Al-Ghazali letter to Khwaja Imam Abbasi
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~840 words · 4 passages
Cite this work
- APAAl-Ghazali. (n.d.). Al-Ghazali letter to Khwaja Imam Abbasi. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letter-to-khwaja-imam-abbasi
- MLAAl-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali letter to Khwaja Imam Abbasi. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letter-to-khwaja-imam-abbasi.
- ChicagoAl-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali letter to Khwaja Imam Abbasi. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letter-to-khwaja-imam-abbasi.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
A letter to Khwaja Imam Abbasi.
Context and history
A short piece from the correspondence with men of religion. It comes from the Fada'il al-anam, the collection of al-Ghazali's Persian correspondence, and appears in the catalogue as a separate piece. **It is none of his major works**: for those, see The Alchemy of Happiness and The Confessions of al-Ghazzali, also here. The original is Persian; this is an English translation.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
The universe has flowed out from Him. It is a Divine emanation and there is also a cosmic process of "returning" back to the Eternal One. The only possible approach therefore, is the way of negation. The stage of obeying the commands of Allah comes next. The abandonment of forbidden things consists of three things. One, the heart should be purified of all inner impurities. Two, we should improve our conduct so that other men may be improved. Three, thankfulness for the blessings of comfort in the limbs and organs of the body is to use them in carrying out the commands of Allah and in restraining ourselves from forbidden things and also from evil and sinful acts. One should always weigh one's words and deeds. Wisdom means the intelligent weighing of both sides of a situation and the finding out of the right middle course between two extremes. It is, therefore, very important that we should subject ourselves to the verdict of a balance and discover whether our scale will rise or fall. When one's self comes across objects of pleasure, it naturally insists that they should be obtained for the time being and that they would be abandoned next time. The best course left open to us in this condition is that we should ask our self to abstain this time from gaining the objects and that it would be more advisable to obtain them next time. We should take our self no more seriously than it takes us. We have the right to restore to a sort of personal reprisal. In this way we return to the right quarter jest for jest, we play the trick that has been played on us. If we cannot practice this continuously, at least we can make ourselves as familiar with it as possible. It is the recollection of Allah, the thought of Allah, which in all places and circumstances make us see Him present. Let us commune respectfully and lovingly with Him and fill ourselves with the desire and affection of Him.