Der Erretter aus dem Irrtum

Das Buch der Ehe oder genauer das Buch des rechten Benehmens in der Ehe (kitâb âdâbi n-nikâh), gegen Ende des fünften Jahrhunderts der Hijra, also vor rund neunhundert Jahren verfaßt, vereinigt die wichtigsten Auskünfte der Tradition zu Fragen der Ehe und ist, wie damals so auch heute, ein unverzichtbarer Grundtext, Klassiker islam­kund­lichen Wissens. In ihm wird in wunderbarer Klarheit deutlich, was unser Schöpfer, der uns liebt und nach uns sieht, von uns wünscht, sofern wir Mann und Frau sind.Mit Blick auf eine aktuelle Diskussion - "Sterben wir Deutschen aus?" - "Warum bekommen wir immer weniger Kinder?" - stellt sich die alte Frage neu, ob wir vielleicht ein falsches Bild von Mann und Frau haben, das wir seit vielen Jahren pflegen und dies der Grund für jene Kinderlosigkeit ist. Das vor 900 Jahren geschriebene Werk Al-Ghazâlîs über die Ehe, das der Weltliteratur zugerechnet wird und hier erstmals vollständig in deutscher Sprache erscheint, könnte eine neue Perspektive eröffenen, eine Besinnung auf das, was gut und wahr und schön war und wieder werden könnte.Denn Mann und Frau treten hier noch als vollblütige Wesen auf, richtige Männer und richtige Frauen - tertium non datur! -, zwischen denen es jederzeit funken, blitzen und donnern kann, wovon heftigste Ehekräche im Haushalt des Propheten erfrischendes Zeugnis geben.

Short form (Mukhtasar = abbreviation) of his main opus Ihyâ' 'ulûm ad-dîn, The Revival of the Religious Sciences. The Shaykh and Imam, the Proof of Islam, Abû Hâmid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazâlî, may Allah be pleased with him, stated: 'Thank God for all His bounties; for even enabling us to thank Him; and prayers and peace be upon the Master of Messengers, Muhammad, His Prophet, Messenger and Servant, upon his family and Companions, and upon his successors after him, his Ministers in his time. - I missed, in some of my travels, a facility for extracting from the 'Ihyâ' 'ulûm ad-dîn' its essences, due to the difficulty of carrying it around with me, on account of its bulk. Hence I tackled this matter, seeking success and guidance from God and praising His Prophet. It consists of forty chapters. - And God guides to the truth.'

Das Buch der Ehe oder genauer das Buch des rechten Benehmens in der Ehe (kitâb âdâbi n-nikâh), gegen Ende des fünften Jahrhunderts der Hijra, also vor rund neunhundert Jahren verfaßt, vereinigt die wichtigsten Auskünfte der Tradition zu Fragen der Ehe und ist, wie damals so auch heute, ein unverzichtbarer Grundtext, Klassiker islam­kund­lichen Wissens. In ihm wird in wunderbarer Klarheit deutlich, was unser Schöpfer, der uns liebt und nach uns sieht, von uns wünscht, sofern wir Mann und Frau sind.Mit Blick auf eine aktuelle Diskussion - "Sterben wir Deutschen aus?" - "Warum bekommen wir immer weniger Kinder?" - stellt sich die alte Frage neu, ob wir vielleicht ein falsches Bild von Mann und Frau haben, das wir seit vielen Jahren pflegen und dies der Grund für jene Kinderlosigkeit ist. Das vor 900 Jahren geschriebene Werk Al-Ghazâlîs über die Ehe, das der Weltliteratur zugerechnet wird und hier erstmals vollständig in deutscher Sprache erscheint, könnte eine neue Perspektive eröffenen, eine Besinnung auf das, was gut und wahr und schön war und wieder werden könnte.Denn Mann und Frau treten hier noch als vollblütige Wesen auf, richtige Männer und richtige Frauen - tertium non datur! -, zwischen denen es jederzeit funken, blitzen und donnern kann, wovon heftigste Ehekräche im Haushalt des Propheten erfrischendes Zeugnis geben.

Al-Ghazali on Patience and Thankfulness is a translation of the thirty-second chapter of The Revival of the Religions Sciences (Ihya'' ''Ulum al-Din). This chapter falls in the section dealing with the virtues or what is conducive to salvation. Ghazali here presents definitions for patience and its different forms; the need for patience; the degrees of patience; and why patience is considered to be half of faith.The second part of this chapter deals with thankfulness, and again Ghazali gives us definitions for thankfulness, its nature and its blessings. In addition to the translation, Dr Henry Littlejohn provides an extensive introduction which illustrates the importance of the topics of patience and thankfulness in Islam throughout the centuries.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.<BR>

God has sent on earth prophets to teach men the prescription of happiness. This alchemy may be briefly described as turning away from the world to God, and its constituents are the knowledge of self., the knowledge of God, the knowledge of this world as it really is, and the knowledge of the next world as it really is."This man, if ever any have deserved the name, was truly a 'divine,' and he may be justly placed on a level with Origen, so remarkable was he for learning and ingenuity, and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful and worthy exposition of doctrine. All that is good, noble, and sublime that his great soul had compassed he bestowed upon Muhammadanism, and he adorned the doctrines of the Koran with so much piety and learning that, in the form given them by him, they seem, in my opinion, worthy the assent of Christians. Whatsoever was most excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle or in the Sufi mysticism he discreetly adapted to the Muhammadan theology; from every school he sought the means of shedding light and honour upon religion; while his sincere piety and lofty conscientiousness imparted to all his writings a sacred majesty. He was the first of Muhammadan divines." -- Dr. August Tholuck

One of al-Ghazali's advanced students wrote to the Imam with a question: From all the fields of knowledge, what will benefit us most in the grave? The student clarified that, while he could certainly find the answer to his question within al-Ghazali's longer works, such as the Ihya 'Ulum al-Din, he wished for his teacher to give him a formal opinion, short enough that he could keep it with him at all times and refer to it constantly.Ayyuhal Walad is the great Imam's response: a personal note from al-Ghazali to his student, and by extension to anyone who desires to follow their way. Imam al-Ghazali elucidates the following for his student, and for the modern reader:The precise nature of the relationship between knowledge and action, and the role of each in one's striving for paradiseThe significance of the night prayerSome advice from Luqman the Wise to his son, and its enduring meaning and importanceA concise definition of obedience and worship, which al-Ghazali states is the quintessence of knowledgeThe four matters that are required of a spiritual travelerA single hadith that contains the entirety of the knowledge of the ancients as well as the men and women of latter daysEight lessons that are sufficient for deliverance and salvationAyyuhal Walad, translated here as "O Son," is designed to be read and reread, and referred to frequently throughout one's life. The reader must take note that the original recipient of this letter was a top student of Imam al-Ghazali, and therefore likely a scholar of the highest calibre himself. This book is thus invaluable simply as a record of the interaction between one of the Umma's greatest teachers and his esteemed disciple. However, al-Ghazali's prescriptions are conveyed with such clarity that any Muslim of high aspiration will benefit from this text.This edition includes Ustadh Moustafa Elqabbany's meticulous English translation side-by-side with al-Ghazali's original Arabic epistle. This arrangement allows the English-speaking reader to get a taste of al-Ghazali's unique style, while students of Arabic may peruse the Imam's masterful Arabic prose alongside Ustadh Moustafa's elegant English rendition.