This exploration of Islamic spirituality delves into the psychological diseases and cures of the heart. Diseases examined include miserliness, envy, hatred, treachery, rancour, malice, ostentation, arrogance, covetousness, lust, and other afflictions that assail people and often control them. The causes and practical cures of these diseases are discussed, offering a penetrating glimpse into how Islam deals with spiritual and psychological problems and demonstrating how all people can benefit from these teachings.

Purification of the soul is a principle that is central to understanding Islamic spirituality but despite this, relatively little has been written explicitly in the Islamic tradition regarding this discrete method of spiritual purification. This book examines the work of a scholar of this discipline, al-Hārith al-Muhāsibī, who lived and worked during the classical Islamic period under the Abbāsids. Although al-Muhāsibī was well known for his skills in many disciplines, including the Qur’ān, Prophetic narration and scholastic theology, it is his mastery in the field of Islamic spirituality and moral psychology for which he is best remembered. Assessing the extent to which the political, social and economic factors played a part in his life and work, Gavin Picken provides a comprehensive overview of his work and its great significance in the development of Islamic spirituality. Reconstructing his life in chronological order and providing the most comprehensive appraisal of his works to date, it explores a facet of al-Muhāsibī’s teaching which as yet has not been studied, namely his understanding, concept and methodology regarding the purification of the soul within the Islamic paradigm. As such, it will be of great interest not only to researchers and students of Sufism but also to scholars of comparative spirituality and mysticism.

Each person is born in a religious environment that is not of his/her own choice. From the very beginning of human existence in this world, they are assigned the religion of their family or the ideology of the state. By the time individuals reach their teens they usually accept the beliefs of their parents or that of their particular society. However, when some people mature and are exposed to other beliefs and ideologies, they begin to question the validity of their own beliefs. Seekers of truth often reach a point of confusion upon realizing that believers of every religion, sect, ideology and philosophy all claim to have the one and only correct religion or ideology. There are only three possibilities. They are either all correct; all wrong or only one is correct and the rest are wrong.

According to the earliest sources, compiled from the works of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, collected and arranged by Ahmad Farid. One the most concise references that can have a big impact on you once you read it. Topics gone into detail include symptoms of the heart's sickness and signs of its health, doing without the pleasures of this world, perseverance, complete reliance on Allah, the life of this world, to mention only a few. Excellent read!

On Islam.