Al-Ghazali – Path To Sufism: His Deliverance From Error

Product Description Early on Ghazali questioned blind religious conformism. He records the “inherited beliefs lost their hold on [him] when [he] was quite young….For [he] saw that the children of Christians always grew up embracing Christianity, and the children of Jews always grew up adhering to Judaism, and the children of Muslims always grew up following the religion of Islam. [He] also heard the tradition related from the Apostle of God-God’s blessing and peace be upon him!-in which he said: ‘Every infant is born endowed with the fitra:[original disposition] then his parents make him Jew or Christian or Magian,'” Ghazali continues “Consequently I felt an inner urge to seek the true meaning of fitra, and the true meaning of the beliefs arising through slavish aping of parents and teachers.”     Reviews "This is by far the most scholarly, thoughtful and sympathetic translation of al-Ghazali's classic autobiography." -William C. Chittick Professor of Comparative Religious Studies SUNY, Stony Brook "This text has long been recognized as not only an Islamic "classic," but also as one of the great "spiritual autobiographies" of the world's greatest religious thinkers. It is also the narrative of how one dedicated "seeker" after true knowledge and salvation, having probed various systems of thought and differing paths of learning and enlightenment, discovered the peace of the inner life and discipline of mystical spirituality--in Ghazali's case, the spirituality of the Sufis." -William A. Graham Professor of the History of Religion and Islamic Studies Harvard University