Numerous studies have been done on Imam al-Ghzali (1058-1111) in almost all major languages. So much is the academic attention given to him, and deservedly so, that it is difficult to find any element of originality in a new study on him. Various aspects of his life and thought have yet to be adequately studied, one of them being his role in islah (Islamic reform). It is also true that the study of islah as a separate topic is somewhat new, and available literature on the subject is limited within the views and the achievements of a number of distinguished scholars in the modern times. This work attempts to discover part of the rich legacy of the reformers by introducing a pre-modern scholar as Imam al-Ghazali.

Moosa (Duke Univ.) offers a comprehensive study that brilliantly clarifies the multifaceted and conflicted legacy of the great Muslim medieval religious philosopher al-Ghazali. Competing religious, cultural, and political agendas have distorted his real contributions to Islamic culture. Spurned by both fundamentalists and rationalists in the contemporary Muslim world, Ghazali is prized by traditionalists for his mystical piety and ethical insight. Centering his inquiry on the image of the dihliz, the threshold which occupies the border between the subjective and the objective, Moosa explores problems of knowledge through a focus on the self as it manifests in poetics, self-creation, the pursuit of virtue, ethical self-mastery, and ultimately the sociopolitical realm, where ethics meets law and jurisprudence. Ghazali's own crisis of faith led him to reinvigorate his own religious tradition by situating traditional problems in metaphysics, theology, ethics, law, and mysticism in the context of the soul's overcoming its exile from God. Thus, ethics ceases to be only abstract theory and becomes the art of transformation. Especially impressive is Moosa's linking of historical inquiry with the existential interests of contemporary Muslim subjectivity. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty. Reviewed by J. Bussanich

In his passionate devotion to the task of inviting others to Islam, Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917-1996) presented Muslims with a powerful critique of themselves, not only in their endemic failure to project Islam in the best, most reasoned light, but also in their betrayal of the Qur’an’s spiritual principles and the highest standards set by the Prophet Muhammad. This work analyzes al-Ghazali’s critique of du’at (those inviting to Islam) and the practice of da’wah work itself (the call to Islam). It also examines his methodology, various proposed solutions, and the juristic responses to his perspective. The evolution of al-Ghazali’s thought and the people and factors influencing him are key elements of the study. It is hard to conceive where the state of discourse on da’wah and Islamic reform would be without al-Ghazali’s outstanding contributions. The powerful stand he took on the importance of education, the significant weight he gave to a free society, his promotion of a decent standard of living for the poor, the qualities of moral and personal excellence he appealed for, and his compassionate, impassioned role as an educator, all these preserve al-Ghazali’s reputation, both in his own lifetime and for many generations to come, as one of the twentieth century’s most important Muslim intellectual thinkers and reformers. His legacy is founded on a lifetime of service.

Al-Ghazali was one of the great Muslim theologians. In this book the author provides a translation of some of his works, including his spiritual autobiography. Al-Ghazali's description of his own emergence from scepticism anticipates the philosophical method of systematic doubt employed by Descartes. Another work translated here sets out Al-Ghazali's ideal of how a religious person should order his life from hour to hour and day to day.

In his passionate devotion to the task of inviting others to Islam, Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917-1996) presented Muslims with a powerful critique of themselves, not only in their endemic failure to project Islam in the best, most reasoned light, but also in their betrayal of the Qur’an’s spiritual principles and the highest standards set by the Prophet Muhammad. This work analyzes al-Ghazali’s critique of du’at (those inviting to Islam) and the practice of da’wah work itself (the call to Islam). It also examines his methodology, various proposed solutions, and the juristic responses to his perspective. The evolution of al-Ghazali’s thought and the people and factors influencing him are key elements of the study. It is hard to conceive where the state of discourse on da’wah and Islamic reform would be without al-Ghazali’s outstanding contributions. The powerful stand he took on the importance of education, the significant weight he gave to a free society, his promotion of a decent standard of living for the poor, the qualities of moral and personal excellence he appealed for, and his compassionate, impassioned role as an educator, all these preserve al-Ghazali’s reputation, both in his own lifetime and for many generations to come, as one of the twentieth century’s most important Muslim intellectual thinkers and reformers. His legacy is founded on a lifetime of service.