The Book of Knowledge

The Book of Knowledge (Kitab al-?ilm) is the foundation of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (I?ya? ?ulum al-din), Imam al-Ghazali’s magnum opus. In the Book of Knowledge, he defines knowledge, its relation to faith, theology, and jurisprudence. The book deals with the virtue of knowledge from both rational and traditional points of view. It elucidates the types of knowledge and the nature of people’s obligation to seek knowledge. Imam al-Ghazali defines jurisprudence and theology as branches of Islamic knowledge, then outlines those fields that people incorrectly consider to be Islamic disciplines, and distinguishes the praiseworthy from the blameworthy. He describes in detail the perils of disputation and the reasons people engage in debate and dialectics. He also considers the conduct incumbent on the teacher and student, and warns of the perils that can befall those pursuing knowledge. Finally, Imam al-Ghazali discusses the virtues and categories of the intellect and the prophetic traditions related to it. Each chapter includes a discussion of the Qur?anic verses, ?adith, and traditions from the Companions and the pious predecessors related to the subject at hand. Imam al-Ghazali then engages his readers in a heartfelt discourse; he offers proofs, metaphors, and examples to encourage seekers along the path to knowledge of the hereafter. Abu ?amid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) was a leading scholar, jurist, and theologian of the golden age of Islam, and he remains its truest advocate in modern times. As a teacher of both inward and outward faith, he recorded these practical teachings in his forty-book compendium of Islamic knowledge.

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.1111), a native of Central Asia, was the best-known jurist, theologian and mystic of medieval Islam. Himself a teacher of Sufi initiates, he recorded his practical teaching in his great work, the 'Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din' ('Revival of the Sciences of Religion'), from which the present work is taken. DR. KENNETH HONERKAMP is a professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Georgia at Athens; where he teaches World’s Religions, Islamic Studies and Arabic. He is a graduate of the Quarawiyyine University of Morocco (1981), The University of Georgia at Athens (1995), and the University of Aix-en-Provence, France where he earned his Ph.D. (2000) for his critical edition and analysis of the Major Collection of the Letters of Spiritual Guidance (Rasa?il al-kubra) of Ibn ?Abbad of Ronda (d. 792/1390). Prior to this he had spent ten years in Pakistan studying Islamic Law in the various traditional institutions there. While in Pakistan he was exposed to the pedagogic methodologies employed in the madrasas of the then NWFP. He spent twenty years in Morocco where he gained extensive knowledge of Moroccan Sufi orders as well as first hand-experience in the manuscript libraries of Rabat, Fes and Marrakesh. His interests lie in the areas of teacher/disciple relationships, Islamic education, and Sufism. He has published numerous articles on Sufism, and the lives and teaching methods of well-known Moroccan Sufi masters such as Ibn ?Abbad (d. 792/1390), ?asan al-Yusi (ca. 1631-1691), and Mulay Abu Yaza? Yallanur (d. 572/1177). He has published over ten previously unedited treatises by Abu ?Abd al-Ra?man al-Sulami of Khurasan (d. 412/1021) in the Collected Works of Sulami project published by the University of Tehran. In his edition of Three Early Sufi Texts, published by Fons Vitae he has translated two of Sulami’s texts; Darajat al-?adiqin and Kitab bayan tadhallul al-fuqara? into English. His critical edition and study of the Rasa?il al-kubra of Ibn Abbad of Ronda was published by Dar al-Machreq, in Lebanon in 2005. Since then he has edited a collection of the teachings of Imam Al-Shadhili from the Tunisian period of the Shadhili Order and the versified ?ikm of Ibn ?A?a Allah by Ibn ?Abbad entitled: Budhiyat al-murid and continues working on the critical editions of the collected sermons of Ibn ?Abbad of Ronda.