The Book of Knowledge is the foundation of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, Imam al-Ghazali's magnum opus. In the Book of Knowledge, he defines knowledge, its relation to faith, theology, and jurisprudence. The book deals with the virtue of knowledge from both rational and traditional points of view. It elucidates the types of knowledge and the nature of people's obligation to seek knowledge. Imam al-Ghazali defines jurisprudence and theology as branches of Islamic knowledge, then outlines those fields that people incorrectly consider to be Islamic disciplines, and distinguishes the praiseworthy from the blameworthy. He describes in detail the perils of disputation and the reasons people engage in debate and dialectics. He also considers the conduct incumbent on the teacher and student, and warns of the perils that can befall those pursuing knowledge. Finally, Imam al-Ghazali discusses the virtues and categories of the intellect and the prophetic traditions related to it.

This book offers 24 pieces of valuable advice to seekers of knowledge.

• Touches on all aspects of life, from material wealth and the love of this life, to Islamic etiquette and acquiring knowledge.
• Illustrates his ideas throughout with relevant quotations from the Qur'an and Hadith, as well as poetry and logical examples.
• A clear analogy which demonstrates the need to cleanse ourselves of bad manners so that we can develop good characteristics.
• A powerful reminder of the importance of constantly identifying ourselves with the next life.

To counsel others is an easy matter, the difficulty is accepting advice since it is bitter for those who follow their own inclination and desire. They love

the forbidden from the depth of their hearts.

This is more applicable to seekers of knowledge and students of learning, those of them who are busy with the benefits of this world. They believe that mere abstract knowledge, without proper action, will rescue them. This is the belief of the philosophers.

Praise and Glory be to Allah, the Greatest of all. They do not know this much, that when they acquire knowledge, if they do not work according to it, the indictment against them is certain.

The Messenger of Allah said The person most severely punished on the Day of Judgement is the learned one who did not follow Allah's guidance and did not benefit from his knowledge.

In The Mysteries of Purification (Kitab asrar al tahara), the third of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'ulum al-din), Abu Hamid al-Ghazali explains the fundamentals of the purification that is necessary in order to perform the five daily prayers.

God has sent on earth prophets to teach men the prescription of happiness. This alchemy may be briefly described as turning away from the world to God, and its constituents are the knowledge of self., the knowledge of God, the knowledge of this world as it really is, and the knowledge of the next world as it really is.

This man, if ever any have deserved the name, was truly a 'divine, ' and he may be justly placed on a level with Origen, so remarkable was he for learning and ingenuity, and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful and worthy exposition of doctrine. All that is good, noble, and sublime that his great soul had compassed he bestowed upon Muhammadanism, and he adorned the doctrines of the Koran with so much piety and learning that, in the form given them by him, they seem, in my opinion, worthy the assent of Christians. Whatsoever was most excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle or in the Sufi mysticism he discreetly adapted to the Muhammadan theology; from every school he sought the means of shedding light and honour upon religion; while his sincere piety and lofty conscientiousness imparted to all his writings a sacred majesty. He was the first of Muhammadan divines. -- Dr. August Tholuck

Concerning Divine Wisdom in the Creation of Man is a selected translation and commentary of Imam al-Ghazali's treatise on the human anatomy and physiology. In it, al-Ghazali masterfully provides the seeker of religious knowledge a window into Allah's creativity through the Islamic study of anatomy.

The study of anatomy for the Muslim serves as a potential means to fulfill two distinct goals:

1. To increase one's attachment to the Creator through a deeper appreciation of the details of His creation
2. Or to become a professional with knowledge of diseases and cures

The broad audience of medical students, physicians, healthcare professionals, as well as non-medical seekers of religious knowledge will appreciate the details of human anatomy described by Imam al-Ghazali through an Islamic lens. Readers will also recognize that this discussion, though accurate from the perspective of modern medicine, reflects a distinctly different paradigm from that of modern anatomy and physiology.

Imam al-Ghazali asserts that there is a spiritual component to the human being, and that every detail of human anatomy is representative of Allah's qudra, His power, and His wisdom. In this text, al-Ghazali describes these spiritual purposes alongside the physical anatomy, with the same level of clarity and precision.

This edition includes Dr. Kamran Riaz's meticulous English translation side-by-side with al-Ghazali's original Arabic text. The translation is followed by over 150 endnotes from Dr. Riaz and Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia.

• Author: Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
• Translator: Dr. Kamran Riaz
• Commentary: Dr. Kamran Riaz & Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia
• Introduction by Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia
• Foreword by Dr. Ahsan Arozullah
• Languages: English and Arabic
• Hardback Edition: 146 pages
• Publisher: Imam Ghazali Publishing

Al-Mustasfa min 'ilm al-usul. (On Legal theory of Muslim Jurisprudence) is Imam Ghazali's work on the subject of Usul Al Fiqh. It is considered as one of the four great works in the subject.

The other three being,

1. The mu tazalite Abd al-Jabar (d. 415) al-Qadi's al- umad;

2. Abu al-Husain (d. 473) al-Basri's al-mu tamad(commentary on al- umad);

3. Al-Imam al-Haramain abu al-Ma ali (d. 478) Juywani's al-Burhan

Ghazali's approach to usul al-fiqh, as articulated in this last and greatest work of Law, al-Mustafa, is based on the premise that, in essence, this science is knowledge of how to extract ahkam (rules) from the Shari'ah sources. (As for the science of fiqh, it concerns itself particularly with the Shari'ah rules themselves which have been established in order to qualify the acts of the locus of obligation, man.)

Accordingly, Ghazali views it as imperative that any discourse on usul focus on three essential elements: the ahkam; the adilla (sources); and the means by which rules are extracted from these sources, which ultimately includes examination of the qualifications of the extractor, namely, the mujtahid.

In this enlightening book Abu Hamid al-Ghazali explains the inner and outer secrets of the various actions of worship performed by Muslims. He explains the actions involved in the external elements of worship and outlines which of these actions are obligatory and which are sunna. He then discusses the inner requirements of the worship - the practice of the heart - and presents practical solutions for a distracted heart. This easy-to-read yet comprehensive work covers a range of topics from the essential outer aspects of how to worship, to the inner aspects of the state of the heart during worship and how to humble oneself completely. Being a practical yet profound book, this book is an essential reading for Muslims seeking a deeper understanding of worship and for anyone interested in understanding the meaning and place of worship in Islam.