Al-Ghazali Quotes

There is the world for you. Beauty, true beauty, is intangible. It is in the eye of the beholder. Something that we can lose at any moment, and the more you examine it, the more illusive it becomes. True happiness is virtue, and virtue is predicated on knowledge and righteous conduct.

if man’s love for himself be necessary, then his love for Him through whom, first his coming-to-be, and second, his continuance in his essential being with all his inward and outward traits, his substance and his accidents, occur must also be necessary. Whoever is so besotted by his fleshy appetites as to lack this love neglects his Lord and Creator. He possesses no authentic knowledge of Him; his gaze is limited to his cravings and to things of sense.

For those endowed with insight there is in reality no object of love but God, nor does anyone but He deserve love

We attest that He is the Willer of all things that are, the ruler of all originated phenomena; there does not come into the visible or invisible world anything meager or plenteous, small or great, good or evil, or any advantage or disadvantage, belief or unbelief, knowledge or ignorance, success or failure, increase or decrease, obedience or disobedience, except by His will. What He wills is, and what He does not, will not; there is not a glance of the eye, nor a stray thought of the heart that is not subject to His will. He is the Creator, the Restorer, the Doer of whatsoever He wills. There is none that rescinds His command, none that supplements His decrees, none that dissuades a servant from disobeying Him, except by His help and mercy, and none has power to obey Him except by His will.

How can even the lowest mind, if he reflects at all the marvels of this earth and sky, the brilliant fashioning of plants and animals, remain blind to the fact that this wonderful world with its settled order must have a maker to design, determine and direct it?

There is no denying existence itself. Something must exist and anyone who says nothing exists at all makes a mockery of sense and necessity. The proposition that there is no denying being itself, then, is a necessary premise. Now this Being which has been admitted in principle is either necessary or contingent… What this means is that a being must be self-sufficient or dependent… From here we argue: If the being the existence of which is conceded be necessary, then the existence of a necessary Being is established. If, on the other hand, its existence is contingent, every contingent being depends on a necessary Being; for the meaning of its contingency is that its existence and non-existence are equally possible. Whatever has such a characteristic cannot have its existence selected for without a determining or selecting agent. This too is necessary. So from these necessary premises the existence of a necessary Being is established.

The man who makes his religion a means to the gaining of this world, will lose both worlds alike; whereas the man who gives up this world for the sake of religion, will get both worlds alike.

(إعمل لدنياك بقدر مقامك فيها، و اعمل لآخرتك بقدر بقائك فيها، و اعمل لله بقدر حاجتك إليه، و اعمل للنّار بقدر صبرك عليها).

make a kindness complete: thinking little of it, doing it promptly, and keeping it out of sight.

The second division concerns the definition of the path of advancing towards God (may He be exalted!). This is by devoting oneself to the service of God as He (may He be exalted!) said, “Devote yourself to Him very devoutly”[15] (وَتَبَتَّلْ إِلَيْهِ تَبْتِيلًا). Devotion to Him is achieved by advancing towards Him and turning away from things other than Him; and this is expressed in His words, “There is no God but He; so take Him for a guardian.”[16] (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا) Advancement towards Him can only be achieved by perseverance in remembrance of Him, while turning away from things other than Him is effected by opposing passion, by cleansing oneself from the troubles of this world, and by purification of the soul from them. The result of this purification is prosperity in the Hereafter[17] as God (may He be exalted!) said, “He indeed has achieved prosperity who has purified himself and remembers the name of his Lord and so performs the ritual prayer”[18] (قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّى ■ وَذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّى). Thus the path is supported by two matters, namely, perseverance and opposition — perseverance in remembrance of God (may He be exalted!) and opposition to that which diverts from Him. This is the journey (al-safar) to God.[19]

