What is zuhd (detachment from the world)?
Zuhd is not refusing the world — it is refusing to let the world own the heart. The classical distinction between the zuhd of the hand and the zuhd of the heart.
10 passages from 6 books in the library
Zuhd is renunciation of the world — not the mere absence of possessions, but the heart's detachment from worldly ties. Al-Ghazali, in the Iḥyāʾ, records the early masters defining it variously: Bishr called it renunciation of the world, Qasim al-Juhi narrowed it to renunciation of the stomach, and Sari confessed he had renounced everything except people. Al-Ghazali describes one who outwardly imitates the ascetics as a "pretender to asceticism," which is itself the beginning of zuhd, and counts asceticism among the heart's stations and preliminaries — emptying the heart of distractions to prefer the afterlife over the world.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 6 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 →
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"Sari said, I have practiced everything concerning renunciation, and attained what I desired, except renunciation of people."
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"Bishr, may Allah have mercy on him, said that renunciation of the world is the renunciation"
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"This is called a pretender to asceticism, and it is the beginning of asceticism for"
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"Qasim al-Juhi said that renunciation of the world is renunciation of the stomach."
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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"but through asceticism and detachment from worldly ties, emptying the heart of distractions,"
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"fear, hope, poverty, asceticism, love, contentment, longing, reliance, contemplation, and self-accountability."
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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"and by Ibn al-Mubarak in Kitab al-Zuhd and Ibn Abi al-Dunya in Kitab al-Khaifin from al-Hassan in a Marfu form."
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 states we have mentioned, such as repentance, patience, asceticism, fear and hope, are preliminaries"
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 forebears, it would be for them like slaughter, fearing people might say they abandoned asceticism"
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 afterlife over the world, which is asceticism. Reverence is from his saying, Among his servants"
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