ayahuh al-walad al-muhibb en

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Al-Ghazali's Spiritual Pilgrimage

The Greater Value of His Later Writings

The Peculiar Worth of Ayyuha 'l-Walad

Summary

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12

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PART ONE - MANUSCRIPTS AND TEXT

I. List of Manuscripts and Printed Texts Consulted 19

II. Characteristics of the Manuscripts 27III. The Arabic Text, with Collation of Typical Variant

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INTRODUCTION


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INTRODUCTION

AL-GHAZAU'S SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAG:E;.

A Moslem tradition says that at the beginning of each century Godsends a renewer of the religious life. While there is difference of opinionconcerning the receiver of this honor in certain centuries, there is universalagreement that for the fifth century there can be only one name pro-posed=-Abi-Hamad Mohammed b. Mohammed al-Ghazali.! In fact, Ibn

al-Subkia says: "If there had been a prophet after Mohammed, it surelywould have been al-Ghazali." Another traditions related by Ibn al-Subkiis to the effect that the Shaykh Abu 'l-Hasan al-Shadhilis saw theProphet in a dream and that he was challenging Moses and Jesus with


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breadth of experience, he was never carried away by the purely speculativeand theoretical; his whole purpose in life became to search out truthwhere ve r the quest led him, to live in absolute loyalty to it himself, andthe n to ma ke religion for both leaders and populace a living, vital matterof individual experience and practice. He recognized that there werewhole realms of thought a nd fields of investigation into which only thefew could penetra te , and for these he st il I remains a counsellor and guide .But he was essent ia lly pract ical , and his constant purpose was to vita lizereligion so that it should become neither formal adhe rence to orthodoxdoctrine , nor philosophica l specula tion suited to the learned alone , but amatter of daily devotion a nd life.e So complete was his search for truththat he even went so far as to assert that the sincere seeker of truth, eventhough he be a Jew or a Christian, might gain Paradise, while on theother hand the formal and orthodox Moslem, not committed to thissearc h, might lose the coveted boon.

It is not possible here to enter into a discussion of the life ofal-Ghazali, or of his contribution to theological and philosophical thought;

i t must suffice to cal l a ttention briel1y to his rel igious s truggle , so that wemay apprec ia te the uniqueness of his spiritual pilgrimage. And first, asgiving a clue to his attitude throughout the whole of his life, I translatefrom his own spiritual autobiography, a small sect ion: 7

From the days of my a dolescence, be fore the age of twentyand until now when I am over fifty, I have dashed into thetumult of this deep sea , and have plunge d into its difficulties,the diving of the fearless , not the diving of the cautious coward;and I have penetrated deeply into every darkness; I haveatta cked e ve ry obscurity; I have plunged into every dilemma;I have examined the dogma of every party and uncovered thesecrets of the way of every sect, in order to .dist inguish betweenthe right and the wrong, a nd between the traditionalist and the

heretic. I do not meet any Batani except I long to study hissecrets, nor any Zahiri except I desire to know the total of his

6 The charge that he taught secret esoteric doctrines has been ably refuted byMacdonald (JAOS, pp, 125 ff). Nor do I agr ee w ith Z wemer ( p. 234 ) t hat "theteaching of al-Ghazali was intended not .for _themasses, but for the initiates ." Forhis return to public l ife in Navsabur was Inspired by his realization that the masseswere neglecting religion because of the indifference of their leaders , and his hopethat he could reach the masses through a revital ized leadership. (See al-Munqidhmin al- Dalal, PP. 37 f .). And h e wr ote Badayat al- Hidayah f or the masses. Seethe sectionon "The Greater Value of His Later Writings," in this Introduction.

7 AI-Munqidh min al- I;l al al , Cai ro, N . D., p, 3.

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disclosures, nor any philosopher except I purpose the ~ttainmentof the real essence of his philosophy, nor any theolog~an ex~eptI endeavor to study the object of his teaching a?d dlsp~tatlOn,nor any Silfi except I crave to become acquainted With thesecret of 'his mysticism, nor any worshipper . except I watchattentively what gain follows from his worshIp,. nor any un-believing atheist except I spy upon him to ~ercelve the causesof his unbelief and atheism. And the thirst to c?mpreh~ndrealities has been my habit and practic e from the earliest penod

of my life. . vThis thirst to comprehend reali ties led him first to discard. autho:l ty

(J.~ ) as a ba sis of knowledge; then a fter a brief period of phtlosophical

sc;pticism,8 into an examination of the doctrines and tenets of ~he ~ourparties he found in the Islam of his day, namely: the scholastic t eo-logia ns: the philosophers; the Ta'limites, who held that to reach

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one must have an infallible living Imam, or teacher; and final y t eMystics or Silfis. He devoted several years to the study of the~ sects,summing up his conclusions in each case in various wntmgs which are

still recognized a s authoritative.'" The outc ome was that he beca me c?n-vinced that only in the way of the Silfis did there lie any hope of reachmg

ultimate truth.And now he faced the great spiritua l c risis of'his Iif~.10 He was an

I . Baghdad holding a position of renown and giOry, surroundedmarn In , - .' B J too honestby students 'who honored and respected him. tit re wasand deal' visioned to think be could retain his position :lnd at the ~metime follow the Mystic way; this was not the way of abstr~c t knowle~ge,b t the way of experience, not of instruction, but of practice. But oWlc~uld he renounce all he had attained in life, and now ~h~n. he wasnearing forty, start on his perilous venture? And yet, he sa) s .

d I t months, and is surely8 This period, according to his own words, laste on y wo

9 ~~~~:WrJ:~Z~~ll~~ in ~a ~~~~~. a re the p ro du ct o f thi s p er io d o f h is l if e :Gro wing o ut o f h is s tu dy o f theo lo gy

al-Risalat al-Qudsiyaal-I q ti~ad fi 'l-I'tiqad .

Gr owin g out of hi s st udy o f p hilo soph yMaqa#d al-FalasifaTaM.fut al-Faldsifa ,. .

Gro wing o ut o f h is s tu dy o f the Ta 11I l; u~e~al-Musta;hiri fi radd 'ala'l-Batm.yaIf ujjat ai-I] aqq al-Qistas al-Mustaq.mMawahim al-Batiniya Ia . f

10 See Appended Note ~n Th e' '' W~ Y' ' o f th e Mo sle m My st ic , for a trans tion 0 anaddit ional section of the Munqldh.

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I looked at my works..... and 10 I was striving afterknowledge that was unimportant and useless with regard to the~orld to coI?e. Then I considered my purpose in study, and 10 ,It was not sincerely for the face of Allah.rr but its instigator andmover was search for glory and the spread of renown. And Ibecame conVinced that I was on the brink of a crumbling bankand that I was looking upon the fire of hell if I did not labor tuchange my condition. '

The struggle conti nued for six months 12 with al Ghazal" .day that th hi' - I saymg onetil t th e woe matter was folly and a delusion of Satan the next

a fl' er~ was no escape from putting his new conviction to th~ test thecon tct . etween. the attractions of this world and the summons of theot her world was mtense. Finally,

. "the matter passed beyond the bound of choice to compulsionIn that God locked my tongue till it was bound so that I couldnot teach." ,

He became severely ill , so that the doctors said"Th" . 'h I: IS a mat~e~ arising in the mind which has come to affect

ft e physical organism, and it can be healed only by rest of mindrom tbe case whi ch has befallen it."

So at last be made the surrender, and turned to God" 'and be 'who answers the driven when he calls'rs m d it

fe~sy for me to witbdraw from honor and wealth and familay :nIdriends."

left ita ~-dGdhazali resigned f~om. his ~si tion as teacher and Imam, andg a, announcing his intention of making the '1 .

Mec Th fl' pi grime-a to'. ca.. en 0 lows a period of ten years of withdrawal fr . bli:!!idurmg wbich time be visited Syria, Palestine Arabia and E~~tU ~c

the ~~o~ ~tu~t~~practice the life of the Sufi, ~ving himself entir~ly t~

S ff 'tg t . I cannot pause to describe his experiences in detail

u Ice I 0 say that he found d .that onl:: in the path of the MYS~~a::; ::e ;:;~o t~o~e !~~~n~~i~n

And I know for a certainty "that th S' fi . I .thewa fGod hE' e.u::oaonewalkm

yo. t exalted, and that their mode of life is thebest mode, their path the most sure path, and their characteris-

11 That is, for the sake of Allah al Th .fully discussed in Macdonald Asp~~~' of h imeanmg of "the face of Allah" is

12 The conflict left So deep an' impress' a~, PP: 186 if., p, 201 f.M unqidh; n ear ly f if te en y ear s l at er 1 0 :on. his mmd that when he wrote thes tt u~gle b eg an , a nd f ix es i t a s the m;n th e or~~ . r e

bme

4m

88beredhe date when the

1 3 Qur 'an 2 7 :63. ala, .

- , -t ics the pures t of charact eri st ics!'

iMe is portrayed t he struggle of a soul to find God, so real and viVidas to leave no doubt of its sincerity and depth. His conversion was realtsand its effects lasting. The impression made on one who knew himafter his return to Naysabur is told in the following words: 15

However much be met of contradiction and attack andslander, it made no impression on him, and he did not troublehimself to answer his assailants. I visited him many times, andit was no bare conjecture of mine that he; in spite of what I sawin him in time past of maliciousness and roughness towardspeople, and how he looked upon them contemptuously throughhis being led astray by what God had granted him of ease inword and thought and expression, and through the seeking ofrank and po-sition, had come to be the very opposite and waspurified of these strains. And I used to think that he waswrapping himsel f in the garment of pret ense, but I realized afterinvestigation that the thing was the opposite of what I hadthought, and that the man had recovered after being mad.

After spending ten years in retirement, al-GhazaU returned to publi clife in Naysabur again for a short time, but soon retired to' Tus wherehe had charge of a monastery and training school for Sufis, until hisdeath occurred in 505 A.II. (IIII A.D.). Every moment of his life wasfilled With study and devotion and instructing seekers after truth in theway in which he had himself found truth and peace.

Surely even such a brief sketch as this is sufficient to justify theconclusion that anything from his pen is worthy of the study of anyonewho desires to know Islam at its best. The sincerity and reality of hisspiritual pilgrimage mark him as one of the saints of all time, wortby ofHie study of any seeker after GOd, in any land.

THE: GRE;A'l 'E:RVALUE: OF HIS LA'l'E:R WRI'l 'INGS.

While any book of al-Ghazali is worthy ofstudy, a peculiar valueattaches to those produced in his later years, for they can reasonably besupposed to represent hi s conclus ions and ref lect h is sp ir it ua l experi encesin his search for t ruth. If hi s ear li er works are o f va lue as .summari zingthe tenets and doctrines of the various theological and philosophical

14 The s tor y is t old ( al -Subki , v. i v. p. 10 4) that whil e i n Damascus he took uponhimself the humble task of cleaning the ablution tanks in the Sufi monasteryther e- s- he who had been the gr eat I mam behind wh om thous and s had rankedthemse lv es in Bag hd ad to p er fo rm the d ai ly p ray er s.

158M vo l. I, p , 8, quot ing the accoun t of al- Subki ( v. iv, pp, 108- 109) . I cop y thetranslation of Macdonald, JAOS 1899, p, 105.


