Al-Ghazali letters to Mujir-ud-Deen
- 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:
- ~6,110 words · 29 passages
Cite this work
- APAAl-Ghazali. (n.d.). Al-Ghazali letters to Mujir-ud-Deen. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letters-to-mujir-ud-deen
- MLAAl-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali letters to Mujir-ud-Deen. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letters-to-mujir-ud-deen.
- ChicagoAl-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali letters to Mujir-ud-Deen. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/al-ghazali/al-ghazali-letters-to-mujir-ud-deen.
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
Letters to Mujir al-Din, on the conduct owed by those holding office.
Context and history
In the same register as the rest: moral counsel to men of power, written without flattery. 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.
Allah says: "Respond to your Lord before that Day arrives which cannot be turned back, for on that Day there shall be neither shelter, nor denial.. But if they turn away, We have not sent you (Prophet Muhammad) to be their guardian." Koran Chapter 42 verses 47-48. That which cannot be avoided is death which, every moment, hangs over ones head. When it comes one will be sorry, but ones sorrow will not be of benefit, and one will make excuses, but no excuse will be accepted and one will cry for help, but no help with be forthcoming. The wise man, par excellence, is one who by renouncing desires of the flesh does not fall into evil, and remains prepared for death every moment and collects goods that will accompany him on his last journey, and one cannot collect goods for ones last journey unless one retires into oneself. For nowhere with more quietness or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when one has within oneself such thoughts that by looking into them one is immediately in perfect tranquility and tranquility is nothing other than the good ordering of the mind. When one lays aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason and all hypocrisy and self love, one becomes strong enough to serve the sufferings of humanity. Every town and city in the country has turned into a battlefield where the strong wrestle the weak and the rich exploit and tyrannize the poor. The title in Paradise of whosoever helps the poor will be Mujirud - Daulah. Titles come down from heaven. As Prophet Jesus once said: "In truth, he to whom Allah has granted knowledge of religion and who acts thereon himself, instructing others will attain a high station in the Hereafter."