Al-Ghazali on Conduct In Travel is Book 17 of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, published by The Islamic Texts Society
In this translation of the 17th book of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ghazali explains the different outer and inner reasons for travel. Outer reasons include the pilgrimage, the search for knowledge, and the flight from danger; while inner reasons include the acquisition of virtue and the disciplining of the soul. He then follows this with a practical chapter on the use of religious concessions while traveling and concludes with a final chapter on how the traveler is to establish the proper direction and times for prayer.
Al-Ghazali on Conduct in Travel is a translation of the seventeenth book of the Revival of the Religious Sciences. This volume falls in the section dealing with society and norms of everyday life. In it, al-Ghazali explains the reason for travel- in the quest for knowledge or ones living, for the sake of worship including performing the pilgrimage, flight from what causes confusion in religion, and the flight from harm; and the advantages gained from travel-the disciplining of the soul through exposure to the rigors and strains of travel, and the acquisition of virtue and self-knowledge. On the practical side, al-Ghazali lists seven forms of conduct in travel, including how to prepare for a journey, what prayers to recite, what to do on the way and how to approach the return home.
The final chapter of Conduct in Travel is dedicated to explanations of the religious concessions (rukhas) that travelers are granted in the like of the shortening and combining of prayers, the breaking of fast, and how and when they can be applied. Finally, al-Ghazali explains in detail how to learn to establish the direction of the qibla and the proper times for the daily prayers.
As in all his writings, al-Ghazali bases his arguments in Conduct in Travel on the Quran, the example of the Prophet and the saying of scholars and Sufis. He illustrates how an outward activity such as travel can encourage numerous virtues that are themselves necessary for the remainder of the spiritual life.
This volume also includes a translation of Imam al-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 which places each of the chapters in the context of the other.
About The Author
Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali was born in 450 AH (1058 A.D) in the Iranian town of Tus, studied Islamic law and theology at the Seljuq College in Nishapur, and became a distinguished professor at the famous Nizamiyya University in Baghdad.
Despite his glittering success, he was inwardly dissatisfied, so he abandoned his career for the life of hardship, abstinence and devotion to worship. During ten years of wandering, he experienced a spiritual transformation, in which the Truth came to him at last, as something received rather than acquired.
Blessed with an inner certainty, he then applied his outstanding faculties and vast learning to the task of revitalizing the whole Islamic tradition. Through his direct personal contacts, and through his many writings, he showed how every element in that tradition could and should be turned to its true purpose.
Imam al-Ghazzali was fondly referred to as the "Hujjat-ul-lslam", Proof of Islam, he is honored as a scholar and a saint by learned men all over the world and is generally acclaimed as the most influential thinker of the Classical period of Islam.
He passed away in 505 AH (1111 A.D).
About The Translator
Leonard Librande received a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from McGill University in 1976. He has studied Greek and Roman as well as Arabic paleography at St. Louis University and at the University of Pennsylvania. In past years his research and publications have focused on hadith literature and more recently on the writings of Ibn Abi al-Dunya, with particular emphasis on travel and morality.
Series: Al-Ghazali The Revival Of The Religious Sciences (Ihya Ulum Al-Din) Book 17
Paperback: 150 pages
Publisher: Fons Vitae
Language: English
Author: Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali
ISBN: 978-1903682456
Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.0 x 0.6 inches
