Synopses & Reviews
This is the first English translation of the last chapter of
Al-Ghazali's Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din), widely regarded as the greatest work of Muslim spirituality. After expounding his Sufi philosophy of death and showing the importance of the contemplation of human mortality to the mystical way of self-purification, Ghazali takes his readers through the stages of the future life: the vision of the Angels of the Grave, the Resurrection, the Intercession of the Prophet, and finally, the torments of Hell, the delights of Paradise and—for the elect—the beatific vision of God's Countenance.
Synopsis
Ghazali brings his magnum opus to a close in this final installment of the Revival of the Religious Sciences with a discussion of the importance for spiritual development and the contemplation of human mortality.
Table of Contents
Part One:
1. On the Remembrance of Death, and an Encouragement to Remember it Abundantly
2. On Lengthy Hopes, and Merit of Briefs Hopes
3. On Agonies and Violence of Death
4. On Death of the Emissary of God and the Rightly-guided Caliphs
5. On the Sayings of the Caliphs, Princes and Righteous Men when Nearing Death
6. On the Sayings of the Gnostics at Funerals and Cemeteries, and the Legal Verdict Concerning the Visitation of Graves
7. On the True Nature of Death
8. On the States of the Dead which Have Been Known through Unveiling in Dreams
Part Two:
9. The Trumpet-Blast
10. The Land and People of the Concourse
11. The Perspiration
12. The Length of the Day of Arising
13. The Day of Arising, and its Calamities and Names
14. The Inquisition
15. The Scales
16. The Adversaries, and the Restoration of Wrongs
17. The Traverse
18. The Intercession
19. The Pool
20. The Inferno, and its Terrors and Torments
21. Heaven, and the Varieties of its Bliss
22. The Number of the Gardens
23. The Wall of Heaven, its Land, Trees and Rivers
24. The Raiment of Heaven's People and their Furnishings
25. The Attributes of Heaven's People
26. The Beatific Vision
27. A Chapter on God's Mercy
Appendix: Persons Cited in the Text
Index to Qur'anic Quotations
Bibliography
General Index