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schools of his day, with his own judgment upon their insufficiency, hislater works present the philosophy of life and the "end of the matter"after "all has been heard".16 With reasonable certainty we ca n placeafter his flight from Baghdad the following :

al-Musta$la Ii 'Usid al-Fiqh, completed on 6th of Muharram 503.17

al-Mankhul18

Ii 'V,~ul al-Fiql:J awahir al-Qur'anIl;zya''Ulum at-Din, and the books derived or abridged from it; such

as, al-Arba'tn, al-Lmlti', Qawa'id al-'Aqa'id, etc.j Kimiya at-Sa'adal:

Na#l;zat al-MulukBadayat al-HidayahMizan al-'AmalMishkat al-'Anwaral-'Asma' al-HusnaAyyuluz 'l-W~ladFatil;zat al-'VlumKkula$at al-Tastini] Ii 'l-Tosaunou], written near the end of his lifeat-Munqidk min al-Daltil, written after he was fiftyMinhlij al-'Abidin, hi s last work.

A cursory glance at the above list shows them to be of two sorts.

First, there are three books dealing with the Qur'an and jurisprudence

( .. . .u JI ) ;he had written on this subject before, but his new certainty with

regard to verity, and his new conviction of the need of applying the

teachings of the Apostle to the daily life of the Muslim impelled him

to write again on this subject. Perhaps we find a clue to his reason in

the Il}.ya',19 where he compares the sciences of jurisprudence ( ~Jl)and medicine ( . . . . . . l . l l )

The former (4illI) is more honorable than the latter forthree reasons; first, because it is a religious science, since it isderived irom prophecy in contra-distinction to that, since it isnot a re ligious science ; second, bec ause no one who i s travell ing

16 Eccl. 12:13.17 So Ibn KhaIlikan v. ii, p. 622 .18 So in SM v. I, p. 42. and a l-Subk i v. iii" p, 116. Macdonald (JAOS p, 106) spells

it Al-ManbiU, Zwemer (p. 301) AI Manqftl !! AI-Subk i sa ys th is wa s wr it tendur in g the li fe o f the Ima m al -I ;I arama yn.

19 IQya', v. i, p, 18.

r -9-the "way" of the future world can possibly dispense with it,neither the well nor the sick, while as to medicine, only the sick.are in need of it, and they are the minority; third, because thescienc of jurisprudence is near to the science of tuture things,since it is a consideration of the deeds of the members of thebody and the source of these deeds and their origin is the

quaiities of the heart; and the praiseworthy deeds originate inpraiseworthy character leading to safety in the future life, andolameworthy deeds origi na te in blameworthy chara cter; and theconnection between the members of the body and the heart isnot hidden.ao but health and sickness have their origin in thepurification of the humors and the temperament, and they per-tain ;to the qualities of the body, not to the qualities of t:b.eheart.

Second, the other books in the group treat almost entirely of $Ufiismand the way of the Mystic. In order to give an idea of the praotica1!character of these writings, I give here the Table of Contents oi two o(these books, and a summary of the others.21

Flitil;zat al-'Vlum 22I. The Excel lence of Knowledge 22. The Va lidit y of t he Purpose in Seeking Knowledge 83. The Marks of Those Learned in the Things of the World

and Those Learned in the Things of the Future 174. The Divisions of Knowledge 35

Important-Appointed for all, andAppointed for some 23

Non-impor tant -Pra is ewor thy and Blamewor thy5. The Conditions of Debate, and Its Evils 476. The Conduct and Obligations of Teacher and Taught 53 v

7. What is Permissible for the Learned to Receive of Riches 628. Conclusion 7'"

M'ziln al-'Amal 24Lukewarmness in seeking Happiness is Folly 3Lukewarmness in seeking Faith has also in it Folly 4

20 See Appended Note on The Wonders of the Heart.21 S e e al so Appende d N ote on T he Vi ta liz in g o f t he S ci en ces of Re lig io n.22 Cairo edition, A. H. 1322.23 For a n e xp la nat ion of the se t erms, s ee foo tnote 3, sec tion xxiv o f the Transl ati on .24 Cairo edition, A. H. 1342.


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'rile Way to Happiness is Knowledge and Work 1 4 -AbOut Purifyhtg the Soul, and Its Power and Characteristics 16the Binding of the Powers of the Soul, part to part 25T h eRelation of Work to Knowledge, and Its Leading to

the Happiness upon whi ch the t rue SOlis agree 30'the Difference between the Way of the SOfis, and others,

in regard to Knowledge 34-The Preferable of the Two Ways 38'the Sort of Knowledge and Work leading to Paradise 41A Parable of the Soul and i ts Powers 45'the Steps of the Soul in Warring against Lust, and the

difference between the Sign of Passion and the Sign ofIntelligence 48

The Possibi lity of Changing the Charact er 52The Complete Method of Changing the Character, and.. CU~lng Lust 54

the Collection of Virtues whose Attainment leads toHappiness 57

Analysis of the Way leading to the Training of Character 60The Sources of Virtues 64What is included under the Virtue of Wisdom, and its

Opposite Vices 7 IWhat is included under the Virtue of Bravery 72What is included under the Virtue of Chastity, and its

Opposite Vices 75Motives for Seeking Good Things, and what Turns Them

away 80Vari et ies o f Good Things and Happinesses 84The Object of Happiness and its Degrees 90What is Praiseworthy and Blameworthy in the Passionsv i. of the Appetite and Sex and Anger 94The Honor of the Intellect and Knowledge and Teaching 105

The Necessity that Teaching show forth the Honor ofthe Intellect 109

Varieties of Intel lect IIIThe Duties of Teacher and Taught in regard to the_ Sciences causing Happiness 114'fhe Receiving of Wealth, and Responsi bi liti es foll owing

its Acquisition 136Classes of People with regard to Religion, and their

division into Those engrossed in the WorId, andThose contente d wit h religion, and Those trying tocombine the two r43

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The Way of Overcoming Grief in the World 147The Way of Excluding Fear from Death 151Sign of the First Station of Those Travelling toward Allah 155The Reality of Nearness to Allah 159The Meaning of 'Madhhah' and the Differences among

people about it. Conclusion: There is no refugeexcept in freedom of thought and in vision 161

Al-Asma' al-Husna deals with the beautiful names of God (then inety-nine t radi ti~nal names o f Al lah) , wi t~ the ~urp?se .of .de~onst ra t-ing that the highest happiness for the behever lies m imitating theseattributes of God.

Mishkat al-'Anu:ar is a discussion and -esoteric explanation of theLight verse in the Quran, "God is the light of the heavens and the earth.The similitude of His light is as it were a niche where is a lamp, etc."25Of the writings we have listed, it is the furthest removed in its bearingand applica tion from the pract ical rel igious life.

Kimiya al-Safddah is thus summarized by Gardener :26 "On thenature of man; a man must know his own soul and its needs; what hewas created for; wherein his true happiness consists; wherein his miserylies; in order that he may know God. Only in a true knowledge of Godcan he find a means of changing his evil character into a good character.The Alchemy of Happiness is to be found only in the store-house of God."

I have already referred to and quoted from the Munqidh; thereremain27 two other short works in .which al-Ghazali in a very definiteway sets forth his views on the religious life. They are the Badayat 01-Hidayah, and, Ayyuha 'l-Walad.

Badayat o1-Hidayah is a primer 'of religion and ethics for the popu-lace containing "what is essential for the masses of special care inwirship and usage."28 Part One deals with outer obedience in mattersof ethics and worship; Part Two with inner disobedience of the heart.He declares the second part to be by far the more important and valuable,for anyone can outwardly conform to what is required, but only the trulyrighteous can avoid lust and passion and prevent his heart from beingdisobedient to Allah the Exalted. He then discusses briefly the right use

2 5 Qur 'a n 2 4 :3 5.26 AI-Ghazali, Madras, 1919, p. 107.27 I have not had access to the KhulaJat ol-Tosdni], the Na~i~at al-Mulflk, or the

Minha;.28 S. M., v. i, p. 41.


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of the seven members of the body-c-eye, ear, tongue, body, sexual parts,band and foot. Then follows a long section on the purifying of the heartfrom envy, hypocricy, and boastful pride. The last section deals withthe etbics of companionship with Creator and creature. All in all it isa very simple handbook of practical ethics covering the beginning of

guidance in the right path, for the ignorant and unlearned. To onefamiliar with the depths of the ignorance of the masses in Islam, it isremarkable to find such a learned Shaykh as al-Ghazali interested inpreparing a treatise in simple language, with the purpose of making thereligious life vital and real to even the mos t ignorant.

T HI -; P.E ;CUI ,I AR WORT H OF An 'UHA ' I, -WAI,AD : 29

The second book Ayyuha ' l-Walad was written in reply to thequestion of a learned shaykh who says he has spent his life in the studyof all branches of knowledge, and as he approaches the grave he doesnot know what pertains only to this world, and what is of value in thefuture life. In this treatise, in contrast with Badtiyat al-Hidiiyah, al-Ghazali is dealing with an educated man, whose technical knowledge of

the religious sciences of Islam is great. He therefore emphasizes theimportance of work befitting his knowledge. Thus he says,

o youth. . . .. be assured that knowledge alone does notstrengthen the hand..... Though a man read a' hundredthousand scientific questions and understood them or learnedthem, but did not work with them-they do not benefit himexcept by working. .. Knowledge is the tree, and working isits fruit ; and though you studied a hundred years and as sembleda thousand books, you would not be prepared for the mercy ofAllah the Exalted except by working. 30

And again,Faith is confes sion with the tongue and belief with the heart

and work with the members of the bodv. 31So long as you do not work, you -do not find a reward.32

29 Th e Da te o f AYY1Ih a ' l-Wa la d-The foll owi ng dat a help i n fixing the dat e:There are in it frequent references to the Il)yil' so that it was later than theIl}yil'. It was writ ten i n repl y to t he req uest of a shayk h who had spent hi s lifein s tudy. It was wr it ten in Persian, which suggests tha t he was a Persian ratherthan an Arab . Undoubtedly this i s one of al -Ghaza li 's lates t wr it ings . I ~entureto suggest that it was probably written while al-Ghazali was teaching in Naysaburor even during his last years in Tus. '

30 Section V, Translation.31 Section V, Translation.32 Section VI, Translation.

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And surely here is a biographical touch:

H o , , ;many nights you have remained awake repeatingscience and poring over books, and have deni ed yourself sleep II do not know what the purpose of it was. If i t was a ttainingwor ldly ends and secur ing i ts vani ties , and acqui ring i ts d igini ties

and surpassing your contemporaries, and such like, woe to youand aga in woe ; bl !L!! .( )l1r_Pll rpose in it was the vitalizing of ._/'the Law of the Prophet, and the training of your character, andbreaking the soul commanding to evil, then blessed are you andagain blessed. 33

So what have you gained from the acquis ition of the scienceof dogmatic theology and from disputation and medicine and"diwans" and poetry and astronomy and prosody and syntaxand e tymology excep t squande ring l if e. 34

His conviction that knowledge is of value only as it leads to fruitagein life may be readily seen from such statements as these:

Knowledge without work is insanity, and work without vknowledge is vanity. Know that any science which does notremove you today far from apostasy, and does not carry youto obedience, will not remove you tomorrow from the fire ofHell. 3S

If knowledge alone were sufficient for you and you did notneed work besides, then would his summons--Is there any whoasks? and is there any who seek forgiveness? and is there anywho repents ?-be lost without profit. 36

The substance of knowledge is to learn what are obedienceand worship. 37He has declared in the Munqidh38 that he is convinced that only

the Sufis know the secret of the true way to attain verity and nearnessto Allah. Yet in the Munqidh he also declaresas that among the fourcauses of the neglect of religion and a lukewarmness of faith, onearose among those specializing in the path of the Sufi. Here, along witha constant emphasis on the indispensable character of the Sufi way oflife, he condemns the excesses into which Sufis are led, and the vagariesof their "ecstatic utterances" and "vehement cries." For example, hesays,

It is essential that you be not deceived by the ecstaticutterances and vehement cries of the Sufis, becaus e wal king this

33 Section VII. Translation.34 Section IX, Translation.35 Section X, Translation.

36 Section XII. Translation.37 Section XV, Translation.38 p. 30 39 p. 37.


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road is by struggle and cutting off the lusts of the soul and kill-ing its desires wit h the s word of discipline, not by vehement criesand idle words . 40

On the other hand, he sets forth the true nature of $iHiism in thesewords:

Know that becoming a Sufi has two characteristics: up-rightness with Allah the Exalted, and quietnes s wi th mankind;and whoever is upright with Allah and improves his characteramong the people, and treats them with forbearance, he is aSufi. 41

And again, he names four necessary qualities of the Sufi :

first, a true conviction that has in it no heresy; second, asincere repentance, after which you do not return to sin; third,the satisfactionof adversaries, so that there shall remain to no

one a claim against you; and fourth, the attainment of a knowl-edge of the laws, sufficient that you perform the commands ofAllah the Exalted.42.

