Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī

“ Can you doubt then, that that spirit which had chosen the glare and glitter of the world for its beloved object, and had been absorbed heart and soul in the occupations of the world—when in a moment of time, all that which it had been gaining day after day, which it had obtained with great perseverance and industry, and which it had been coveting and striving for during many years, is taken out of its hands by death, can you doubt that it will be the prey of endless sorrow and grief, of abundant mortification, regret and remorse? ”

“ Our Holy Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, said: "Whosoever is granted the maximum of knowledge, but is deprived of proper guidance, stands poles apart from Allah."
The guiding knowledge leads you from the creatures to the Creator, from this world to the next, from pride to humility, from greed to piety, from hypocrisy to sincerity, from doubt to truth, from the slavery of those who live a life of luxury to the doctrines of the mystics. Many people think that he who is busy acquiring religious knowledge also walks along the true path. ”

“ As your Excellency invites me to a place of new and unimaginable possibilities of development, in the like manner, I invite your Excellency to the attainment of the elevation of your life and its spiritual progress. When you rise from the platform of commoners, you will be made to plunge into one of the oceans of favors and kindness and mercy, and will be clothed with the robes of light and Divine secrets and rare knowledge of the Divine.
The Holy Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, said: "When a man treats you with kindness reciprocate with a better kindness." ”

“ If a culprit, whose death sentence is revoked by the king, looks to the pen as his deliverer, will it not be sheer ignorance and ingratitude? Surely, the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, in fact, the whole universe is like a pen in the hand of an omnipotent dictator. When this kind of belief takes hold of the mind, Satan is disappointed in covertly tempting man, and uses subtle means, insinuating thus: “Do you not see that the king has full power either to kill or favour you, and though the pen, in the above simile, is not your deliverer, the writer certainly is”? ”

“ While he is in this world a man's condition with regard to the Vision of God is like that of a lover who should see his Beloved's face in the twilight, while his clothes are infested with hornets and scorpions, which continually torment him. But should the sun arise and reveal his Beloved's face in all its beauty, and the noxious vermin leave off molesting him, then the lover's joy will be like that of God's servant, who, released from the twilight and the tormenting trials of this world, beholds Him without a veil. ”

“ Love is like a tree rooted in the ground sending its shoots above the starry heaven; its fruits are found in the heart, the tongue and the limbs of the lover-in fact his whole self is a witness to love just as smoke is a sure sign of fire burning. ”

“ As you cannot rid yourself of these vanities, it is too late to do so now, then collect good deeds for the journey to the next world and no good is superior than your effort to eliminate the poverty and cruelty meted out by hands to the suffering of the poor.
As soon as possible and so far as it lies within your power you should spare no pain to ensure that corruption, nepotism, injustice, bribery, cruelty and other ills are completely wiped out. The people are the glory of our kingdom and the source of its wealth. ”

“ And the more the mind is noble the more there will be a desire for the second kind of delights. The simple will delight in dainty dishes, but a great mind leaving them aside will endanger his life and his honour and reputation from the jaws of death. Even sensuous delights present an amusing example of preference. An expert in chess while absorbed in playing will not come to his meals though hungry and repeatedly summoned, because the pleasure of check-mating his adversary is greater to him than the object of his appetite. ”

“ The sensible world is a shadow and an imperfect image of the intelligible mind, and worldly virtue and vice are stages in the development of the soul in attaining harmony, entangled as it is in the world. If you care to think more deeply, you will arrive at the conclusion that in all things He had wonder which shows that He is One. Let us go a step further and we find that this very fact can be explained more appropriately by giving the example of the Sustainer of the universe whose presence is reflected in every particle, but He is Invisible. ”

“ Though you do not feel pity towards yourself, let me look at yourself with the look of mercy.
You amuse yourself with drinking wine that blinds your eyes and heart to your duties toward your people, and an understanding of the laws of human nature. ”

“ Hope with fear should be the guide of love. Some Sufis say that he who worships God without fear is liable to err and fall; he who worships him with fear turns gloomy and is cast off, but he who lovingly worships him with hope and fear is admitted by him and favoured. Therefore lovers should fear him and those who fear him should love him. Even excess of his love contains an inkling of fear: it is like salt in food. For human nature cannot bear the white heat of His love, if it is not chastened and tempered by the fear of the Lord. ”

“ This Vision will not be shared alike by all who know, but their discernment of it will vary exactly as their knowledge. God is one, but He will be seen in many different ways, just as one object is reflected in different ways by different mirrors, some showing it straight, and some distorted, some clearly and some dimly. A mirror may be so crooked as to make even a beautiful form appear misshapen, and a man may carry into the next world a heart so dark and distorted that the sight which will be a source of peace and joy to others will be to him a source of misery. ”

“ Think of your subjects, broken in body, groaning under poverty and hunger. Their limbs tremble under them. Long anxiety has reduced them to skeletons, while you lead a life of luxury and indifference. If any thing can ruin Khurasan and Iraq as well, it will be because of such ministers who have been put in charge of affairs.
Do not let any feeling of pride withhold you from acknowledging to yourself just how grievously and fatally you have erred. There is not one statesman amongst us who has either wisdom or virtue to set things right. ”

“ Shame upon thee, O soul, for thy overweening love of the world! If thou dost not believe in heaven or hell, at any rate thou believes in death, which will snatch from thee all worldly delights and cause thee to feel the pangs of separation from them, which will be intenser just in proportion as thou hast attached thyself to them. Why art thou mad after the world? ”

