What did al-Ghazali say about the world (dunyā)?
Al-Ghazali's critique of the world is not a call to withdraw from it. It is a call to travel through it without letting it own the heart. Here is what he said, in his own words.
5 passages from 4 books in the library
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 4 books by Imam al-Ghazali — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"Also, intending marriage for the establishment of the sunnah, lowering the gaze, seeking offspring, and other benefits that have been mentioned, and not merely for passion and pleasure, so that his deed becomes worldly."
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"It would be better for your eyes to perish in this world than for you to enter the fire with vision only for it to be consumed by its flames."
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"By holding on to envy, you are fulfilling your enemies' desires and harming yourself in both this world and the hereafter."
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"The hadith of a youth from the Ansar, filled with fear of the fire until he was confined by it, was reported by Ibn Abi Dunya"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"When it was affirmed he said so the one who laughs in this world and does not know to what he will return is more amazing"
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