In later sections he discusses the various "Stages" of the Sufi, devo-tion, trust, sincerity, and the like. And to each of these he gives aninterpre ta tion applicable to eve ryday l if e.

Finally he admonishes the shaykh concerning eight matters, four toavoid and four to follow. 43 The four he is to avoid are: disputation,excep t i t be in a sincere desire to have truth uncovered whether by himor his opponent; second, preaching, unless his purpose be that for hishearers "the qualities of their inner lives shall change and the deeds oftheir outer l ives be trans formed"; third, mi xing wit h Sultans and princes ;and fourth, accepting gifts and presents from princes. The four thingshe is to follow are: first, "make year dealings with Allah the Exaltedsuch that if your servant acted thus with you, you would be pleased

with him"; second, "whenever you deal with people, treat them as youwould be pleased to be treated by them"; third, in the study of science,"it must be a science which improves your heart and purifies your soul";fourth, "do not gather from the world more than the sufficiency of a

..year .." 44

Surely in this treatise al-Ghazall is revealed as a very practicalMystic. On the one hand, he has no hard-and-fast mechanically fixed

4 0 Section XVI, Translation.41 Section XIX, Translation.42 Section XVII, Translation.

43 Section XXIII, Translation.44 Section XXIV, TransIaUlBl.. .

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path of "Stages" to be attained, and of "States" to be bestowed; on ~eother hand he openly and s trongly condemns the exuberant vehemenaesof an artificial ecstasy. He emphasizes the objectives of $ufiism in theold ascetic terms of renunciation of the worldly soul and its desires, andstates its ideals and the proof of its reality and sincerity, to lie in seeking

uprightness with God, and a daily life of fruitful conduct a?d service.But out of his experience, first his critical doubt and uncertltU?e, the!lhis continued study and meditation, and finally and more especially hisown practice of this Mystical way, he became convi~ced that. he hadlearned the way to reality, the path to God. And his conclusions areset forth in this treatise, written near the end of his life, Ayyuha 'l-Walad.

SUMMARY.

Perhaps I can summarize conclusions as follows: The honor andrespect in which al-Ghazali is held in the whole ~oslem worl.d m~ke anyof his writings of interest to the student of Islam. The smc.enty andrealitv of his spiritual pilgrimage in the search for truth put him amongthe saints of God and make a knowledge of his experiences of value toanyone who is as he a seeker after truth. Althou~h ~he theol?gical andphilos ophical works of his earlier years are authontatJ ~e and. Important,yet peculiar interest is attached to the products of his m~~(htatJOn. andstudv in the years fol lowing t he spiri tual crisis in his life which convincedhim that the way of the Sufi was the only sure approach t~ ~od. Amon.gthese, Ayyuha 'i-Walad is highly valuable, because: (a) It IS. one of his 7very latest books; (b) it was written to a learned shaykh,45 hm~self fu!ly Iinformed in the various disciplines of learning; (c) it reveals hIS convic-tion as to wherein lies the value of knowledge; (d) it gives his int erpreta- Vtion of the meaning of $ufiism and his conclusions as .to the superiorit!of the practice of the "Way", ra ther than indulgence III .ecstas y; (e) Itreveals the character of al-Ghazali in its maturity; (f) It sets forth anideal for an inner religious life issuing in the fruitage of good works, andfar r emoved from formal ism in worsh ip and the accep tance of a s te reotyped

creed. He represents religion as the expression of man's inner being."more than Law and more than Doctrine; i t is the S oul's experience"46.-an ideal yet seldom realized in Islam.

45 See Section I, footnote 6, of the Translation.46 DeBoer, p . res.


11/65

PART ONE

MANUSCRIPTS AND TEXT


12/65

I. LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED TEXTSCONSULTED

In determining the text of this opuscule of al-Ghazali, I have hadaccess to the following manuscripts and printed texts, which are referredto throughout this d issert ion by the number or let ter preceding each:

M anuscripts of Text1I. Viennaa 1841-Das Buch 0 Kind I von dem eben erwahnten

grossen mystichen Sheich und Imam Zein-ad-Din AbUI:Iamid Muhammadal-Ghazall mit dem Beinamen Huddchat al-islam, der am 14 DschumadaII 505 (19 Dec. 1111) starb. Beides, Text und Ilbersetzung dieserethischen Abhandlung, wurde vom Hammer-Purgstall Wien 1838 heraus-gegeben und daselbst in der Einleitung S. ix-xvii die LebenschreibungdesVerfassers mitgetheilt. D er Codex beginnt BI. 1 V : ~ W I. J ~ I. JI ' ": "' .).t J..J .I0':..1l und schliesst BI. 13v. 13 BI. Octav, gegen 7:0 Z. hoch, gegendeutlich , Stichworter und Einfassung roth . Gut erhalten , nur das zwi-SZ. breit, Papier hellgelb, Naschi zu 17 Zeilen, ziemlich gefiillig undschen jedem Worte sich ein rother Strich befindet.-Cypressenband-

2. Dresdens 172-Cod. mixtus foIl . 208, 4, variis characteribus,sed tamen maximam parten nestha'liq scriptus, continens Collectanea et

1 In the list of MSS. I have quoted the descriptions of the various manuscriptsex ac tly as they are d es cr ib ed in the v ar io us o ff ici al cat alog s o f the Lib ra ri es c on -cerned.

2 Die Arabischen, Persichen und Tiirkischen Handschriften der Kaiserlich-KbniglichenHofhibliothek zu Wien. (Flugel) 1867.

3 CataIogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium Bibliothecae Regiae Dresdensis(Fleischer) Lipsiae MDCCCXXXI.

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prosaica et metrica 'ticus Abu-'Hamid M ' " h ' , , , ' d 'ib7) f. 92V , - 99v, Tractatus paraene-discipulorum ui roU amme ,n-Mu'hammed El-Ghazalii ad aliquem'I-waled ins~;i~i sJetPterb~JlocutJonem ab auctore frequentata tm Ejjuha

, ara Ice,

3, Dresden 20I-Cod ar b f II So'a. 0 . I 4, 4 , char. neschi script us 4) f.

I28V-IS2r Tract t Eiiuha'la us JJ a -wa led, auctore EI-Ghazal i.

4. Berlin+ 397s-Titel fehlt ' t.1) 111. ', "1 . .' er IS .Y 'toI' ' " ) Am Rande und

m:lschen den Zei len Glossen. Anfang f. 30b. '" '. 'DIe. vorli~gen~e Ab~~?lung, nach dem Anfan ; :: '-:IWIJ ~W I :J4JI J . 1 ; _ 'betitelt, 1St von Abu itarrud' elga~zali .' . ' . :~, . 'tll1up~t~ ~~pl lll.,.1(20Y; x 16) (13 x 60 -1 m) ~ Zustand nic, ,8 vo, J2Z

gel~, glatt, ziemlich diinn _ Einband : ht ohne ~lecken-Papier :Schrift: grober tiirkiScher Zug ni~ht 'I .P:ppbd. mi t Kl1H~n~~cken.Absehrift vom. J, III9/ 1707 .. ' ere t zu lesen, vocallos, -

5. Berlin 3976-1) - 8 Bl. 8vo. I Z (1/" rZustand, nichtganz sauber. Paier 9 2072"X IIY:) (140 x 7 em)mit Ledder ri ieken. Schri ft , p~rs i~h~ :lbz~lat t, d~nn; ~m?and, Pappbandauch ohne diakri ti sehe Punkte Stich" t

g, ~lem, gefalhg, vocallos, aft. "', . , wOLer rot .-Abschrift c. 1000/1591.

6. Berlin 3976-2) 8 Z (- vo. 13 20Y; x 14) (120 x Snicht ganz sauber und ziemlich fleckig. Sehrift TOOkl h Hem) Z.usta.nd

ro" rrnr ..' ' ur Ise e and, ziemlichg ss, gut, gleich-massig, vocallos. Das Stichwort Jl)I~' h - .um IIOO/168S.-Zwischen den Zeil h rot .-Abschnft

I en (auc am Rand) h "Ttirkische Glossen in kleiner Sehrift . e ste en oHers

7. Berlin 3976-3)-98 Bl., 8vo. 17Z (21y.lX 140 rZustand, ziemlich gut. Papier, gelblich stark 2) (IS~ x 8em)kraftig rundlieh' "glatt. 5ehnft, gross,

, , deutlich, etwas vocalisert. Das Stichwort JJ}I ~I

roth. Abschrift von v'-> .: r . ~ ," -in J h / ' ~ I a r II II qoo.

8. Berlin 3976-4)-8vo 2IZ (Te tD 5

. . X 14-IS x rocm) Tit I f hier chluss (wie bei 3975) steht f. 58b a Ra d " lee t,

von s8a. Schrift, ziemlich klein, etwas ~ndli~h e. fS9

al'list Wlederh?lungII50

/I737. ' voca os. Absehnft c.

4 Katalog die Handschriften .(Ahl wardt ) Berl in 1 891. v erzeich ni ss e der Koni gli chen Bi bl io thek zu Berl in

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9. Berlin 397 6-S)....;.:Svo. 17 z, (ioY; x 140) (13 x 7~em) Titelfehlt.13 0a vor l spatere r Raild. Schri tt , Ti irkisehe 'Hand, z ieml ieb gross,

kraltig, vocallos. Bl. 13 0 erganzt. Am Rande und zwischen den Beilen,

viele Glossen. Abschrift c. 175 0.

10. Berlin 397 6-6Y _ _ ' : 0 4 Bl. Svo, 19-20Z (150 x 100em) ZlIstaIu!i,

braunfieckig. Bl. 10 oben alIsgebessert. Papier, gelb, ziemlich stark,

wenig glatt. Einband, Pappband mit Lederriieke'n. Titel u. Verfasser

fehlt. Schr'ift von . J .o . .J. , r. 11 . \~&. ~l;lI~ urn Il86/177 2. (50 stehtf. 63a; die Zah1 IlOO ab. f. 60b ist unvollstandig).

II. Berlin 397 6 -i)-63 BI. 8vo. I2Z. (150 x II) (II0 x 70em

)

Zustand, etwas fieckig, besunten am Rande; Papier, gelb, ziemlich glatt

u. stark; Einband, sehoner halbfranz-band; Titel u. Verfasser fehU;

Anfang wie bei 397 6-9) 5chrift, gross, kraftig, deutlich, etwas rundlich,

vocaI los ; Absehr if t, um 1200/17 85.

