Al-Ghazali : The Censure of This World

 

Now in Stock July 2024

 

 

Description :

 

Kitab Dhamm al-Dunya; The Censure of This World, by Hujjat al-Islam Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy upon him. This is book Twenty-Six [of Forty] of Imam al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences). It is the first of five books that censure specific perils, the others being The Censure of Greed and the Love of Wealth; The Censure of Fame and Hypocritical Ostentation; The Censure of Pride and Vanity; and The Censure of Deceit.

This book covers the broadest topic; namely this world, while the following books delve into specific traits. Imam al-Ghazali approaches the topic of this world from the widest possible perspective; that being, the extent of our existence in this world relative to pre-eternity and the eternity of the hereafter. Although our lives here are minute in terms of existence, this time and our choices are crucial to our fate in the next life.
 

The present work addresses the proper attitude we should take toward this world, its dangers to our spiritual well-being, its distractions and preoccupations, and most importantly, its threat to our future in the next world. The subject is covered in an introduction and five chapters; through ḥadith, traditions, and parables, al-Ghazali deftly illustrates the dangers of this world around us. The last chapter is a meditation on why people cannot simply live in solitude far from society, the need people have to interact with others, and how this gives rise to the occupations in this world and their role and effect on society as a whole.
 

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, Imam 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 his reader with a blueprint for determining what constitutes “this world” in its most dangerous sense. In a fourth and final subsection, Imam al-Ghazali applies a sociological theory to enumerate the essential human vocations and identify the mechanisms through which these lead people away from God.

 

 

About Imam al-Ghazali:

Abu Hamid Muhammad, famous in the world of learning as Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah be pleased with him, was born in 450 AH (1058 C.E). in Persia . He graduated from the al-Nizamiyyah Madrassah at Nishapur, with distinction. The Nizamiyyah is a very famous educational institution in Nishapur. Later he was appointed as a teacher at the Nizamiyyah College in Baghdad, where he proved very successful in imparting knowledge to the scholars under his care. This valuable gift of sustaining interest of his pupils and passing on his knowledge to them made him so famous that students from all parts of the country flocked to study under him. Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy upon him, was fondly referred to as the "Hujjat-ul-lslam", Proof of Islam. He is honoured as a scholar and a Sufi-saint (Wali-Allah) by learned men all over the world.

 

 

 

Matthew Ingalls is Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Chair of the Dept. of International and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Dubai. He received his PhD in 2011 from Yale and completed a master’s degree in Arabic Studies at the American University in Cairo prior to this. Before joining the AUD faculty in 2016, Matthew taught Islamic Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, USA. He has published articles in the study of Sufism and Islamic Law while his current research examines pre-modern Muslim commentary works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents :
 

---Editors Note,
---Biography of Imam al-Ghazali,

------Legacy and Contributions of Al-Ghazali,

------Chronology of Al-Ghazali's Life,

------Eulogies in Verse.
---About the The Revival of the Religious Sciences,
---Translators Introduction.

 

---The Book of the Censure of This World,

---Imam al-Ghazali's Introduction.
 

---Chapter [1].  An Elucidation of the Censure of This World, 

 

---Chapter [2].  An Elucidation of the Exhortations on the Censure of This World and [Explaining] it's Nature, 

 

---Chapter [3].  An Elucidation of the Character of This World through Examples,  

 

---Chapter [4].  An Elucidation of the Reality and Essence of This World regarding the Servant,

 

---Chapter [5].  An Elucidation of the Reality and Essence of the World itself and the Preoccupations that Overwhelm the People' Endeavors such that they forget Themselves, their Creator and their Beginning and their End.

 

 

---Bibliography,

Indexes,

---Index of Qur'anic Verses,

---Index of Hadith,

---Index of People,

---Index of Places,

---Index of Subjects.

 

---About the Translator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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*Dimensions : 23 x 15.5cm.