Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali
Al-Ghazali (Syed Nawab Ali translation)
437 passages indexed from Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali (Al-Ghazali (Syed Nawab Ali translation)) — Page 8 of 9
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Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 433
Shams-ul-Ulama J. J. Modi, C. I. E., Ph. D. The Very Rev. Hastings Rashdall, D. Lit; D.C.L. S. Khuda Buksch, M. A., B. C. L., (Oxon.) Champat Rai Jain, Author of _The Key of Knowledge_ Israel Abrahams, D. Lit. Alban G. Widgery M. A. (Cantab.)
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 304
“And there are some among men who take for themselves objects of worship besides Allah, whom they love. Allah and those who believe are stronger in love of Allah.”[80] These passages not only refer to the existence of the love of God but point to the difference in degree. The Prophet has taught us that the love of God is one of the conditions of faith. “None among you shall be a believer until he loves Allah and his apostle more than anything else.”[81]
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 419
Human Needs and The Justification of Religious Beliefs. By the Editor.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 296
Surely, the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, in fact, the whole universe is like a pen in the hand of an omnipotent dictator. When this kind of belief takes hold of the mind, Satan is disappointed in covertly tempting man, and uses subtle means, insinuating thus: “Do you not see that the king has full power either to kill or favour you, and though the pen, in the above simile, is not your deliverer, the writer certainly is”?
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 121
Surely, there is a set purpose pervading the universe. The uniform succession of events is not at random. There is no such thing as chance. Here again it may be asked: If God is the efficient cause, how will you account for actions attributed to man in the scriptures? Are we to believe that there are two causes for one effect? My answer to this will be that the word cause is vaguely understood. It can be used in two different senses. Just as we say that the death of A was caused by (1) B.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 338
Sahl of Taster who used to address everyone as “Friend”, was once asked by a person the reason of his doing so, as all men could not be his friends. Sahl whispered in his ear saying: “He will either be a believer or a hypocrite; if he is a believer, he is God’s friend; if a hypocrite, the devil’s friend.”
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 289
Similarly the hypocrite who, uttering the Kalima, is associated with the Muslims and safely enjoys their privileges, but at death is cut off from the faithful and falls headlong into perdition. The internal skin is more useful than the external in as much as it preserves the kernel and may be used, but is in no way equal to the kernel itself.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 89
“He who approaches me a span, I approach him an arm”.[14] The divine favours are not withheld, but hearts bedimmed by impurity fail to receive them. “Had it not been that the devils hover round the hearts of men, they would have seen the glories of the Kingdom of the Heaven”.[15]
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 431
This volume is meant to be a systematic introduction to the subject. Much of the technical detail being in the form of notes the book is thus adapted to the general reader as well as to the needs of students.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 277
To use a figure: a nation loves its national poet, but the feeling of one who studies the poet will be of exceeding strong love. The world is a masterpiece; he who studies it loves its invisible Author in a manner which cannot be described but is felt by the favoured few. Another drawback which sounds like a paradox, should be deeply studied.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 328
There is another fear of over confidence which slackens the efforts and mars progress. Hope with fear should be the guide of love. Some Sufis say that he who worships God without fear is liable to err and fall; he who worships him with fear turns gloomy and is cast off, but he who lovingly worships him with hope and fear is admitted by him and favoured. Therefore lovers should fear him and those who fear him should love him. Even excess of his love contains an inkling of fear: it is like salt in food. For human nature cannot bear the white heat of His love, if it is not chastened and tempered by the fear of the Lord.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 330
Zunnun[93] of Egypt once went to pay a visit to one of his brother Sufis, who was in distress, and who used to talk of his love openly.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 14
the only teacher of the after generations ever put by Muslims on a level with the four great Imams.”[1] And he goes on to remark further; “In the renaissance of Islam which is now rising to view, his time will come and the new life will proceed from a renewed study of his works.”[2] But Dieterici says of him: “As a despairing sceptic he springs suicidally into the all-God (_i.e._ all-pervading deity of the Pantheists) to kill all scientific reflection.”[3] To justify such a judgment would indeed be impossible if the whole course of Ghazzali’s works is taken into consideration.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 362
[5] I. Goldzieher: _Vorlesungen uber den Islam_ Leipzig 1910. p. 185. See translation in the Indian Philosophical Review by the present writer: Vol. 1. pp. 260-6.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 217
“You have read my mind aright,” quietly responded the hermit. “May I hope,” said the Evil One entreatingly, “that you will be pleased to accept two golden dinars which you will find at your bed side every morning from tomorrow. You will then be relieved of depending on others and be in a position to do charity to your poor relations and brethren. As for that wretched tree, what if that be cut down.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 92
In certain qualities man resembles a horse and an ass, but his distinguishing trait is his participation in the nature of the angels, for he holds a middle position between the beast and the angel. Considering the mode of his nourishment and growth he is found to belong to the vegetable world. Considering his power of movement and impulses he is a denizen of the animal kingdom. The distinguishing quality of knowledge lifts him up to the celestial world.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 333
The gospel says: “Take heed that ye do not give your alms before men to be seen: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you they have their reward. But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 210
“Day and night,” the learned man will reply “I tried my best to propagate it, O Lord”. “Thou speakest falsely”, God will answer and the angels will also join with him. “Thy sole aim was to be called a learned man by the people, and the title was thine”. The second will be the rich man who would be asked about his riches. “Day and night”, the rich man will reply, “I gave it in charity.” “Thou speaker of untruth”, God and his angels will say.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 28