12. Berlin 397 6-s)-Format etc. und 5ehrift wie bei 7)' Titeliibersehrift )} J\\~ ,":",\:S Absehri ft v. J. 12 05/179 0.

13. Berlin 397 6-9)-120 Bl. IIZ. (15 x 10) (10 X 6em) Zustand,nicht ga riz saube r ; Papier, we issl ich, auch s trohge lb,z iemlich s ta rk, etwas

glatt; Einband, Pappbd. mit Lederriieken. Titel u. Veri. I, ra unten:~I. . i""~t ;)\..j Anfang f . rb : . 4l.rJ J.r;t.JI J ij. IJ ).1- J... t .t.J.\~IJ>IJ vi ~t; .l"! (.1 o:>'JJIJ Von hier an so wie bei (Berlin 3975):to

Schrift, ziemlich gross, gefiillig, voeallos. Die 5tichwOrter \Wundr !" - \r~ th. Absehr ift ur n 1220/ 1 80S

14. Berlin 397 6-lo )-Titel f. 173a: JlJ\\~ ,":",l:.) Das Vorharidene

schliesst f. 190b :.j:'\J A,!.'JI :r(.&"';,roIJ(s. bei Berlin 3975); es fehIen

nur wenige ZeiIen.

15. Berlin 397 6-II)-TiteI fehlt. Der 5ehluss f. 60a mit dem

Gebet etwas abgekiirzt. BI. 60 von anderer Hand erganzt.


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-22-

. 16. Berlin 397 6-12 )-Titel fehIt. Bl, 6Ib-6411 leer; f. 64b _ 66bIn schrager Richtung einige Verse und ein Kleines Lobeg'edicht aufMohammad; 68a ein Ste lle aus f"'Ul.,:>,

. 17 Berlin 89 15-9) and 3976-13)-(21~ x IS~) (14 x 9~cm)DIe Abhandlung des . ) 1 . ; . 11die betitelt ist JJ_ , J I ~ w L. . . .>Der Anfang derAblIandlung steht f. 7sa am Rande, der Schlussf. 80b. gleichfalis. DerSchluss weicht etwas abo

18. Paris5 II22. Papier. 100 feuiIIets. Hauteur 20 centimeters,largeur, I4 centimeters , IS lingnes par page. MS. -d e diverses ecrituresdu XVlIe siecle.e ---13 0 (Fol, 26 vO .) Le traite d'al-GhazaIi, avec Iapreface.

P . l.19 ans 1291. Fragment du traite JJ .}JI\w\ 0 mon fils I epitre

dans ~aquelle Ab.ou Hamid al-Ghaziili enseigne a un de ses disciples lesco~nalssances qUI, seules, peuvent servir pour la vie future. Papier. 2

feudle ts . Hauteur 2 I centimeters, largeur IS centimeters. 33 a 35 lignespar page. MS. du XVle ou du XVIIe siecle,

20. Paris 235 1. Papier, 36 feuiIlets. Hauteur 2 I cm. , largeur 14cm. MS. de diverses ecritures du XVle et du XVlIe siecle, -4 0 (Fol.33 v",') Premiers feuillets du JJ)I ~, d'Abou Hamid al-Ghazali.

21: 2405. Pap~er. !63 feuil le ts . Hauteur 21 centimeters , largeur14 centimeters et demi, Ecritures diverses du XVlIe et du XVIIIe siecle,

-90

(Fol. 344) Le traite intitule JJ _ ,I I ~ ~ \d'Abou Hamid al-Ghazall,

22. Paris 3973 Papier. 189 feuillets. Hauteur 20 em. largeurIS E' ,em, nvrron 16 lignes par page. -10 0 (Fol, 1I2 VO ) Le traite Jl _,III.',

d'al-Ghazali. ...

5 Catalogue des Manuscrits Arabes r M Iale. Paris 1183-1895. pa. e Baron de Siane-Bibliotheque Nation-

6 But this MS. reads at the bottom of the last page f. 38b _'I .". '1 I- , , r.- ...~,,., r J -= . . ;

" '4 ! . . .> _ ,r .I . . . . ;i.e., about 1563. -

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23. Paris7 4932. Le traite Ayyouha al-valad par Ghazal], Neskhidate de 1090 H. II feuiIlets 22 x 14.5 centimeters.

24. Paris 6394-Recueil de traites de jurisprudence et theologie;Ie traite intitule Ayyouha al-walad, de Abou Hamid Mohammad ibn

Mohammad al-Ghazalt, SUrIes adabs de la vie religieuse (folio 41 verso).Neskhi, copie par Iskandar ibn 'Abd al-Salam, dans la premiere moitedu XIXe siecle. 122 feuiIIets, 22 sur 18 centimeters.

25. Londons CXXII - Codex chartaceus forma quadrata minore,ff. 163: variis constans libeIIis in unum compactis. Saec, XVII. -IV.Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali . J I. ;: J I ~ 0: ~ J,.b. ~\ obiit A. H.50S. Tractatus moralis, foi. 40b-66b. Tit. JJ)\ ~'O Puer",

26. London DCXXII - Codex chartaceus in 4to. ff. IIO: A. H.1094, A. D. 1687, charactere occidentali exartus. -XIII. Hujjat al-IslamAbu Muhammad al-Gazzali. Obiit A. H. 50S. J-"0: ~.Ml> ~I r : > L . ~ 1 ~. J I ._ r s tTractatus moralis dictus "0 puer" JJ)I \.,1 fol. 94a - 103b.

27. MS. in the library of the San Sophia mosque in Constantinople,catalog number 4786.

28; MS. in possession of, the writer, purchased in Damascus. aothcentury. 9

Manuscripts of Texts with Commentary.

i. Vienna 1842 (see footnot 2) - . . : . . I .IJOIIc!' Die leuchte derFinsternisse, ein arabischer gemischter Commentarzu den ebenerwiihntenAbhandlung O. Kind! von Hasan bin 'Abdallah in J. 756 (13SS) verfasst,mit dem Anfange : t:!1 ~j:- ~ ~ ~I.} ; 1 , : o O J0W:>U fallJo l t '~1I1 .t..u.IDerselbe erklart den voIIstiindig mitgetheilten Text kurz und gut sowohl

7 Catalogue des Manuscrits Arabes des Nouvelles Acquisitions-E. Blochet. Paris,1925.

8 Cataiogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orien ta lium qui in Museo Bri tannico-London, 1846.

9 Since writing this dissertation I have also examined cursorily twelve MSS. in theEgyptian National Library in Cairo.


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den Worten wie dem Sinne naeh wobei die Grarnmatik nicht leer ausgeht.

Die absehrift vollendete Hafiz M~ammad bin Mul;uUJlmad in J. 12~8(1813) - Schluss BI. 47v. 47 BI. (Bl. 48 Sehmuzblatt) Duodez, gegen

6 Z . hoch, 4% Z. breit, Papier, h~hgelb. N a S c h l ,nasta'Ilkartig zu 15

Zeilen, gefaIIig und deutIieh, Stich~rter roth .. Text roth liberstricheri.G ut erhalten.

ii. Vienna 1843. ,::,.~L":' . . r.ril}14b Ein zweiter gemischterarab ische r Commentar zu der se lben Abhandlung , von Chadimi , dem jedes

Vorwort abgeht, Der In neurer zeit aus eirier Cons tantinoplitaner Hand-

schrift copirte und vielleicht weht "iel tiber 30 Jahre Codex beginnt

sogleich fuit der Erklarurig des Anfangs des Originals: u;_WI ~J .t .IJ.It:.n~L:l1Jj\ uJ.I}:;,und schliesst Bl. 64V. mit den Worteh: (j!ll (tl.:l.l .!Ill .tl o y ! r) l._ s ::J~ Esis t ein gemischter Commentar, der denText ganz giebt und sich vorzugsweise mit Erklarung des Sinnes befasst,

64 BI. (Bl. 1-3r und 65 and 66 leer). Octavo iiber 80 Z. hoch, iiher

5 Z. breit. Papier hellgelb, Nasta'Iik zu 25 Zeilen, fliichtig, nieht un-

gelfallig und deutIich, Stichworter und Einfassung roth, der Text roth

iiberstriehen. Cypressenband.

iii. Munichtc 174 Quatr. 20 c.h. IS c. br. 195 f. 23 lin. I ro b-162

Commentar zur ethischen Abhandlung Ghazzali's . ..u)1 16!10 Kind!'Derselbe beginnt ohne Vorrede sogleich mit dem commentierten Texte

I t= -j,;.;1 > Ii " ~l iJ l J J I0' ";'~I ~ W \ ;:.;.t 1:..1..1r ivollstandig; die letztenWorte des Textes sind : I~ . : . .s : :Jo.)u:"')IJ ..J(,..c:.,\b=.J

lv. Bct l ih.3977-2) (See footllote 4 ) . :_Fonmit 31 Z. Text 17 X 70em. Zustand: im Ganzen gut.e=Papier, gelbhch, ziemlich diinn, gla tt .-Einband, P"appband mit Lede rr ikken und Klappe .c=Schr if' t, T li rkisehe

Hand, klein, fast vocallos, Titeliiberschrift und Verfasser f. rora :

Il',.)~


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II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MANUSCRIPTS

This opuscule of al-Ghazali, Ayyuha 'l-Walad, was written by theauthor in Persian, and later transla ted in to Arabic. Al-Sayyid Murtadasays, "Ayyuha 'I-Walad was written in Persian, and certain of the learnedmen translated it and called it by this famous name,"! No Persianmanuscrip t is known to be in existence . In addition to those to whichI have had access, some thirty other manuscripts are found in variouslibraries in Europe-in Bologna, Florence, Madrid, Halle, Tubingen,

Strassburg , Leipsig, Leiden, Cambridge, Oxford, and so forth. Some ofthe difficulties arising in connection with the determination of the originalArabic text, on the basis of an examination of the thirty-two manuscriptsof text or commentary available to me, are these:

a. The translation was not made by al-Ghazali himself, and n~Persian manuscript is available for comparison.

b. The earliest manuscripts date from the seventeenth century,'except for the MS. 5, dated at about 1591, and MS. 18, which bears thedate 969 A.H., or about 1563 A.D. There is thus a period of nearly sixcenturies between the death of al-Ghazali, and the date of the earliestmanuscript.

c. There is no evidence that any of the existing manuscripts areoriginal translations from the Persian, nor nearly related to them.

d. Many of the manuscripts are undated, and others are dated onlyapproximate ly.3 Certain of the manuscrip ts are slgned,s or dated,S orboth.e but this g ives no clue as to the date of the original manuscript fromwhich these are copied; for a late manuscript may conceivably be tran-

1 S.M., v. i, p, 41. 2 MSS. 6, 19 (?), 20 (?), 23, and 26.3 MSS. I, 2, 3, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25.4 MSS. 16, 24.5 MSS. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 18,23, 26 .6 1\ 1S S. 7, 10, I, i v.

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-2S-

scribed from a lost copy, which is very much earlier than any existingmanuscript.

e. While existing manuscripts are from the hands of Persian,7Turkish.s and Arabic9 scribers, this in itself provides no clue as to thedate or character of the original manuscripts from which these are copied;for a Persian scribe may have labored in Constantinople, or a Turkishscribe in Baghdad, for instance.

The manuscripts from Persian scribes are few in number. MS. 5is incomplete, ending in secti on XXIII with the account of the secondgroup of t~os~ whosequestlo~ i~ is not n~essarr. to try to. answer.tcIt also omits most of the first part of Section XIX, up to the words:"Then know that .becomi~g a Mystic has two characteristics.vn MS. 7,though seemingly In Arab ic penmanship, i s probably f rom a Persi an scribe ,He signs himself "Sayyid M?l}ammed b. Husayn." The use of Sayyidas a title, .and the name Husayn, are both characteristic Persian usages.Manuscri pts of commentaries furnish little help in determining the textMS. 2 I have selected as the one to translate, for reasons mentionedbeluw.

