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.

In The Mysteries of Purification (Kitab asrar al tahara), the third of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'ulum al-din), Abu Hamid al-Ghazali explains the fundamentals of the purification that is necessary in order to perform the five daily prayers.

IIIT Books-In-Brief Series is a valuable collection of the Institute’s key publications written in condensed form to give readers a core understanding of the main contents of the original. In his passionate devotion to the task of inviting others to Islam, Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917-1996) presented Muslims with a power-ful 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 dawah 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 pre-serve 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.

Analyzes Muslim countries' contemporary problems, particularly violence, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment, comparing their historical levels of development with Western Europe.