As he sought this state of perfect assurance, step by step he saw it recede before him. He looked for certitude in the perceptions of the senses, with the result that he could no longer trust his senses. Sight, the most powerful of the faculties of sense, for example, led him to the perception of an immovable shadow on the sun and an hour afterwards this shadow was gone. Sight showed him a star which is very small, and geometry made him recognise it to be greater than the earth.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 359
Our egoistic tendencies impede the progress of our souls towards higher virtues, and hence some of us go the length of denying the possibility of their existence. Let the lives of the true lovers of God be our guide.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 371
[20] Ghazzali here anticipated Hume. “Seven hundred years before Hume, Ghazzali cut the bond of causality with the edge of his dialectic”. _Journal of the American Oriental Society_ vol. XX. 103.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 234
He who worships God in order to attain joy in paradise is not sincere. Let him act for God’s “Riza”. This stage is reached by Siddiks (Sincerely devoted to God), and is sincerity _par excellence_. He who does good actions for fear of hell or hope of heaven is sincere in as much as he gives up at present his sensual worldly enjoyment, but wishes for the future, the gratification of his appetite and passion in paradise. The longing of true devotees is their Beloved’s Riza.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 101
For example, a man may be obedient and good, but instead of rising higher to the acquisition of truth and contemplation of God is contented with bodily devotions and acquirement of means of living. Such a mind, though pure, will not reflect the divine image for his objects of thought are other than this. If this is the condition of such mind, think what will be the state of those minds which are absorbed in the gratification of their inordinate passions. 4.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 385
[30] _St. Matthew_ XIV. 55-31. “And in the fourth watch of the night he came unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying, It is an apparition and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying: Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the water. And Peter went down from the boat and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried, saying,: Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him and said unto him: O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 25
Thus he himself writes: “A thirst to comprehend the essential natures of all things was, indeed, my idiosyncrasy and distinctive characteristic from the beginning of my career and prime of my life: a natural gift and temperament bestowed on me by God, and implanted by Him in my nature by no choice or device of my own, till at length the bond of blind conformity was loosed from me, and the beliefs which I had inherited, were broken away when I was little more than a boy.”[7]
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 241
For if we apply the highest standard to all, religion will be considered a hopeless task, and will ultimately be reduced to pessimism.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 146
To use a simile: a man who is walking is treading the terrestrial world: if he is sailing in a boat he enters the phenomenal world: if he leaves the boat and swims and walks on the waters, he is admitted in the celestial world. If you do not know how to swim, go back. For, the watery region of the celestial world begins now when you can see that pen inscribing on the tablet of the heart. If you are not of whom it was said: ‘O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’[30] prepare thyself.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 317
Let us, then, trace the signs which are found in the true lover.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 265
The constitution of man possesses a number of powers and propensities, each of which has its own distinctive kind of enjoyment suited to it by nature. The appetite of hunger seeks food which preserves our body and the attainment of which is the delight of it, and so with every passion and propensity when their particular objects are attained.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 150
But there are many who ignorantly cling to an anthropomorphic view of Him, there are few who cherish a transcendentally pure conception of Him, and believe that He is not only above all material limitation but even above the limitation of metaphor. You seem to be oscillating between these two views, because on the one hand you think that God is immaterial, that His words have neither sound nor shape; on the other hand you cannot rise to the transcendental conception of His hand, pen and tablet.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 223
Yacub, the Sufi, says: “He who conceals his virtues like vices, is sincere.” In a dream a man saw a Sufi who was dead and inquired about the actions of his previous life. “All those actions” said the Sufi, “which were for God’s sake I was rewarded for, even the least of them. For example, I had thrown aside a pomegranate’s peel from the thoroughfare. I found my dead cat but lost my ass worth one hundred dinars, and a silken thread on my cap was found on the side of iniquities.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 432
The purpose of the volume is to present for comparison the views of certain writers of distinction from the different religions upon the theory that the suffering and happiness of the individual is due solely to his own action, past or present.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 309
God’s love towards men is the love of His own work. Someone read the following verse of the Quran: “He loves them and they love him” in front of Shaikh Abu Said of Mohanna, who interpreted it saying: “He loves Himself because he alone exists. Surely an author who likes himself; his love is limited to his self.” God’s love means the lifting the veil from the heart of His servant, so that he might gaze at Him. It also means drawing him close to Himself. Let us give an illustration.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 273
If we think over man’s gradual development we find that every stage of his life is followed by a new sort of delight. Children love playing and have no idea of the pleasures of courtship and marriage experienced by young men, who in their turn would not care to exchange their enjoyments for wealth and greatness which are the delights of the middle aged men who consider all previous delights as insignificant and low. These last mentioned delights are also looked upon as unsubstantial and transitory by pure and noble souls fully developed.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 213
In the narratives of the Israelites, a story is told of a certain devotee who had served God for many years. Once he was informed of the apostacy of a tribe, which, forsaking the true worship of Yahweh had taken to tree worship. The hermit filled with the spirit of the “jealous” God took an axe and set out to level the tree to the earth. But the devil in the shape of an old man met him on the way and inquired of his intention.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 135
“Why do you ask me”, she said, “I was sitting still in the inkstand and had no mind to come out but this truculent pen rushed at me, drew me out and scattered me over the page. There you see me lying helpless, go to the pen and ask him”. The devotee turned to the pen and interrogated him about his high-handedness. “Why do you trouble me”, answered the pen, “Look, what am I? an insignificant reed.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 390
[42] _Quran_ XLIII. 31. “And they say: why was not this Quran revealed to a man of importance in the two towns.” (Mecca and Taif).