The manuscripts from Turkish hands, with the exception of MS. 4,offer a very unsatisfactory Arabic text. Quite evidently the writerspossessed a very imperfect knowledge of Arabic. There is considerableevidence that the scribe copied from the dictation of a reader, and wasnot sure of the words he heard, so that he repreduced the sounds correctlyhut not the letters nor the correct nuon or verb forms. For instance i~these manuscripts, such errors as these occur: '

Wrongly copied

~lrWlJ:...'::.!l1,..L..

Correct form

~I~J;"';'.!.lJ~1..

tS..l..

J.L. .JL.. . : . . i~':"J.;..t;

7 MSS. 2, 5, 7, i( ?). ii.8 MSS. 4, 6, 9, 10(?), i6(?), 21, 27, iv. .9 MSS. 1,3,8,10 (?), 11 to 15, 16, (?), 17 to 20, 22 to 26, zs, i (?).10 In our MS., folio 97b., 1. 14.11 In our MS., folio 96a., I. 17, to folio 96b., I. 14. Probab ly a page o f the o rigina l. MS. was overlooked.

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There remain the manuscripts from Arabic hands. Of these thereare first' of ~l asmali number which ~re~f little value as aids indetermin ..i ng the text, because ~fthe carelessness ~iih whi~h they are c~pied ,"o rtM incomplete nature O f their ' contents. MS: S con tams many errors,omissions of words, and duplications of syllables and words. MSS. I~

~~, ~n4 16, though written in Arabic script, possess many of the charac-teristics of the Turkish manuscripts, MS. I7 is in two scripts, the firs~four sections and the conclusion being added on the margin in a differen~hand from the body of the treatise. MS. 19 is incomplete, closing insection XVPI with' the quotation from the Qur'an,."Truly Satan is yourenemy; fherefore for an enemy 'hold him."12 . MS. 20 i s : even less com' :'plete, closing wit h the first few lines of s ec ti on X .1 3MS: 24 is very late,is' much confused, and is of little value. ' . .

The remaining manuscri pts from Arabic hands are complete, and forthe most part grammatically sound, They, together with 1\1'$S. 2, 4, 5,an~ 7, fall into two groups, the manuscriptswithin each group agreeingin the main, while the groups as a whole differ from each other.i+ . .

Group One includes MSS. 1,15 2, 4, 5, IS, IS, 24, 2 S and probably13 and 26. In Group Two are ~SS. 3, 7, 22, 23 and probably SandI~. The manuscripts of Group Two are inferior to those of Group Onein many respects. They include many emendations and glosses, and anumber of unsound grammatical constructions. Also in certain of themore concise and difficult passages they are frequently expanded, editedor modified to remove the seeming difficulty in the text. Amore carefulstudy of these two groups might lead to the conclusion that each groupis derived from a distinct original or pro t ype. On the other hand, GroupTwo may represent manuscrips which are derived from Group One; orboth may be derived from a single original, the divergence being slightat first and gradually widening. The two Dresden MSS. (nos. 2 and 3in my list) are excellent representatives of these two groups, and I havenoted elsewhere the variations in the introduction 'to this treatise of al-Ghazali , in detai l.to

12 In Arabic, folio 96a, I. 8.13 In Arabic, fol io 94a, I. 14.14The manuscript s o f Commentar ies on thi s t reat ise are a lso f rom two sources.

MSS. i and iii are copies of the earlies t commentary, that of Hasan b. Abdallah,who died in 756/1355. MSS. ii and iv are the commentary of al-Khadimi whodied in 1160/1747. This lat ter has been published in Constantinople. While ofassistancein preparing the translation, they are of little value in determining theoriginal text of the treatise. .

15 This M ::; .was used by Hammer-Purgstal l as the basis for his t ranslation of thist reat ise into German, and published with the translation, in Vienna in 1838.

16 See last page of this chapter.


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-3 -

From the manuscriptsof Group One, whichas a group are the best,I have selectedMS. 2 to translate, for these reasons:

I. The manuscript is written in excellent Arabic, terse, concise,andgramatically sound.t",

2. The penmanship gives evidence that i t is from the hand of aneducated man' there are also fewerrors of copying, erasures, repetition ofsyllables, or 'o:nissionsof essential words or phrases.

3. An examination 'of the supralinear, sublinear and intralinearglossesshowthem to be for the most part not corrections of errors, butwrit ten by the hand of another than the original scribe, and added tosimplify difficult constructions, to complete partial quotations, or tomake elliptical phrases less concise.

4. Marginal emendat ions, wri tten by a different hand, in manycases supply phrases or sentences included in the text in certain othermanuscripts, especially MS. I. One can infer that the emendator hadaccessto this MS.or a copy of it , and sought to bring the text of MS. 2

into agreementwith MS.I.S. This manuscript is wri tten in the nestha'liq script of Persia.

Followingthe end of the text on ff. 99b. and rooa there is copiedin the

same hand an extract from a Persian S u f iwriting, entitled ".:-.1;)1 JL.)Iand ascribed \..j~ ~ ~I,,;. ._r.l .18 Since Arabic was theuniversal language of religion and literature in the Islamic world, whilethe use of Persian was never widespread, and since this document iswritten in Persian script, it seems almost certain that the writer of thismanuscript was a Persian. Unfortunately there is in the document itselfno indication as to his ident ity nor when he lived. We have no clue inany source concerning the date when Ayyuka 'l-Walad was translatedfrom Persian into Arabic, beyond the simple statement of the Sayyid

Murtada.tv It is possible that the scribe who copied this manuscript

17 The err ors are negligible: f . 92b., I. 17, w. 5, :;".L. for ",I:L. ; f. 94a,

1.9, w. 12,


19/65

Variations in the Readings of MSS. 2 and, -; ' ,3,as t~ey occur in the Introquction.'

I. 2, a.w. 7, M S. 3ins. ~')lJbI. 2, a.w. II, M S. 3 ins. w~}~

I. 2, a.w. 8, M S. 3 om.

I. 4, a.w. 2, M S. 3 ins.

I. 5, a.w. 2, M S. 3 ins.". _ 1'

~~buJ..i\

.:"

4cJ.W forI. 5, w . 9, M S. 3 rd.

!. 6, w . 8, M S. 3 rd.I. 6, w. 12, M S. 3 rd.

I. 7, h.w. 2, M S. 3 ins.

I. 7, w. II, M S. 3 rd.

J; for J \.. , , ~~ . , w \Lr \c l_ , ; \ ( \ \for ~ . , w \)A ~1,;\\. . t , .

,,0,)

' - f_ , ; for tj

1. 7, a.w. 13, M S. 3 ins. e _r 'll ~

I. 8, w . 9, M S. 3 rd. for

1. 8, w . 8, MS. 3 rd. for

1 8 8 M S . 0 ': -1 \; ( . ) . ,a.w., . 3 ins. ~ ':> ~

j \,; for1. $ , w. 6, MS. 3 rd.

1 M S d o ' ,< 'I i \ for 9, W. 12, 3 r eJ-N

1. II, a.w. 4, MS. 3 ins . - ;\ ,;}J . W,

which MS. 2 ins. supral. gL

1 MS d jlo for jl,,, I I, W 5, . 3 r . '"' ,'"'....\ z : , ;. ,; for \ s: ~1. 12, W. 2, MS. 3 rd. ~ cr :

1. 12, W 5, M S. 3 rd. correctly j'-... for ~\-.1. 14, a.w. I, MS. 3 om. J, W in\~,) and rd. ~~ J alL)\ 6.

for a lL )\ ~ J


20/65

III. THE ARABIC TEXTwith Collat ion of Typical Var ian t Read ings

[Th is t ext is published by permission of the Director of the

Sachsische LandesbibJiothek, Dresden]

Folio 92b

.I. 2. a.w. ~\.J, MSS. 22, 23 ins. ~.J MS. 13 rd. O~".J J..,.:L J."..,> jc .J

~I .;l'l;ll~ ~I.J)I.J ~~I.J ~\ j c . . J

I. 3. w. 6. MS. 22 rd. .:.:.l.;i:_.

1. 7 . WW. I, 2. MS. 19 rd. ~/ J I .o , .. . ; ., .. , .;"

MS. 21 rd.

MSS. I I, 18,22 rd. '1~ U ~j . : . . J , r. J

I. 7. last w. MS. 3 ins. 0.,..'lI1 JI. 12 W 8 MS. 12 ins.

c?'lI v- i i . J C : : - ! 'J .\u.J ~ 'lI ~.J

I. 13. w . 10 MSS. 3, 7, 18, rd. ~J,.. ; MS. I rd."::".1-

MS. so, 21, 23,24rd. O J o .

I MS. 18 rd. ~I,,:,".l.tl\..)' o.l,.. IS, W, S " or

I. 16. w . 2 MSS. I, 24, w . t; a .o ., . )~

-33-


21/65

MSS. 18, 19,20,23, rd . ~J"I ; 22 rd. , . , .1

MS I W t; a.o. rd. ';.r-

MS. I rds. J J.ai. ; MS. 3 ins.'J..i. a.. )\.:)1

MSS. 18,22 rd. JI for o-

MS. I, 3, 18 w.t; a .o , rd. rUlMS. 3 rd. IS .>J\ ; MS. 23 , obs.

MS. 22 rds. t .II.MS. 25 rd . ._,..i.:I1J.;.; ~ J. rUl~J,;J J & : ! . .J!i.

many MSS. ins . ..&i.ll.}rUl1. 9. w. 6. MS. 25 ins . .)

l. 4. w . I.

1.4. w . IS.

I. S. w. 6.

J. S. w. 13

1.6. w. 8.

1.7. w . s.Ww.8ff.

-34-

Fol io 93a

1. 13. w w . Iff. Many var. which do not alter meaning.

I. 16, w w . roff, MS. 18 rd. :r'J;" 'J_, ~J~:"I > '!

1. 17. w w . 13, 14. MS. 18 rd. ~." ~


22/65

I. I. w . 4.

l. 2. W. S.

I. 2. W 10

I. 5. w . S.

-35-

Foli o 93b

MS. I w.t; MS. IS rd.j-: ; a.o. J"'!

MS. 25 ins. a long explanatory gloss

Many MSS. ins. rW la. . .:.. i) }.J

MSS. I, 19, 20, 21, ins. mg. 91.; a.o , om.

I. 6. ww. IS, 19. MSS. 1,4,21,24,25, w.t.; a.o. .Jr).JI. 7. w . 8 MS. IS om. w w . ff. ~.J, and rd. simply '~l\.J

I. S. WI.

I. 10 w w . 3-6

I. II. W I .

I. II. w. 16.

l. 12. W II.

I. 14. w. I.

1. 17. w. 5.

I. 18. w. 3.

l. IS. W. II.

I. 19. w. 3.

1. 19. w . 5.

MS. IS rd. Jj

Many var. e.g.; ~ jA. ~ ~\

MS. 18 rd.. u~:-Ji;'~' cS 'TMSS. I, 2, ins. ~\; other var. IJI or , , ; , ,)l.1.IJI

MSS. 1,3, 18, 19, 22 rd. C::-:-MS.21 rd. ~

MS. 23 rd. ~,)~ yl>MS. 22 rd. .r.J.J ...

