The quarter on the Destructive Matters of Life comprises ten books: 1. On the Wonders of the Heart 2. On the Discipline of the Soul 3. The Breaking of the Two Desires 4. The Evil of the Tongue 5. The condemnation of Anger, Rancor and Envy 6. The Condemnation of Worldliness 7. The Condemnation of Miserliness and Love of Wealth 8. The Condemnation of Prestige and Hypocrisy 9. The Condemnation of Pride and Conceit 10. The Condemnation of Vanity

The quarter on the Saving Matters of Life comprises ten books: 1. On Repentance 2. On Patience and Gratitude 3. On Fear and Hope 4. On Poverty and Asceticism 5. On Divine Unity and Dependence 6. On Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment 7. On Intentions, Truthfulness and Sincerity 8. On Self-Examination and Self Accounting 9. On Meditation 10. On Death

In the quarter on the Acts of Worship I shall mention some of the hidden elements of its meanings. These, the active learned person badly needs, without their knowledge no one will be versed in the science of the Hereafter. Most of this information has bee neglected in theological studies.

In the quarter on the Customs of Life I shall deal with the rules of the practical religion current among men, its deep mysteries, intricate technique, and the piety concealed in its rules of conduct, which no religious person can do without.

In the quarter on the Destructive Matter of Life I shall enumerate every abhorred trait whose exposure the Koran has ordered, as well as dealing with the purifying of the soul and cleansing of the heart from them. Under every one of these straits I shall give its definition, the truth about it, its origin, its evil consequences, its symptoms, and finally its treatment. To all this will be added illustrations from the Koran, tradition, and antiquity.

In the quarter on the Saving Matters of Life, I shall enumerate every praiseworthy trait and every one of the desirable qualities of Allah’s favorites (al-muqarrabun) and the saints, by means of which the slave seeks to draw near to the Lord of the Universe. Similarly, under every quality I shall give its definition, the truth about it, its origin, its fruit, the sign by which it is known, its excellence which renders it desirable, together with examples to illustrate it from the fields of law and reason. It is true that men have written several works on some of these aspects, but this one differs from them in five ways:

First, by clarifying what they have obscured and elucidating what they have treated casually. Second, by arranging what they have disarranged, and organizing what they have scattered. Third, by ensuring what they have elaborated, and correcting what they have approved. Fourth, by deleting what they have repeated (and verifying what they have set down). Fifth, by determining ambiguous matters which have hitherto been unintelligible and never dealt with in any work. For, although all have followed one course, there is no reason why one should not proceed independently and bring to light something unknown, paying special attention to what his colleagues have forgotten. It is possible that such obscure things are noticed, but mention of them in writing is overlooked. Or, again, it may not be a case of overlooking them, but rather one of being prevented from exposing them.

These, therefore, are the characteristics of this work which comprises the aggregate of the (previously enumerated) sciences. Two things have induced me to divide the work into four quarters. The first and original motive is that such an arrangement in research and exposition is imperative because the science by which we approach the Hereafter is divided into the science of revelation and the science practical religion. By the science of revelation I mean knowledge and only knowledge. By the science of practical religion I mean knowledge as well as action in accordance with that knowledge. This work will deal only with the science of pract6ical religion, and not with revelation, which one is not permitted to record in writing, although it is the ultimate aim of saints and the desire of the eyes of the sincere. The science of practical religion is merely a path which leads to revelation and only through that path did the Prophets of Allah communicate with the people and lead them to Him. Concerning revelation itself, the Prophets spoke only figuratively and briefly through signs and symbols, because they realized the inability of man’s mind to comprehend. Therefore since the learned men are heirs of the Prophets, they cannot but follow in their footsteps and emulate their way.

Furthermore, the science of practical religion is divided into outward science, by which is meant that of the functions of the senses, and inward science, by which meant that of the functions of the heart. The bodily organs perform either acts of worship or usages of life, while the heart, because it is removed from the senses and belongs to the world of dominion, is subject to either praiseworthy or blameworthy (influences). Inevitably, therefore, this science divides itself into two parts - outward and inward. The outward, which pertains to the senses, is subdivided into acts of worship and customs of life; the inward, which relates to the conditions of the heart and the qualities of the soul, is subdivided into things which are praiseworthy and things which are objectionable. Together these constitute the four parts of the science of practical religion, a classification objected to by none.

My second motive for adopting this division is that I have noticed that the interests of students in jurisprudence (which has, for the sake of boasting and exploiting its influence and prestige in arguments, become popular among those who do not fear Allah) is genuine. It is also divided into quarters. And since he who dresses as the beloved will also be beloved, I am not far wrong in deeming that the modeling of this book after books of jurisprudence will prove to be a clever move in creating interest in it. For this same reason, one of those who wanted to attract the attention of the authorities to (the science of) medicine, modeled it after astronomical lists, arranging it in tables and numbers, and called (his book) Tables of Health. He did this in order that their interest in that (latter) type (of study) might help in drawing them to read it. Ingenuity in drawing hearts to the science which is good for spiritual life is, however, more important than that of interesting them in medicine which benefits nothing but physical health. The fruit of this science is the treatment of the hearts and souls through which is obtained a life that will persist of souls through which is obtained a life that will persist forever and ever.

How inferior, then is the medicine of the body, which is of necessity destined to decay before long. Therefore, we beg Allah for help to lead us to the right path and the way of truth, indeed He is the Generous, the all Bounteous.