On the Ihya ‘Ulum ud-Din

The magnus opus of imam al-Ghazali – may Allah have mercy on him – the Ihya ‘Ulum ud-Din, the Revival of the Religious Sciences, in which al-Ghazali manages to bridge the gap between the orthodoxy of the ‘ulama and tasawwuf, an absolute must for every seeker who wants travel the path. It is taught in Dar al-Mustafa, Tarim (Yemen).  Several books of the Ihya are translated into English, if not the whole collection of forty books in total. There are also several abridgments of this book, also available in English. One of them is “The Alchemy of Happiness” by al-Ghazali himself. Furthermore there is “The Beginning of Guidance” which is a simplied version of the Ihya also by imam al-Ghazali himself. Then there is the “Mukhtasar Minhaj al-Qasidin” / “Towards the Hereafter” by imam Ibn ul-Jawzi and ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi which is a summary and authentification of the Ihya.