Al-Ghazali letter to Sultan Sanjar Seljuki
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~840 words · 4 passages
Cite this work
- APAAl-Ghazali. (n.d.). Al-Ghazali letter to Sultan Sanjar Seljuki. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letter-to-sultan-sanjar-seljuki
- MLAAl-Ghazali. "Al-Ghazali letter to Sultan Sanjar Seljuki." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letter-to-sultan-sanjar-seljuki.
- ChicagoAl-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali letter to Sultan Sanjar Seljuki. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letter-to-sultan-sanjar-seljuki.
What it is about
A letter to Sultan Sanjar, the most powerful Seljuk of his day.
Context and history
The situation is extraordinary: a man who has renounced honours and his chair writes to the sovereign about justice and the ruler's responsibility before God. It belongs to the 'mirrors for princes' tradition, but written by someone who no longer had anything to gain. 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.
May Allah bless you with the dominion and grant you a kingdom in paradise before which the kingdoms of the whole world stand insignificant. The borders of this earthly kingdom cannot extend beyond the East and West. Generally speaking, the average life of a man on this planet rarely exceeds the age of a hundred years. In comparison to the kingdom of heaven, which is so vast, the whole world appears to be but a dust particle. May it please your most excellent Majesty and I realize that for an ambitious man it is very hard to lead a pious life but as I find you very honest and careful, I would have you do this out of wisdom and kindness to yourself. Our Holy Prophet, praise and peace be upon him said: "A day spent administering justice by a monarch who fears Allah is equal to sixty years spent by a pious man in devotion and prayers." If you would ponder over the nature of this world, it would appear dreadfully contemptible. Some mystics have said: "If this world could be likened to a picture which is unstable and frail, and the next world could be compared to a pitcher which is unbreakable and durable, wise men would certainly prefer the latter to the former. As a matter of fact, the reality of this quote otherwise. This world is a pitcher made of earth, while the next is a pitcher of gold. Wouldn't you condemn the folly in a man who holds the former to be superior to the latter. If you like a good life and fix your dearest hopes on Paradise, a day of your life would be worth sixty years spent by others in worship, and Allah would certainly open to you sources of happiness to which you are a stranger.