. ,MS. 18 rd . ~ MS. 22 rd . ~

MS. 22 ins'i~\; MS. 24 ins. ~~\MSS. 3, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24 w.t;

MS. 19 rd . ~.'~ MS. 21 rd. ~~.

MS. J rd. .;. .: .

1\ISS. 3, 18, 20, 24 rd. :,.:.

MS. 19. w.t. MS. 21, 23, dis.MS. 22 rd. Jr. MS. I rd. ".;,--:'MS. 25 ins. " , :, ,_ , ; .l l l. ; ., . ~ ~t '= " ~o I. & li !I I ~ "MS. 3, 18, 19, 20, 22 rd. ~'"


23/65

Fol io 94a

1. 3, w . 9

1. 2, W. 3. MSS. I, 24, ins . _;'ll MS. 22 ins. ' :A.) . i :J1

1. 9.

I. 12, W 6

I. 14.

I. IS, W. 5.

MS. 18 rd. ' : iJ . l1J: i (mg.).!.I.:,;._).MS. 19 rd . ! . l1:--

MS. 20 rd. .. ;.~ J: i .!l::i

MS.. 1,21, 23 rd. ..;.,;. .!l::i

. MS. 22 rd. ..;..}J.t .!l:..;

MSS. much confused. MSS. 19, 20, 22, om. ~ jc_,

MS. 18 rd.


24/65

l. 4, w . 6.

l. S, w . 13.

l. 6, w . 9.

Fol io 94b

Mg. ins. by MS. I, 22.

MS. 3, 18, 21, ins. only . t ,~j.) MS. 18, rd. )ijMSS. I, 18, rd. .;I'

L aMSS. 3, 21, 2 2, 23," "' .

l. 8, WW. raff', MSS. I, 22, 23 ins. 4!;~

MSS. 3, 18, ar om . : .u

1. II, a.w. 6. Most MSS. ins. (}r MS. 18 agrees w.t.


25/65

1. I, last w .

1. 7. w. 8.

1. 8. w . 4.

-38-

Fol io 9Sa

MSS. divided here between ~!.l\ and C,!I.!JI also in1. 3, w . I; I. 4, w . 14; and 1. 5, w . 6.

MS. 18 rd. . , ;Il. . .

MS. 18 rd. J- ' .J

1. IS, W 10. Mg. rding. ins. in I, a.o. om.

1. 16, w. 2, mg. MS. I rds, ~j\ instead of '-:- MS. 18 w.t ; other

MSS. dist. and obs.1. 18, w . II.

1. 18, a. w. 14.

MS. I, 22 ins. mg. rding. MSS. 3, 21 w.t.

MS. 18 rd.o ~I ~ i>_,s : : : ;. ;JI; many var. in other MSS.


26/65

-39-

Folio 95b

l. 4, w. 3 from left, MSS. 18, 22, ins. !l'Jr..r;' u \. .: Jl \; \ \~\"!It J:~ l;~ ~I;

I. 5. W.W. 2, 3. Preferred reading is \J,! .!..l..o.

1 . 10, W. 8. line of text omitted through homoeoteleuton;see translat ion in loco .

1. 14, w. 2 from left, MS. 3 rd, \;.~ \.. MS. 18 om., MSS. 21 w.t;other MSS. obs.

1. 19, w. II. MS. 3 rd. i;}

MS. 18 rd. i~

MS. 22 rd.l'liJI" J"..'ll iA J


27/65

I. 6, w . 9.

I. 8, w . 5.

I. 12, W 2 from left.

1. 13, a. w. 3.

-40--

Folio a

Mg. rding . procorrect , our MS. om. throughhomoeotelouton. See translation in loco.

MS. 19 ends at this point.

Several MSS. misread .)~l as ~l

MS 18 ins. J ~\iI in text.

I. 17, w . 10.

I. 17, last w. from left. Most MSS. rd. ~~\S:,..

I. 18, w . 6.

I. 20, a.w. 3.

I. 20, w . 6.

I. 20, W I. from left.

w . 2 from left.

MS. 5 om. from this word to folio 97a, I. 14, w .II, pr. a misplaced page.MS. 14 om. from this point to I. 20, W I.

MS. 18 ins, J.J in text.

MSS. 4, 17, 18, 22, rd. ~ for ~

MS.i8 ins. t ;>JI~ in text

MSS. 4, 24, td . ;.. .: ..


28/65

I. I, w . 3.

I. 2, WW. IIff.

1 . 3, w w . 7ff.I. 4, w. 9.

1 . 4. w . 3. from left.

I. 7, a.w. 5

1 . 10, w . 10.

1 . II, w . 14.

-41-

F ol io 9 66

Mg. gloss included-in MSS. I, 22, i, iii, iv.See footnote 2, sec. XIX Translation.

Much confusion among other MSS.

Much confusion among other MSS.Should rd. ~ See 1 . 6, W I.

MS. 18, rd.. ~"s:J1

Several MSS. ins. e _ 1 : . J1

. MSS. I, 3, 4, 12, 18, 21, 23, 24 ins. mg. rd.

MSS. divide bt. ~ and ~

1 . 13, w . 6. MS. 22 rd. ~

w . 2 from left. MS. 2 I rd........_1. 14, w . II. MSS. I. 4, 22, 24 ins. i.:":'IJ.:..i(' ~I ~1.>y~Ir!'.i.f

( . t. o : -. ! .U W Ij& (MSS. 22 , 24 om. ~ I)

1. 16, w w . 16, 17. MS. 18 rd. r" - .>~


29/65

I. 2, W. 2 from left.

1. 7, w. 13.

I. 7, WW. 16, 17.

-42-

Folio 97al

MS. I rd.~l~ ( ? ) cor. mg. l:,


30/65

1. 4, last ww.

n . 5 to 7

-43-

Folio 97b

The mg.gl .appears in MS. I at this point andalso in I. 17; a.o. omit at this point.

Many minor variations in MSS.1. 6, ww. 7 to 14. MS. I, w.t.; a,o. om.

1.14, w . 7.1. I S, W. 1 0.

1. 17, w . 2.

MS. 5 ends at this point.MS. iii ends at this poin t.Se e above, 1.4.


31/65

Folio 98a

LB , w . I. Most MSS. rd. ~~ or ~~ for

MS. 18 rd. ';.;1.. ,. u - ~ ~

L 14, w. 6. Phrase ins. mg. appears in text of MSS. I,23, 24

1. 1:4, W. I2. MS. 23 w.t., other var. are ~ ~ ~

1.1:5, w. IO. I. omitted through homoeoteleuton ins. mg.

. . . .Ja;J


32/65

-45-

,Folio 9 B b

1. 8, ww. 7 and 9 MS. 21 ins. bt. these two words 4pP. (fols. 359a to

360b ) of matter from someother source than Ayyulra'l-Walad.

I. 10, W 9.

.I 15, w . I.

MSS. 3, 19, rd. \.;r..~

MS. 22, rd. -1,;,:"1

MSS. 21 .2 3 w.t.

MS. 1 ins. mg. rding of MS. 2 into text; a.o. om


33/65

Folio 996

1. 6, w. S. M S.3, 21, 23 rd . r:i' M S. I, 23 ins . . . f ' jM S. I ins . ;)I.!"~I~ jiW I_ , M S. IS w.t.

1. 9 , w . 6 . M S. I ins. u.fi..J ;j..Jl.J ."... _ , I1 . : r-

w . 9. M S. I ins. Jt,; ~I \!. ~\ .!.t~\ t, c:o: -J...4 .r

1. 12, w . s - M S. I, 3, IS, 21, 23 ins. ~\ M S. 22 w.t.


34/65


35/65

PART TWO

THE TRANSLATION


36/65

THE TRANSLATION

1. In the name of Allaht the Compassionate 2 the Merciful:

Praise unto Allah the, Lord of the worlds3 and the good issue to thepious.s and blessingS upon his prophet Mohammed and his fa mily all ofthem. Know that a certain advanced students attended zealouslyto the service of the shaykh, the Imam, the ornament of religion, theproof of Isla m, Abi Hamid Mohammed bin Mohammed al-Ghazali, themercy of Allah upon him, and labored in the acquisition and reading ofscience, until he had assembled the minutiae of the sciences a nd had per-

I. Instead of translating the Arabic word by the English term 'God', I havepr eferr ed to r etain the Arabic wor d ' Allah' , and have done so thr ough t he

. translation.

2 Lane, TON, vol. I, p, is says that ",,")1 'the Compassio~ate' expresses an'accidental or occasional passion, while r-'")I the. Merciful' denotes. a. constant. quali ty. The ' Ul ama' say that the f ir st means ' Mer cifnl in gr eat thi ngs ', and

the s eco nd 'Merci fu l i n s ma ll t hing s' . An other ex plan at io n i s UlI lt t he f ir stterm -denotes t ha t a ct iv e q ua li ty from. which the ev id en ce o f mercy co mes ,while the second denotes the permanent inherent quali ty which originates thatmercy.

3 The ' f ir st Su ra h o f the Qur 'a n o pe ns with thi s p hras e. Sa le t ra ns la tes ~lIJIby "all cr eatur es", Rodwell by "the-wor lds"; ' It lsused f or t he three worldso f r at io na l c re atur es r eco gn ize d b y I sl am-a ng el s, me n, an d j in n.

4 This phrase occurs in the Qur'an, Surah 11:51.5 Calverley, pp, 3 -6 , d is cu ss es a t l en gth the d er iv at io n an d mea ning o f the wo rd

salah.6 No clue is aff or ded as to the identity of this advanced student , except t hat" the colophon at the head of MS. 23 reads "The advice of the Shaykh . _. 'al -Glu ii al i t o the ' o ne t ru st in g' f irmly in the g lo riou s' Kin g, 'Ab da ll ah ibn a l-

.I;Iajj KhaJn." I am unable to identify this name, The traditi on quoted insection II I below seems t o impl y t hat he was at least 40 year s of age.

-5 1 -


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-5 --

feeted the virtues of the soul; 7 then on a certain day he considered thecondition of his soul and it occurred to him and he said, "Truly I haveread varieties of sciences, and have spent my life in learning and assem-bling them, and now I ought to know which kind will benefiit f me tomorrowand cheer me in my grave, and which will not benefit me, so that Iabandon it, as the Apostle? of Allah, Allah bless and give him peace, said,

'0 Allah, I seek 1 0 refuge i n thee from knowl edge which does not benefit'."And this idea persisted with him until he wrote to the honorable shaykh,the proof of Islam, Mohammed al-Ghazali, the mercy of Allah upon him,seeking a "fetwa"l1 and asked him questions and desired from himadvice and a supplicationtz [to read in its appointed times.] And he

7 See Appended Not e on The Wonders oj the Heart.

S AbCthurairah is quoted in Mishdit al- Masabfh (v. i , p. 69) as f ollows: TheProphet said, "that knowledge from which no benefit is derived, is like atreasure fr om which no char ity is bestowed in the r oad of God."

9 Lane TON, p. 16 says "An apostl e is distingui shed fr om a mer e Pr ophet byhi s having a book r eveal ed to him." Mishcat, v. ii, p. 654, says, "There is adifference between Nabi and Rasfi l ; a Nabi is he who receives instruction fromab ov e to d el ive r to ma n, an d a Ras ul h as tho se ins truc tions an d a b ook aI50 .-' Abd- ul- Hak". Mishcat in this same place Quotes t he traditional saying ofMohammed that ther e have been 24,000 prophets, and 350 (Hughes D I,art ic le Prophet , says 315) ap os tl es . An other t rad it io n (Majal is al -Ab rar p .55) s ay s the n umbe r o f b ook s de liver ed wa s 1 04 ,o f wh ic h 100 are 105t. Therer emain only the Taur at of Moses, the Z abur of David, the I njil of Jesus, andthe Qur 'an of Mol)ammed.

10 al -Ch aza li s ay s, i n the I l)ya '- ul -'ulum: "Sa tan l au ghs a t s uch p io us ejac ul a-tions. Those who utter them are like a man who should meet a lion in adesert, while there is a fort at no great distance, and, when he sees the evilbe as t, s ho uld s ta nd ex cl aiming, ' I t ak e refug e in God, ' wi th ou t mov in g a s teptowards it. What will such an ejaculation profit him? In the same wayt he mere exclamation ' I take r efuge in God,' will not protect thee f rom theter ror s of His judgm~nt unless thou r eall y take r ef uge in Him." Quoted inClaude Field Alchemy of Happiness p. 10. I cannot l ocate the source of thisquotation.

11 A "Ietwa" is a formal legal opinion given by an official interpreter of thel aw in answer to a questi on lai d befor e him.

1 2 The wo rs hipp er in I sl am af ter co mp let ing the p re scr ib ed p ra yer s ~ay. ma ~eany special supplication he will. Sayyid Murtada says the best supplication IS:

'0 Allah!I seek refuge in Thee from the punishment of the grave II seek ref uge in Thee f rom the testing of the Anti- Christ!I seek refuge in Thee fr om the testing of the ti me of lif e and death !o Allah! I seek refuge in Thee from sin and obligation !

(S. M. iii. 161 B).The s tu den t d es ir ed a s peci al s up pl ic at io n for pr iv at e u se. Se e Tran sl at io nSe ct io n XXV n ote 1. A trad it io n rel at ed b y Abu-Mal ic al -As ja' i (Mish catv. i, p. 594) s ay s, "wh en a man e mbrac ed I sl am, the Prop het wou ld t ea ch h imthe pr ayer s and then or der ed hi m to supplicate in these wor ds: 0 Lord,par don me,' and have mer cy on me, and chow me t he straight r oad, and giveme he al th , a nd daily bread."

-53-

said, "Even though the writings of the shaykh like Il:}ya'13 and otherworks contain the answer to my questions, yet my purpose is that theshaykh should write my requirement in a leaflet to remain with me thelength of my life, and I will do according to what is in them all my days,if Allah the Exalted wills." So the shaykh, the mercy of Allah theExalted (upon him), wrote in this epistle :

II. In the name of Allah the Compassionate the Merciful:Know, 0 Youth.t beloved and preci ous.c-j Al lah) prolong thy days

in his obedience, and lead thee in the path of his loved ones-that theopen letterz of advice is written from the mine of the Message (of theapostle), Allah bless him and give him peace; if there has reached youadvice from it, what need have you of my advice? and if not, then tellme what you have attained in these past years.

III. 0 youth, from all that the Apostle of Allah, blessing and peaceupon him, has advised his Congregation, is his saying.t Allah bless himand give him peace: "The sign of Allah's withdrawal from His worship-per2 is his busying himself in what does not concern him; and if a man vhas passed an hour of his life in other than that for which he was created,

it is certainly fitting that his grief should be prolonged [in the day ofresurrection], and whoever has reached (the age of) Iorty.s and hisgood does not surpass his evil, let him prepare for the fire"; and in thisadvice t here is a sufficie ncy for t he people of the world [knowl edge],

1 3 Se e Ap pen ded No te o n Th e Vit al izin g o f th e S ciences o f R el ig io n.II . 1 The introduction shows that the one t hus addr essed is no young child, but an

advanced student (~j.i.:\\ , - ;11.1\w" I.J.>\.}) The word ;\- , means liter ally"offspring", i ts use is l ike the Hebrew ~l'l or French garcon. I have used thewo rd "y ou th " throu gh ou t, t ho ug h thi s p ar ti cul ar s tu de nt , who h as s pen t theg reat er p ar t o f h is l if e in ac qu ir in g k no wled ge, i s d oub tl es s a b earde d s heikh !See Tra ns lat io n Sect io n I , foo tn ote 6.

2 I am tr anslating this phrase as nearly l iter ally as possible. The idea is that

advice, proclaimed publicly, must be der ived fr om the Qur 'an which is thesource of all advice. Hammer-Purgstall renders this very freely in hisGerman t ran sl at io n: "Pe rl en au sg es tr eu te d es Rathes s in d g es cr ieb en in d erFu nd grube Sen du ng d es Proph eten "- and wi th a s li gh tly d iffer en t me an in g.

II I. 1 I fail to find the sour ce of t his tr aditi onal saying of the Pr ophet .

2 I have uniformly translated the verb j..~ and its derivatives by the verbworship 'and its noun forms. In some contexts 'servant' might be moresuitable than 'worshipper', but I have thought it best to use a single wordconsistently.

3 A Swabian proverb says, "A Swabian must put away folly by the time he isfort y." See Translation Section I , footnote 6.


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-54-

IV. 0 youth, the advice is easy, the difficulty is accepting it, sinceit is bitter in the taste of the follower of passionate desire, becauseproh ibi ted things a re che rished in the ir ! hea rt s; e special ly whoeve r is seek-ing formal knowledge, and is busy ing himse lf about exce llence of ' [ sc ienceand 1 the improvement of the soul [and jurisprudence] and the praises of'the present world, for he accounts that knowledge alone is a means inwhich will be his safety and his salvation, and that he can get' along

without work; and this is the belief of the philosophers. Praise theGreat God! he does not know this much, that when he acquires knowl-edge, if he does not work according to it, the indictment against him iscertain. As the Apostle of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace,s aid2 "The pers on most severely punis hed i n the day of resurrection is thelearned one whom Allah the Exalted does not benefits by reason of hisknowledge." It is told that Junayd,4 the mercy of Allah (upon him),appeared in a dream after his death, and it was said to him, "What isthe news, 0 Abu Qasim P" He replied, "Perished are the esplanations.eand vanished are the allusions, nothing benefited us except the prostra-tions which we made in the middle of the night."

V. 0 youth, do not be bankrupt of works, nor empty of statesrrbe assured that knowledge alone does not strengthen the hand: a parableof this is, if a man in the wilderness wore ten Indian swords and otherweapons, and the man were brave and a warrior, and a terrifying lionattacked him, what do you think? would the weapons ward off the evilfrom him without his using them and thrusting with them? it is perfectlyobvious that they would not ward (it) off, except by activity. Just so,though a man read a hundred thousand scient ific ques tions and unders toodthem or learned them,2 they do not benefit him except by working. Ands imilarly, if a man had fever and jaundice, his cure is in oxymel and barleybroth, and he wiII not regain his health except in their use.

IV. 1 The confusi on between t he si ngul ar number (t he follower) and t he pluralnumber ( thei r heart s) exist s in the text .

2 I do not f ind the source of thi s t radi tional saying.3 Abuhurai rah i s q uoted as sayi ng: "That k nowledge from whi ch no benefi t

i s der ived, i s l ike a t reasure f rom which no chari ty i s bestowed in the road ofGod." Quoted in Mishdl.t al-Masabib, v. i, P. 69.

4 Junayd b. Mobammed, Abu Qi lsim, was born and lived i n 'Iraq . In lateryears he gave hi msel f enti rely to Myst ici sm and gat hered a l arge circl e offollowers. He died in 297/910.

5 The "explanations" and "allusions" doubtless refer to the practices ofspeculative theology, whi ch are cont rasted wit h the prayerful at ti tude of

mind which leads to night watches and prayers .

V. See Appended Note on The "Way" of the Moslem Mystic.

2 Varian t reading: unders tood them and taught them. See fol io 93a, 1. 17.

-55-=

Though thou measure two thousand rottles of wine,

Unless thou drink, no t hrill i s thine.3

Knowledge is the tree, and working is its fruit;4 and though youstudied a hundred years and collected a thousand books, you would notbe prepared for the' mercy of Allah the Exalted, except by working, as

Allah the Exalted said,. "And verily nothing (shall be reckoned) to man but that for

which he made effort:"5

And "whoever hopes to meet his Lord let him work arighteous work,"6 "a recompense according to what they havedone"7 "a recompense according to what they have earned."8

"As for those who believed and do right things, there wasfor them the gardens of Paradise as an abode.t's

["but others have come after them, they have neglectedprayer and have followed lusts; and they shall find evil,] exceptwhoever turns and believes and does a good' work; [these shallenter the garden and be wronged in nothing".] 10

And what do you say as to this tradition: Islam is built upon five(pillars): the witness that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed isthe Apostle of Allah; and the instituting of prayers; and the giving of

alms; and the fast of Ramadan; and th~ pilgrimage to Mecca ( ~ e)for everyone who i s able 11 to make the journey. And faith is confessionwith the tongue and belief with the heart and working with the membersof the body; and the value 12 of works is greater than can be reckoned;and if the-wors hipper attains the Garden by the favor of Allah the Exalted

3 This verse appears i n Persi an i n all MSS.

4 This same f igure i s used a lso in Gbazal t' s Minha], except tha t there he states

that worship < . . . ) \~ .. )i s the f ru it rather than work (JI-) and the figure iI

further developed.

5 Qur'an 53:40.7 Qur'an 32:17

9 Qur'an 18:107

6 Qur'an 18:110.

8 Qur'an 9 : 83, 96

10Qur 'an 19:60 , 61 .

11 Compare the saying of the Qur 'an, "God impose th not on a person save whathe is able to accomplish." (2 :286). ' ,

12 That is, in the sight of Allah, works as evidence of a real faith are of in-estimable value as compared with confession with the tongue or belief in theheart. ",


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-56-

nnd his grace, yet that is after he prepares by his obedience and hisworship;

"for the mercy of Allah is near to the doer of good deeds. "13

And if it should be said also he attains it by faith alone. t+ we re ply,Yes, but when does he attain? how many a difficult aclivity meets him

before he arrives! the first of these aclivities is the aclivity of faith:will he be escape plunder (of his faith) or not? and when he arrives hewill be a bankrupt {sinner l.ts As Hasante said: Allah the Exalted saysto his worshippers on the day of resurrection, "[Oh my worshippers,]enter into the Garden by my mercy and partake of it by [the measure of]your works."

VI. 0 youth, so long as you do not work, you do not find [areward ]. It is told that a man of the children of Israel worshippedAllah the Exalted seventy years ; and Allah the Exalted desired to displayhim to the angels, so Allah sent an angel to him to inform him that withthat worship, he was not worthy through it of the Garden; and when heinformed him, the worshipper replied, "We are created for worship, andwe can but worship him." And when the angel returned he said, "0 my

God, thou knowest best what he said." And Allah the Exalted said,"Since he did not withdraw ~ [from worshipping us] r , so we with gracewill not withdraw from him. Bear witness, oh my angels, that I have.forgiven him." The Apostle of Allah said.t Allah bless him and granthim peace, "Reckon be fore you are reckoned with, and weigh before youare weighed." And 'Ali,2 the pleasure of Allah the Exalted upon l.'m,

1 3 Qu r'an 7 :54 .14 Al -Ghazali says, in the Mizan aI- 'Amal: "Whoever thinks faith alone will

s uffi ce h im, i s ign oran t o f the mean in g of f ai th ." (p, 82).

