Al-Ghazali on the Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife: Book XL of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din)

DescriptionThis is the first English translation of a key section of Al-Ghazali’s Revival of the Religious Sciences, (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din), widely regarded as the greatest work of Muslim spirituality. After expounding his Sufi philosophy of death and showing the importance of the contemplation of human mortality to the mystical way of self-purification, Ghazali takes his readers through the stages of the future life: the vision of the Angels of the Grave, the Resurrection, the Intercession of the Prophet, and finally, the torments of Hell, the delights of Paradise and–for the elect–the beatific vision of God’s Countenance. In this new edition, the Islamic Texts Society has included a translation of Imam Ghazali’s own Introduction to the Revival of the Religious Sciences which gives the reasons that caused him to write the work, the structure of the whole of the Revival, and places each of the chapters in the context of the others.Table of ContentsOn the Remembrance of Death, and an Encouragement to Remember it AbundantlyOn Lengthy Hopes, and Merit of Briefs HopesOn Agonies and Violence of DeathOn Death of the Emissary of God and the Rightly-guided CaliphsOn the Sayings of the Caliphs, Princes and Righteous Men when Nearing DeathOn the Sayings of the Gnostics at Funerals and Cemeteries, and the Legal Verdict Concerning the Visitation of GravesOn the True Nature of DeathOn the States of the Dead which Have Been Known through Unveiling in DreamsThe Trumpet-BlastThe Land and People of the ConcourseThe PerspirationThe Length of the Day of ArisingThe Day of Arising, and its Calamities and NamesThe InquisitionThe ScalesThe Adversaries, and the Restoration of WrongsThe TraverseThe IntercessionThe PoolThe Inferno, and its Terrors and TormentsHeaven, and the Varieties of its BlissThe Number of the GardensThe Wall of Heaven, its Land, Trees and RiversThe Raiment of Heaven’s People and their FurnishingsThe Attributes of Heaven’s PeopleThe Beatific VisionA Chapter on God’s MercyAppendix: Persons Cited in the TextIndex to Qur’anic QuotationsBibliographyGeneral IndexAuthors BiographyAbu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali (1058-111), theologian, logician, jurist and mystic, was born and died in Tus in Central Asia, but spent much of his life lecturing at Baghdad or leading the life of a wandering dervish. His most celebrated work, Revival of the Religious Sciences, has exercised a profound influence on Muslim intellectual history by exploring the mystical significance of the practices and beliefs of Islamic orthodoxy, earning him the title of Hujjat-al-Islam, the Proof of Islam.T. J. Winter is Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge.