Imam Al-Ghazali's Ihya' 'Ulum Al-Deen
Its Praise In Verse
Indeed, Sayyidunal Imam al-Habib Mawlana al-Haddad has composed a whole qasida in praise of Ihya' 'Ulum al-Deen in which he also extols his ancestor Shaykh Abubakr al-'Aydaroos, who as already noted, took to the Ihya' with such devotion. This qasida is in his Diwan (Collected Eulogies) titled Ad-Durru'l Manzun Li Dhawi'l 'Uqul Wa'l Fuhum (Poetic Pearls For Discerning and Understanding Minds, p.315). Here it is in transliteration and translation.
Bi Ihya'-i 'Ulum-id-Deen-i tuhyi qulubanaa
Wa yukshafu 'annaa ghammunaa wa kurubunaa
Kitaabun hawa'l 'ilmulladhee huwa naafi'un
Muallifuhu ustaadhunaa wa tabibunaa
Kitaabun hawaa 'ilmal kitabi wa sunnatin
Wa maa qaalahu awwahunaa wa muneebunaa
Mawaareethu aslaafin lanaa wa a'immatin
Madhaw wa 'alaa aathaarihim mustajeebunaa
Idhaa nushirat a'laamuhu wa 'uloomuhu
Wa absaruhaa 'allaamunaa wa museebunaa
Tahaqqaqa anna'l 'ilma feehi bi asrihi
Wa lam yustarib fee mithli haadhaa areebunaa
Wa qad atnab ash-Shaykh u'l Imami biwasfihi
Abu'l makramati'l 'Aydaroos-i habibunaa
Wa kam ghairihi min 'aarifin wa muhaqqiqin
Wa habrin 'aleemin wa'l Ilaahu Haseebunaa
Wa tammat wa Sallillahu fee kulli sa'atin
'Ala'l Mustafa'l Haadee Shafee'i dhunubinaa
With "The Revival of the Religious Sciences" you rejuvenate our hearts
And remove our grief and sorrow
It is a book containing useful knowledge
Written by our teacher and physician
A book with the knowledge of the Qur'an and the Sunnah
And what he said makes us lamentful and penitent
It is the heritage of our ancestors and Imams
Who passed away and whose footprints we follow
When he unfurls his flags and publishes his knowledge
The best who behold it are our learned and rightly guided
It has been proved that all knowledge is in it
And our people of wisdom have no doubt in it
And its qualities were praised beyond measure by the Shaykh the Imam
The father of miracles our beloved al-'Aydaroos himself
How many such others are there, possessors of direct knowledge
Certifiers of truth, most knowledgeable scholars, and God is sufficient for us
And I conclude by invoking blessings of Allah in each and every moment
On (Muhammad) Mustafa the guide, the intercessor for our sins.
There are various levels of learning in this qasida that call for more study. For example, Mawlana al-Haddad's use of the words "awwah" and "muneeb" in the third verse remind us of the following verse of the Holy Qur'an Kareem.
Inna Ibrahima la haleemun awwaahun muneeb
No doubt, Ibrahim is forbearing, lamentful, penitent (11:75).
In his sharh (explanation) of the Ihya', al-Habib 'Abdulqadir al-'Aydaroos quotes two qasidas on the Ihya', one by Shaykh 'Ali bin Abibakr and the other by Shaykh al-Imam al-Muhaddith Abu'l 'Abbas al-Aqlishi, one of the students of Imam al-Ghazali, Naf'anAllahu bihim.
The qasida by Shaykh 'Ali bin Abibakr has 23 couplets all rhyming in the letter "qaaf", three of which are:
'Alayka bi Ihya' i'l 'Ulum-i wa lubbihaa
Wa asraarihaa kam qad hawaa min daqaaiq
Wa kam min lateefaatin lidhi'l lubbi munhalin
Wa kam min maleehaatin sabat lubba haadhiq
Kitabun jalilun lam yusannif qablahu
Wa laa ba'dahu mithlun lahu fi't taraaiq
You must have with you The Revival of the Sciences and its kernel
How many encompass with its secrets such perfections
And how many are the subtleties that spring forth from it to hearts that receive
And how many are the beauties that conquered the hearts of the intelligent
A majestic book whose author has no comparison
Before him or after him in the sacred quest
The qasida by Shaykh Abu'l 'Abbas al-Aqlishi is from his book An-Najm wa'l Kawaakib (The Star And the Galaxy).
Abaa Hamid anta'l mukhassas bi'l majdi
Wa antalladhee 'allamtanaa Sunan u'r Rushdi
Wada'ta lana'l Ihya' tuhyee nufusanaa
Wa tunqidhunaa min ta'atin naadhighi'l murdee
Fa rub'u 'ibaadaatihi wa 'aadaatihi'l latee
Yu'aaqibuhaa kadduri nazmun fi'l 'iqdi
Wa thaalithuhaa fi'l muhlikaati wa innahu
La munjinn minal halki'l mubarrahi wa'l bu'di
Wa raabi'uhaa fi'l munjiyaati wa innahu
Liyusrihu bi'l arwaahi fee jannati'l khuldi
Wa minhaa ibtihaaju liljawaarihi zaahirin
Wa minhaa salaahun li'l qulubi minal hiqdi
O Abu Hamid your dignity is very special
For sure, you are the one who taught us
about the path of guidance (of the Prophet)
You gave us the Ihya' to revive ourselves
And to save us from obeying shaytaan
The first two volumes about worship and the ethics of daily life
Appear to have been composed like a necklace of pearls
And its third volume about ways to perdition
Saves us from damnation and ex-communication
And its fourth volume about ways to salvation
Lets the souls soar in paradise for ever
In it is happiness that manifests openly on one's self
As well as inner purification of the heart of malice
We find the following couplet on Imam al-Ghazali in the biographical dictionary of Salah al-Deen Khalil al-Safadi (passed away 764 A.H/1363 C.E).
Because of him the lame walked briskly
And the songless through him burst into melody
(Translation by Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad, in The Rememberance of Death, p. xv).
Shaykh Uways bin Muhammad al-Barawi al-Qadiri Naf'anAllahu bih does not fail to mention Imam al-Ghazali in his Tawassul.
Wa bi'l Imam-i Hujjatu'l Islam-i
Huwa Muhammad ubnu Muhammad ibni Muhammad-a
And the Imam The Proof of Islam
He is Muhammad son of Muhammad son of Muhammad
The Urdu speaking Muslims love to quote 'Allamah Iqbal's lament about the present state of the Muslim ummah so as to encourage them to put both body and soul in their worship to achieve spiritual excellence.
Reh gaee rasmay azan
Ruhay Bilali na rahee
Falsafaa reh gayaa
Talkeenay Ghazali na rahee
The tradition of azan remained
The spirit which Sayyidina Bilal infused into it vanished
Philosophy remained
The exhortations of Imam al-Ghazali vanished
One approach that the 'ulama (the learned) have taken is to directly praise the Ihya' in a qasida. Another is to summarise its essential message in a qasida. Sayyidunal Imam Mawlana al-Haddad has done it both ways in his Diwan (Collected Eulogies). The opening verse of the qasida by Mawlana al-Haddad (in Diwan, p. 317) that captures the basic teachings of the Ihya' is:
'Alayka bi-taqwallahi fi's sirri wa'l 'alan
Wa qalbaka nazzifhu mina'r rijsi wa'd daran
You must have fear of Allah in secret and in open
And your heart clean it of dirt and rust
Mawlana al-Haddad conveys in verse what Imam al-Ghazali teaches in prose to form an indescribably rich mosaic. May Allah Ta'ala make us benefit from them, Aameen.
Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal Wakeel
Allah is Sufficient for us and (He is) the most excellent Trustee (3:173)
Imam Al-Ghazali's Ihya' 'Ulum Al-Deen
He Adopted The Sufi Path
In Ta'reef i'l Ihya' bi Fadhaail i'l Ihya (Introducing "The Revival" with the Grace of "The Revival") of al-Habib 'AbdulQadir al-'Aydaroos, we get the biography of Imam al-Ghazali. He was born in Tus, Iran in 450 A.H/1058 C.E. His father was a dervesh who advised his friend to spend his wealth on the education of his sons Muhammad and Ahmad after he passed away. This his friend did after the demise of Imam al-Ghazali's father in 465 A.H. He studied under the Imam al-Haramayn, Abu'l Ma'ali al-Juwayni in Nishapur until 478 A.H when he moved to Baghdad. There he proved his brilliance and in 484 A.H was appointed professor at the Madrasatun Nizamiyyah, the highest scholarly position and the most coveted honour at that time.
He explains in another of his books titled Al-Munqidh Min al-Dhalaal (Deliverance from Error) that he had mastered all the zahiri (manifest) knowledge like shari'a (sacred law) and fiqh (jurisprudence) as well as what the philosophers had to say, but he yearned to achieve yaqin (certitude). To acquire this, he decided in Dhul Qa'da 488 A.H to entirely give up his position, status and fame and to adopt the life of a dervesh. He had realised that achieving personal religious experience was the only way to gain certitude (yaqin). He supplicated to Allah to make it easy for him to renounce the world (dunya) and Allah accepted his dua. He went for Hajj and Ziyara to Makkah and Madina as well as to Bayt ul Maqaddas and to Damascus where he went into khalwa (spiritual retreat) in the zawiya (khaniqa or spiritual lodge) of the Jami Mosque. Since then, the zawiya has been named after him.
He writes that he obtained many benefits in khalwa (spiritual seclusion) but the one thing he would like to convey to people for their benefit is his realisation that the only true path to Allah is the path of the sufis, their spiritual journey is the best journey, and their character is the purest character. He says that if all the intelligence of the thinkers and the wisdom of all the wise people and the knowledge of all the 'ulama who know the secrets of shari'ah were to be put together, they would not be worth exchanging for the Sufi path because the Sufi path is lit with the Nur-i Mishkaat-un-Nubuwwah (light from the niche of Prophethood). He set himself the task of cleaning his heart of everything except Allah. We say Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great) to begin salah. A sufi begins by saying Allah Akbar to clean his heart of everything except Allah for his whole life. Once he says Allahu Akbar, he gives up his ikhtiyaar (choice) and surrenders himself completely to Allah in worshipful service, to achieve the stage of fana fillah, all the while following the perfect example of our beloved, blessed and noble Prophet Muhammad Mustafa Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam.
The Ihya' and some of his most well-known kutub (books) were written after he adopted the sufi path. Allah had obviously accepted his father's dua (supplication) to give his sons 'ilm un nafi' (useful knowledge).
Once in a while, he talks of spiritual experiences in the Ihya'. For example, in Vol. III, p.20, Ajaib al-Qalb, Bayan al-farq bayn al-ilham wa'l ta'allum ("The Wonders of the Heart: An Exposition of the Difference Between Inspiration and Learning"), he writes:
"If his aspiration is true, his ambition pure and his concentration good, so that his appetites do not pull at him, and he is not distracted by the hadith an-nafs (discourse of the soul meaning egotism of the soul) towards the attachments of the world, the gleams of the Truth will shine in his heart. At the outset, this will resemble a brief, inconstant shaft of lightening, which then returns, perhaps after a delay. If it returns, it may be fleeting or firm; and if it is firm (thabit), it may or may not endure for some time. States such as these may come upon each other in succession, or only one type may be present. In this regard, the stages of God's saints (awliya) are as innumerable as their outer attributes and qualities". (Translation by Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad, in Al-Ghazali on Disciplining The Soul, p. lxvii-lxviii).