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 402
“That each, who seems a separate whole, Should move his rounds and fusing all The skirts of self again, should fall Remerging in the general soul, Is faith as vague as all unsweet.”
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 24
His early training had predisposed him to the acceptance of mysticism, and this acceptance was led up to by the conclusions of his reflection, in which it has been maintained he carried doubt as far back as did Descartes.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 70
_Al Qual ul Jamil fil Criticism of those who Raddi Ala man Ghayyar have changed the text al Injil._ of the Bible.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 314
It may be asked: “How can we know that God loves a certain person?” My answer is that there are signs which bear testimony to it. The Prophet says: When God loves his servant, He sends tribulations, and when He loves him most he severs his connection from everything. Some one said to Jesus: “Why do you not buy a mule for yourself”? Jesus answered: “My God will not tolerate that I should concern myself with a mule”.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 67
_Yaqut ul Tawil fi Tafsir A commentary on the Quran il Tanzil._ in 40 vols. Not found.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 1
Printed by Mr. K. G. Patel at the Lakshmi Vilas P. Press Co. Ltd. and published by A. G. Widgery, the College, Baroda, 5-1-1921.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 409
[87] _Quran_ III. 30. Keeping God’s commandments revealed through his holy prophets constitutes love of Him. Comp. _St. John._ XV. 10 “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I keep my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 336
The essence of religion is love; some signs of which have been enumerated above. The love of God may be of two kinds. Some love him for his bounties, others for his perfect beauty irrespective of bounties. The former love increases according to the bounties received, but the latter love is the direct result of the contemplation of his perfect attributes and is constant even in tribulations.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 322
Experience tells us that he who loves loves the things connected with his beloved. Therefore another sure sign of God’s love is the love of his creatures who are created by and are dependent on him; for he who loves an author or poet, will he not love his work or poem? But this stage is reached when the lover’s heart is immersed in love and the more he is absorbed in Him, the more will he love His creatures, so much so that even the objects which hurt him will not be disliked by him—in fact the problem of evil is transcended in his love for him.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 301
Love of God is the highest stage of our soul’s progress and her summum bonum. Repentance, patience, piety, and other virtues are all preliminary steps. Although rare these qualities are found in true devotees and the commonality, though devoid of them, at any rate believe in them. Love of God is not only very rare: the possibility of it is doubted, even by some Ulamas who call it simply service.
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 181
Thus, the companions of the Prophet lived meekly, the humble servants of God on earth, keenly watching the changing phases of their Hearts and promptly seeking the remedy. But we who call ourselves their followers not only do not try to purify our hearts but do not even think it worth while to consider the means for their purification. How can we expect salvation? But we ought not to lose heart. The apostle of mercy for the worlds (Rahmet ul lilalamin) has said: “Soon a time will come when if any person will do even one tenth of what you are doing now, he will have his salvation”.[45]
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 81
_Tajrid fil-Kalimat il Exposition of Kalima. ” 1325 ” Tauhid._
Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali, passage 157
The hand of the divine mercy stretched towards the helpless devotee; into his ear were whispered in zephyr tones: “Verily those who strive in our way we will certainly show them the path which leads to us”[37]. Opening his eyes, the devotee raised his head and poured forth his heart in silent prayer. “Holy art thou, O God Almighty: blessed is thy name O Lord of the universe. Henceforth I shall fear no mortal: I put my entire trust in thee: thy forgiveness is my solace: thy mercy is my refuge.”