Book Review - Revival of Religious Sciences

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With the grace of Almighty Allah, I finished the fourth volume of this phenominal work by the 11th-century Muslim theologian, philosopher, and Sufi mystic, The Authority (Hujjat) in Islam Abu Hamid Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Ghazali رَحِمَهُ ٱللَّٰهُ.

It took me approximately 50 days to finish it, with one week of break while my exams were ongoing in the last week of September. Previously, I had completed Volume III back in February of this year. I had read the first two volumes last year.

This fourth Volume is mainly about the Manjiyaat – the signs of good qualities & the ways to adapt them. Manjiyaat is actually an Arabic term that refers to the things or actions that bring about benefit or advantage in one’s life, both in the worldly sense and in the spiritual sense.

Once the heart is cleansed of all spiritual diseases such as anger, ego, greed, backbiting, envy, and jealousy, as well as the obsession with worldly status, it becomes ready to adopt good qualities. This process is similar to how a barren land must first be cleared of thorns, shrubs, stones, and other useless plants before it can be sown with good seeds that will yield delightful fruits.

This volume covers the detailed and thorough explaination on the pre-requisites for the wayfarer which are essential to attain gnosis on the path of Suluk.

The qualities elaborated are:

I have obtained this book in hardcover, translated into Urdu. The publication by Maktabatul Madina is also available for free download

I urge any student of knowledge with an interst in Tasawwuf or cleansing his inner self for purificaton to read this. The book has been translated into many languages. You can read it online as well or download for offline reading from archive.org

Some other books I recommend similar to this genre:

On the same note, today also marks the start of fifth (last) volume 🤞🏻

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