Who else can give you such detailed insights?
He passed away on 14 Jamadil Akhir 505 A.H/1111 C.E. 'Allamah ibn al-Jawzi narrates in his book 'Abdul Mamaat (The Servants of Allah Who Passed Away) that on Monday early in the morning, Imam al-Ghazali got up from his bed, performed the morning prayer, and then sent a man to bring him his kafan (burial shroud). When it was brought, he lifted it upto his eyes and said: "Lord's Command is to be obeyed". Saying this, he lied facing the qibla and breathed his last.
Naf'anAllahu bih, May Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala make us benefit from him, Aameen.
It is reported in the Sharh of al-Habib 'Abdul Qadir al-'Aydaroos that after Imam al-Ghazali passed away, Shaykh Shihab ud-Deen Ahmad az-Zabidi, saw one day while he was sitting, that the gates of heaven opened and some malaika (angels) descended. A certain grave opened and a person came out whom they clothed in a green robe, and they ascended with him on a conveyance, passed the seven heavens and beyond sixty veils till they were lost out of sight. When he asked who he was, he was answered: "This is the Imam al-Ghazali".
Naf'anAllahu bih, May Allah make us benefit from him, Aameen.
Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal Wakeel
Allah is Sufficient for us and (He is) the most excellent Trustee (3:173)
Imam Al-Ghazali's Ihya' 'Ulum Al-Deen
The Ihya' is Encyclopedic
The Ihya' is truly encyclopedic. It is not just one book but consists of forty books in four volumes as follows:
Volume I: On Worship ('Ibaadaat)
Book 1: Knowledge
Book 2: Foundations of the Articles of Faith
Book 3: The Secrets of Purity
Book 4: The Secrets of Ritual Prayer
Book 5: The Secrets of Zakah
Book 6: The Secrets of Fasting
Book 7: The Secrets of the Pilgrimage
Book 8: The Proprieties of Qur'anic Recitation
Book 9: Invocations and Supplications
Book 10: The Arrangements of Regular Invocations and Division of the Night Vigil
Volume II: On The Proprieties of Daily Life ('Aadaat)
Book 1: The Proprieties of Eating
Book 2: The Proprieties of Marriage
Book 3: The Proprietes of Acquisition and Earning a Livelihood
Book 4: The Lawful and Unlawful
Book 5: The Proprieties of Friendship, Brotherhood and Companionship
Book 6: The Proprieties of Seclusion
Book 7: The Proprieties of Travelling
Book 8: The Proprieties of Audition and Ecstacy
Book 9: Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil
Book 10: The Proprieties of Living as Exemplified in the Virtues of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Volume III: The Ways To Perdition (Muhlikaat)
Book 1: Expounding the Wonders of the Heart
Book 2: Disciplining the Soul, Refining the Character and Curing the Sicknesses of the Heart
Book 3: Breaking the Two Desires
Book 4: Harms of the Tongue
Book 5: Condemnation of Anger, Rancour and Envy
Book 6: Condemnation of the World
Book 7: Condemnation of Miserliness and of the Love of the World
Book 8: Condemnation of Status and Ostentation
Book 9: Condemnation of Pride and Conceit
Book 10: Condemnation of Self-Delusion
Volume IV: On The Ways To Salvation (Munjiyaat)
Book 1: Repentance
Book 2: Patience and Thanksgiving
Book 3: Fear and Hope
Book 4: Poverty and Abstinence
Book 5: The Unity of God and Reliance Upon Him
Book 6: Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment
Book 7: Intention, Truthfulness and Sincerity
Book 8: Holding Vigil and Self Examination
Book 9: Meditation
Book 10: The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife
Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal Wakeel
Allah is Sufficient for us and (He is) the most excellent Trustee (3:173)
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