(أشدّ النّاس عذابا يوم القيامة عالم لا ينفعه الله

قال شقيق له: إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون، ذهب عمري معك ولم تتعلم سوى ثماني مسائل! قال: يا أستاذ، لم أتعلم غيرها، وإني لا أحب أن أكذب. فقال: هات هذه الثماني مسائل حتى أسمعها. قال حاتم: نظرت إلى هذا الخلق فرأيت كل واحد يحب محبوبًا فهو مع محبوبه إلى القبر، فإذا وصل إلى القبر فارقه؛ فجعلت الحسنات محبوبي، فإذا دخلت القبر دخل محبوبي معي.
فقال أحسنت يا حاتم، فما الثانية؟ فقال: نظرت في قول الله عز وجل: {وأما من خاف مقام ربه ونهى النفس عن الهوى فإن الجنة هي المأوى}، فعلمت أن قوله سبحانه وتعالى هو الحق، فأجهدت نفسي في دفع الهوى حتى استقرت على طاعة الله تعالى.
الثالثة: أني نظرت إلى هذا الخلق فرأيت كل ممن معه شيء له قيمة ومقدار رفعه وحفظه، ثم نظرت إلى قول الله عز وجل: {ما عندكم ينفد وما عند الله باق}. فكلما وقع معي شيء له قيمة ومقدار وجهته إلى الله ليبقى عنده محفوظًا.
الرابعة: أني نظرت إلى هذا الخلق فرأيت كل واحد منهم يرجع إلى المال وإلى الحسب والشرف والنسب، فنظرت فيها فإذا هي لا شيء، ثم نظرت إلى قول الله تعالى: {إن أكرمكم عند الله أتقاكم}، فعملت في التقوى حتى أكون عند الله كريمًا.
الخامسة: أني نظرت إلى هذا الخلق وهم يطعن بعضهم في بعض ويلعن بعضهم بعضًا وأصل هذا كله الحسد، ثم نظرت إلى قول الله عز وجل: {نحن قسمنا بينهم معيشتهم في الحياة الدنيا}، فتركت الحسد واجتنبت الخلق، وعلمت أن القسمة من عند الله سبحانه وتعالى فتركت عداوة الخلق عني.
السادسة: نظرت إلى هذا الخلق يبغي بعضهم على بعض ويقاتل بعضهم بعضًا، فرجعت إلى قول الله عز وجل: {إن الشيطان لكم عدو فاتخذوه عدوًا}، فعاديته وحده واجتهدت في أخذ حذري منه، لأن الله تعالى شهد على أنه عدو لي، فتركت عداوة الخلق غيره.
السابعة: نظرت إلى هذا الخلق فرأيت كل واحد منهم يطلب هذه الكسرة فيذل فيها نفسه ويدخل فيما لا يحل له، ثم نظرت إلى قوله تعالى: {وما من دابة في الأرض إل

When abstinence is a tool spurning of what is held dear, it is inconceivable without embracing something even dearer.

Firsyt of all, it must be realized that only God
truly knows about Himself ( ya-
rif aqq ma-
rifatih) and fully comprehends
the essence of His majesty. This need not be considered strange. For I
say, only an angel truly knows about angels. Only a prophet truly knows
about prophets. Indeed, only a scholar truly knows about scholars. I
would even say that as long as a student has not attained his professor’s
rank in scholarship, he does not truly know his professor. When he has
attained his professor’s rank, he knows him almost in the way the pro-
fessor knows himself . . . I would even say that it cannot be conceived
that an impotent man could truly know about the condition attained
by a person during cohabitation . . .” Al-Ghazzâlî goes on to say that
even for low animal life such as ants and gnats, it must be assumed that
any true knowledge of their being is possible only for ants and gnats,
that man has no true knowledge of himself and as a rule knows about
himself only through the actions and characteristics of his self (soul),
while ignoring its quiddity, “and once man knows that he is of necessity
unable to perceive the essence of God’s majesty, he has attained what
is the end of his perfection, as this is the goal of human perfection.