“ The body, so to speak, is simply the riding-animal of the soul, and perishes while the soul endures. The soul should take care of the body, just as a pilgrim on his way to Mecca takes care of his camel; but if the pilgrim spends his whole time in feeding and adorning his camel, the caravan will leave him behind, and he will perish in the desert. ”

“ The heart of man has been so constituted by the Almighty that, like a flint, it contains a hidden fire which is evoked by music and harmony, and renders man beside himself with ecstasy. These harmonies are echoes of that higher world of beauty which we call the world of spirits; they remind man of his relationship to that world, and produce in him an emotion so deep and strange that he himself is powerless to explain it. The effect of music and dancing is deeper in proportion as the natures on which they act are simple and prone to emotion ”

“ Since you have learned, O inquirer after the divine mysteries, the dignity and nobleness of the heart, know also that this precious jewel has been confided to you and wrapped in a veil, that you may preserve it from too close a contact with the world, and may lead it to perfection and to its place of rest, making it a partaker of manifest happiness in the eternal mansions. ”

“ But on the other hand what hast thou done to secure eternal salvation in the mansions of the future world, to be delivered from misery and reach unchanging felicity? If thou art not able to endure the least pain or toil for religion in this world, how wilt thou be able to bear in the future world both material and spiritual torments, together with the torments of the imagination? ”

“ In the house of reunion you will have reached an eternal rest, where no evil enters, a joy where no pain mingles, a strength without infirmity, a knowledge without doubt, and a vision of the Lord, the enjoyment of which shall be endless.
If the heart strive not after its own glory and dignity, but inclines to the cares of the world and sensual pleasures, no creature is more feeble, infirm and contemptible than man. At one time he will be the slave of disappointment and melancholy, at another suffering from disease and misfortune ”

“ Since then the beauty of every beloved object is derived from his light, and that the beauty of every thing that is beautiful is from him, it follows that he who is wise, ought not to permit himself to be deceived by the soul which passes away, and to be attracted to that beauty which is fleeting, but that he should turn to the contemplation of that painter who is full of ail perfection, and of that maker with whom is no change, and earnestly seek after the vision of his beauty with his whole heart. ”

“ That which we have designated as external, refers to that faculty of the heart by which the sciences of geometry, medicine, astronomy, numbers, the science of law and all the arts are understood; and although the heart is a thing which cannot be divided, still the knowledge of all the world exists in it. All the world indeed, in comparison with it, is as a grain compared with the sun, or as a drop in the ocean.- In a second, by the power of thought, the soul passes from the abyss to the highest heaven, and from the east to the west. ”

“ He, in whose heart the love of God has prevailed over all else, will derive more joy from this vision than he in whose heart it has not so prevailed; just as in the case of two men with equally powerful eyesight, gazing on a beautiful face, he who already loves the possessor of that face will rejoice in beholding it more than he who does not. For perfect happiness mere knowledge is not enough, unaccompanied by love, and the love of God cannot take possession of a man's heart till it be purified from love of the world, which purification can only be effected by abstinence and austerity. ”

“ The world resembles those imposters, who decorate themselves externally and conceal the sorrows and curse they bring, while the ignorant, looking only at the outside, are fascinated and- deluded. The world resembles the old woman who arrayed herself in silk stuffs and flowered brocades, and with ornaments, and covered her head with a beautiful embroidered veil, so that those who should see her from a distance, and notice only her garments and her form, might be deceived. ”

“ The men of this world, by their supreme love of the world, have made it to be their beloved object, and as long as they are in the world it is a real paradise to them; but as soon as death comes and separates them from their beloved, their state is a real hell to them. Believers, by loving God and the future world, have made them their best beloved, and as long as they are separated from them they are in hell. But as soon as this separation is annihilated, and they leave this world and go to the other, having attained their chief purpose and desire, they are in paradise in reality. ”

“ If men refuse to recognize their own dignity, if they neglect their duty and prefer the qualities of devils and beasts of prey, they will also possess, in the future world, the qualities of beasts of prey, and will be judged with the devils. Our refuge is in God!
Know, thou seeker of divine mysteries! that there is no end to the wonderful operations of the heart. For, to pursue the same subject, the dignity of the heart is of two kinds; one kind is by means of knowledge, and the other through the exertion of divine power. Its dignity by means of knowledge is also of two kinds. ”

“ It may be compared to a lamp carried about within a cottage, the light of which falls upon the walls wherever it goes. The heart is the wick of this lamp, and when the supply of oil is cut off for any reason, the lamp dies. Such is the death of the animal soul. ”

“ Just as no one knows the real nature of God but God Himself, so no one knows the real nature of a prophet but a prophet. Nor is this to be wondered at, as in every-day matters we see that it is impossible to explain the charm of poetry to one whose ear is insusceptible of cadence and rhythm, or the glories of colour to one who is stone-blind. ”

“ A soul which allows its lower faculties to dominate the higher is as one who should hand over an angel to the power of a dog or a Mussalman to the tyranny of an unbeliever. The cultivation of demonic, animal, or angelic qualities results in the production of corresponding characters, which in the Day of Judgment will be manifested in visible shapes, the sensual appearing as swine, the ferocious as dogs and wolves, and the pure as angels. The aim of moral discipline is to purify the heart from the rust of passion and resentment, till, like a clear mirror, it reflects the light of God. ”

“ Know, beloved, that we cannot understand the future world, until we know what death is: and we cannot know what death is, until we know what life is: nor can we understand what life is, until we know what the spirit is.... ”