Al-Ghazali on Intention, Sincerity and Truthfulness (Ihya Ulumuddin Series No. 37)
Author: Imām Al-Ghazali
Translator: Anthony F. Shaker
Publisher: Islamic Texts Society
Year of Publication: 2014
Print Length: 164 pages
Genre: Islamic Studies / Quranic Studies; Theology, Ethics and Philosophy; Science, Reflection & Self-Development; Qur’anic Reflection, Supplication & Prayers; Non-Fiction / Religious Studies
Topic: Allah ﷻ, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Islam, Qur’an, Human Nature & Character, Human Psyche, Islamic Psyche, Intention, Ethics & Morality, Spirituality
The 37th chapter of the Revival of Religious Sciences, this treatise focuses on the subject of intention—which is of crucial importance in Islam—posing questions such as, “How can someone ignorant of the meaning of intention verify his own intention?” “How can someone ignorant of the meaning of sincerity verify his own sincerity?” and “How can someone sincerely claim truthfulness if he has not verified its meaning?”
Renowned theologian-mystic Abu Hamid al-Ghazali addresses these questions by expounding the reality and levels of intention, sincerity, and truthfulness and the acts which affirm or mar them. Each of al-Ghazali’s responses is based on the Qur’an, the example of the Prophet, and the sayings of numerous scholars and Sufis. As relevant today as it was in the 11th century, this discourse will be of interest to anyone concerned with ethics and moral philosophy.
Table of Contents
Al-Ghazāli’s Introduction to the Revival of the Religious Sciences
Introduction
THE BOOK OF INTENTION, SINCERITY AND TRUTHFULNESS
Prologue
Part 1: On Intention
1. An Exposition of the Merit of Intention
2. An Exposition of the Reality of Intention
3. An Exposition of the Inner Meaning of the Prophet’s Words: ‘The intention of the believer is better than his deed’
4. A Classification of How Actions are Related to Intention
5. An Exposition on that Intention is Not a Matter of Choice
Part 2: On Sincerity, Its Merit, Reality and Degrees
6. An Exposition of the Merit of Sincerity
7. An Exposition of the Reality of Sincerity
8. An Exposition of What the Great Masters have Said About Sincerity
9. An Exposition of the Levels of Blemishes and Flaws that Cloud Sincerity
10. An Exposition on the Judgement of the Tarnished Act and the Worthiness of the Reward for it
Part 3: On Truthfulness, Its Merit and Reality
11. An Exposition of the Merit of Truthfulness
12. An Exposition of the Reality of Truthfulness, Its Meaning and Levels
Notes
Appendix: Persons Cited in Text
Bibliography
Index to Qur’ānic Quotations
General Index
Imām Abu Hamid al-Ghazali is a 11th century Muslim scholar. He was one of the most prominent and influential philosophers, theologians, jurists, and mystics of Sunni Islam. Al-Ghazālī was born at Ṭūs (near Mashhad in eastern Iran) and was educated there, then in Jorjān, and finally at Nishapur (Neyshābūr), where his teacher was al-Juwaynī, who earned the title of imām al-ḥaramayn (the imam of the two sacred cities of Mecca and Medina). He was active at a time when Sunni theology had just passed through its consolidation and entered a period of intense challenges from Shiite Ismâ’îlite theology and the Arabic tradition of Aristotelian philosophy (falsafa). Al-Ghazâlî understood the importance of falsafa and developed a complex response that rejected and condemned some of its teachings, while it also allowed him to accept and apply others. His great work, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn or Ihya Ulumuddin (“The Revival of the Religious Sciences”), made Sufism (Islamic mysticism) an acceptable part of orthodox Islam.
Source: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-ghazali/
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Anthony F. Shaker is a specialist in Islamicate and German philosophy. He has a BA in Sociology with Philosophy from Concordia University, Montreal, and both MA and PhD from Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal. He is the author of several studies including the only complete study of Sadr al-Din Qunawi. He is also the translator of both Al-Ghazali on Intention, Sincerity & Truthfulness and Al-Ghazali on Vigilance and Self-examination in the Islamic Texts Society’s al-Ghazali Series.
Source: https://independent.academia.edu/AnthonyShaker
More from Anthony F. Shaker in this library, click here.