Al Ghazali For Children Book 7: The Mysteries of the Pilgrimage

The Mysteries of the Pilgrimage: Book 7 of Ihya' 'ulum al-din, The Revival of the Religious Sciences 

Translated from the Arabic with an Introduction and Notes by M. Abdurrahman Fitzgerald

In the Mysteries of the Pilgrimage (Kitāb asrār al-ḥajj), book 7 of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn), Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī discusses the fundamentals of the pilgrimage, including its pillars, preconditions, and obligations. The book begins with an introduction on the merits of the pilgrimage and its rewards. Al-Ghazālī explains the Qurʾānic statement announcing the pilgrimage: And proclaim to the people the pilgrimage; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass—that they may witness benefits for themselves and mention the name of God on known days [22:27–28].

In chapter 1, al-Ghazālī enumerates the merits and the profound significance of Mecca and Medina, the sacred mosque, the black stone, and the Kaʿba. In the next chapter, he explains the outward actions, from the beginning of the journey until the return home. In the concluding chapter, he details the rules of conduct and inward practices, lessons, reflections, and insights regarding their mysteries and its inner meaning, from the beginning of the pilgrimage to its end. By symbolically linking the actions of the pilgrimage to events of daily life, al-Ghazālī ultimately reveals its true meaning. This edition also includes helpful diagrams of the rites of the pilgrimage and the supplications (in Arabic and English).

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).