15 If the Arabic word be read \:~ as in our text, the phrase would read:

"bankrupt, possessed by a jinn." The MSS. however, prefer \~ whichmea ns "sinne r" . Hammer-Pu rg st al l h as t ra ns la ted the p hras e: "wah ns inn ig

un d b an ke rn t" al th oug h h is Arab ic t ex t r ead s: W1. ~16 Hasan al-Basri was born in Medina, the son of a woman who was slave to

on e o f Mo ha mmed 's wiv es . He rece ive d h is l ib er ty an d remov ed to Bas rah ,whe re h e be came an as cet ic an d lead er o f o rtho do x theo lo gy, u nfolding thedoctr ines of the Qur' an in str ictest terms. One of his pupils, Wa$ iI bin - 'Ata

withdrew from his master and is the reputed founder of the school of theMu' ta zi li tes . He d ied in 11 0/728 .

VI. 1 In the Alchemy of Happiness , GhazaIi assigns this saying to the Caliph Omar.See Claude Field Alchemy of Happiness, London, 1910, p. 75.

2 ' Ali, cousin and son- in- law of the Pr ophet, the f our th Caliph in the Sunnit elist, but accounted by all Shi' ite sects to be the fi rst legitimate successor of

the Prophet.

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said, "Whoever thinks that without exertion he shall reach .the gardenhe is a (vain) desirer; and whoever thinks that by great exertion he shallarrive, he is an acquirer."3 And Hasan said, the mercy of Allah uponhim, "Seeking the garden without working is a serious fault." He alsosaid "The sign of the real thing is in giving up regard for the work, notin giving up the work." And the Prophet said, upon him be blessing and

peace, "The shrewd man is whoever judges himself, and works for w~atis after death, and the stupid man is the one whose soul follows Itspassionate desires, and (vainly) longs for Allah the Exalted."4

VII. 0 youth, how many nights you have remained awake re peatingscience and poring over books and have denied yourself sleep! I do notknow what the purpose of it was. If it was attaining worldly ends andsecuring its vanities and acquiring i ts dignit ies and surpassing your con-temporaries, and such like.t woe to you, and again woe; but if yourpurpose in it was the vitalizing of the Law of the Prophet, Allah bl~sshim and grant him peace, and the trainin_g_()LY()l!~_


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V !II. 0 youth, live as you will, you are mortal 11 and love whatyou w~ll, you will leave it 1 and do what you will, you will be rewardedaccordmgly 1 2

. IX. 0 youth: so what have you gained from the acquisition of theSCience of dogmatic theology and from disputation and medicine and"d' "dIwan~ an poetry and astronomy and prosody and syntax and mor-phology except squandering life? By the splendor of the Possessor ofsplendor, 1 .assuredly I saw in the gospel of 'Isa, 2 upon our prophe tand upon .hlm be peace, (that) he said: "From the moment in whichthe dead IS placed on the bier until he is placed on the edge of thetomb A11~h t he ~xalted in His majestys will ask him forty questions;the fi. rs t IS, he Will.say: '0 my servant, you have purified (yourself in)the Sight ?f mankt?d for y_ears and not for one hour have you purifier](yourself 111) my Sight, while every day I look in your heart so I saya : 'for what you do for another, while you are encompassed b~ my goodgif ts, ar e you no t de af , unhe eding?' "

X. 0 youth, knowle dge with out work is insanity a nd wor k withoutknowledge is vanity (lit. .. c annot be). Know that any science which doesnot ~emove ?,ou today far from apostasy, and does not carry you toobedience, will not remove you tomorrow from the fire of Hell, and ifyou do no! work today and do not amend the past days, you will saytomorrow 11 1 the day of resurrection, "Send us back, we will do goodwork other than what we were accustomed to do'" and it will be s id t

O th id ,a .0you, ou StUPI one, thence thou comest !

XI. 0 youth, let energy be in the spirit.t defeat in the soul' and

VI II. 1 Ab u-Bakr. is rep ort ed t o h~ ve sai d, " To every man sal ut ed i n th e mo rni ngamong hIS people, dea th IS nearer than the lach et of h is sh oes " n. y "Quarter II, Book 8, Section 2. . ~ y a ,

2 Qur:an (28:84) says: "Wh.ose doeth good shall have reward beyond itsmerits, and whoso deeth evil, t hey who do ev il s hal l b e r eward ed onlthey shall have wrought." y as

IX. 1 I fol l. ow t~e un-~mended tex t here. See a lso the Collat ions of A rabic Tex tsat t hi s po int , fol io 9 4a, l. 9.

2 !he Mos!em ,,;()rld knows J ~s.us under the name of "sa. In the Qur'an he15 called Isa , lsa s on of Mma?1: an d t he Mess iah. He i s al so des cri bed asthe W?rd o! G o~ (4:169) , a SPIrI t ~f G od (4:170; 19:31), P rophet (19:31,Illustrious In t hi s Wo rl d and t he Next (3 : 40), and On e of t ho sewh I";'near acces s t o God (3 : 40). 0 lu\ e

3 The commentary of Khadimi (published text C) explains this phrase:"ap parent ly wi thou t th e mean s of an ang el ".

X. 1 Qur'an 32 :12.

XI.1 S~e App en ded Not e ~ n The Wonders 0/ the Heart . Cf. t hi s wi th Paul 's

d iscu ss ion o f fl esh, mi nd and sp iri t, i n Ro m. 'j and 8.

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death in the body; for your abode is the grave and the people of thegraves are awaiting you at every moment; take care, beware lest ? , O U ,arrive without provision for the journey. And Au Bakr 2 the Veracioussaid, the pleasure of Allah upon him, "these bodies are a. cage for bir~&,{or} a stable for animals, so consider for yourself of which you are; Ifyou are of the lofty birds, then when you hear the roll [of the drum] j'return fly climbing upward until you sit in the highest towers of theGarden. As said the Apostle of Allah, upon him blessing and peace, "thethrone of the Compassionate shook at the death of Sa'id bin Mu'adh, thepleasure of Allah upon him."3 And seek refuge in Allah if you are ofthe beasts, as Allah the Exalted said, "These are like the cattle, but theygo more astray."4 So do not consider yourself safe from removal froma corner of the court (of Paradise) to the depths of the fire.

It is told that Hasan el-Basri, Allah the Exalted have mercy {uponhim}, was given a drink of cold water, and when he took the cup heswooned and the cup fell from his hand; and when he recovered he wasasked, ."What 1!appened, 0 Abu Sa'td ?" He replied, "I thought of thelonging of the people of the fire when they say to the people of the Garden,Pour upon us from the water [ior from what Allah has bestowed uponyou.} they replied that Allah had forbidden these for the infidels]."

'XII. 0 youth, if knowledge alone were sufficient for you and youdid not need work besides, then would his summons I-Is there any whoasks? and, is there any who seeks forgiveness? and, is there any whore pents ? -be lost w ithout prof it. It is related that a group of the Com-panions, the pleasure of Allah the Exalted upon them all, mentioned

XII.

2 Ab u-Bakr was t he f ath er of ' Ai sha, who m Mohammed marr ied w hen shewas nine. He was one of Mohammed's first followers among the Quraysh,and the fi rst Cal iph or s uccess or o f Mohammed. He is praised for thepur ity of h is l ife, and is cal led by Musl im writers, the Veracious.

3 Sa'id bin Mu'adh was a chief of the Beni Aus. He embraced Islam atMedinah and died of wounds received in battle of the Ditch AH 5. Thet rad iti on' i s a favor ite one, q uot ed by many of t he col lect ors of t radi ti on .

Ibn HanbaJ refers to it in the Musnad, v. iii, pp. 23f., 234, 295f., 316, :}27,349; v. iv, p. 352; v. vi, pp, 329 , 456 . The name is p re ferab ly .spelled Sa'd

b. Mu'az UI...v. J. .. . )4 Qur' dn 7 :178 .

1 The Qur'an says (40:62) "And your Lord saith, 'Call upon me-I willhearken unto you.''' And GhazaIi in the Ibya' (Book IV of Quarte~ I.A srar a l-Sa lab) says , "He d iffe rs f rom kings , for a ll H is unique majesty andg rand eu r, i n i ns pi ri ng Hi s cr eati on t o ask an d s up pl icate, for He s ays: 'Isthere any who supplicates? I will answer him !' and, 'Is there any whoas ks f orgi venes s? I will forgive him I'"


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'Abdallah bin 'Umar.z the pleasure of Allah upon him, before the Apostleof Allah, upon whom be blessing and peace. He said, "An excellent manhe, if only he would pray at night."3 And he said, upon him blessingand peace, to a man from his Companions, "Oh N. N. , do not increasesleep at night, for much sleep leaves its owner poor in the day ofresurrection. "

XIII. 0 youth; "and awake at night to pray; [as a supererogatory!service] for you"2-a command; "and at dawn they were seekingpardon'e -a praise; "and they who seek pardon at daybreak"5-aremembrance.e The Prophet, Allah the Exalted bless him and give himpeace, said,7 "Three voices Allah the Exalted loves: the voice of thecocks and the voice of.o ne who reads the Qur'an, and the voice of thoseseeking forgiveness in the early morning." And Sufyan al- Thowriv said :

2 'Abdallah b. 'Umar b. a l-Khattab, e ldest son of the Caliph 'Umar I, one ofthe most respected of the Companions. born before the Hijrah, d. A. 11. 93.Through hi s i ntimate intercourse with Muhammed he acquired an exactknowledge of the early period of Islam, and he is the' author of manytrditions.

3 The tradit ion is related by Ibn Hanbal (Musnad, v. ii, p. 146). The storyconcludes, "And (af ter that ) 'Abdallah slept very l it tl e a t night ."

XIII. Worship is of two classes-prescribed or obligatory.;. 'i l) and supererogatory

J;!_,;. Special virtue is supposed to at tach to t he performance of thesupererogatory prayers, since they show excessive zeal. Their performancesecures reward, although the omitting of them is allowable and not punished.Book IV of Quarter I, Chaper 7, of Ibya ', deals wi th SupererogatoryWorship. I retain the phrase in [ ] because it is found in most MSS., andis so in the Qur 'an.

Qur'an 17:81. 3 Qur'an 51 :18.

4 Book II of Quarter IV of I l}ya ' dea ls wi th the subjec ts of Pat ience and Praise

5 Qur 'an 3:15.

6 In Il}ya', Book IV of Quarter I, chapter 7 dealing wi th SupererogatoryWorship, Ghazali says: "During t he t ime between the morning worship

and t he appearance of the sun the most liked thing is the remembrance


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violence, though it has the form of worship, yet you sin.

XVI. 0 youth, so it is essential that your word and deed be in, agreement with the law, s ince knowledge and work without emula tion of

the law-giver is a delusion. And it is essential that you be not deceived-b y the ecstat ic utterances and vehement cries of the Siifis, l because walk-ing this road is by strugglez and cutting off the lusts of the soul andkil ling i ts desires with the sword of discipline.s not by vehement cries andidle words. And know that the loosened tongue+ and the veiled heartfilled with negligence and lust, is the sign of misery, so that if you do notkill the fleshly soul with s incere struggle, you will not quicken your heartby the lights of knowledge.S

And know that certa in of your quest ions which YO:1 asked me cannotbe answered in wri ting and in speech; if you attain that state you willknow what they 'Ire; and if not, knowing them is impossible; for they areknown by experlence,e and whatever is known by experience cannot bedescribed in words, as the sweetness of the sweet or the bitterness of thebit te r cannot be known except by experience. As i t is said that an impotentman wrote to a friend. "Tell me about the delight of sexual intercourse,how it is. " And he wrote in answer, "Oh N. N., I have accounted you only

XVI. 1 See App en de d Note o n The "Way" of the Moslem Mystic.2 God has said 'Those who strive to the utmost (jahadu) for Our sake, we

wi ll gui de them in to our ways' . ( Qur 'an 29:29). And the Pr

ayahuh al-walad al-muhibb en

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