The Book of Knowledge is the foundation of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, Imam al-Ghazali s magnum opus. In the Book of Knowledge, he defines knowledge, its relation to faith, theology, and jurisprudence. The book deals with the virtue of knowledge from both rational and traditional points of view. It elucidates the types of knowledge and the nature of people s obligation to seek knowledge. Imam al-Ghazali defines jurisprudence and theology as branches of Islamic knowledge, then outlines those fields that people incorrectly consider to be Islamic disciplines, and...

Being the twenty-sixth book of The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'ulum al-din), The Book of the Censure of This World (Kitab Dhamm al-dunya) seeks to persuade its reader of the folly of worldly pleasures and possessions.To do so, al-Ghazali begins with a collection of Islamic primary-source texts that speak to the dangers of this world from a variety of angles. He then adds to this collection fourteen metaphors for this world that illustrate its perfidious nature. In a third subsection, al-Ghazali provides an original rationale for renouncing worldly enjoyments, and he furnishes...

Al-Ghazali's Kitab adab al-'uzla (The Properties of Retreat) is the sixth book in the Rub' al-'adat (Quarter of Customary Practices) in his monumental work known as Ihya' 'ulum al-din (Revival of the Religious Sciences). Focusing on the issue of seclusion, or retreat from society, the main discussion in this book is the question of whether it is better to engage in social intercourse (al-mukhalata) or remove oneself from society to focus on perfecting one's relation to God. As he addresses this issue, al-Ghazali takes us through the numerous benefits and dangers of seclusion while laying out...