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What is Book 20 of the Iḥyāʾ?
Book 20 of Imam al-Ghazālī's Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn is The Book of the Prophetic Character, the Book of the Manners of Living and the Morals of Prophethood. It closes the quarter on Norms of Daily Life. Imam al-Ghazālī wrote in the 11th to 12th century. The book answers the question of what good manners look like when they are lived, and answers it with one example: the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Al-Ghazālī says the outward manners reflect inner manners, and the movements of the limbs are the fruits of thoughts. He whose heart is not humble, his limbs will not be humble.
The chapters are short portraits, gathered theme by theme. They begin with Allah's instruction of His Beloved through the Qur'an, then his conduct with people, his food and what he refused, his visiting the sick and what he rode, his jesting and his laughter, his lineage, migration, and dominion, his gatherings, his speech and the children, his animals and belongings, his overlooking of what he disliked, his humility, and his appearance. The book ends with his miracles and the signs of his truthfulness.
In the opening, al-Ghazālī explains why the book takes this form. He had intended to end the quarter on customs with a general book on the manners of living, but he saw that each book in the quarter had already covered a range of manners. So he limited this book to the transmitted manners and ethics of the Messenger of Allah, given without the chains of transmission and compiled chapter by chapter, so that faith is renewed by witnessing his noble morals.
Is there an English audiobook of The Book of the Prophetic Character?
Yes. Joyful Muslims publishes the complete Book 20: The Book of the Prophetic Character as an English audiobook (about 2 hours), translated from the Arabic, with a word-synced bilingual transcript. It presents the daily habits, manners, and noble character of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as the living model for how a believer should conduct every aspect of life.
Is it free to listen?
The whole library is open to everyone. Every member gets five hours of listening free each month; Joyful+ removes the time limit.
What does it cover?
His conduct with people, his food, his visiting the sick, his jesting and laughter, his gatherings, his speech and the children, his humility, his appearance, and his miracles and the signs of his truthfulness.
Last updated 2026-09-11
Inside the book.
Chapters
Word-synced with the narrator.
The first three minutes are transcribed here. In the app, the Living Manuscript scrolls through the entire book in rhythm with the audio — Arabic alongside English.
Living Manuscript
Listen to the full book in the app for the complete Living Manuscript.
The full, word-synced transcript in Arabic and English is in the app.
