246 chapter six
At an early age, he was appointed lecturer at the Nizamiah School
in Baghdad by the Turkish ruler, where he mixed with people of
different religions and sects, including Christians and Jews. He dis-
carded his early Shafì"i views after his appointment, and turned to
flùfìsm. He gave up his lucrative post in Baghdad, wore flùfìdress
and moved between Damascus, Jerusalem, Makkah and al-Medìnah.
His mixing with people of other religions seemed to have affected
his writing. In the Iœya"we find him quoting sayings from Jesus
Christ, alongside the sayings of the Prophet and of course quota-
tions from the Qur"àn. “A wise man is reported to have said”, is
also invariably repeated in his writing.
His legacy of books is enormous. This covers mainly theology,
jurisprudence, logic, philosophy, scholastic theology and interpreta-
tion of the Qur"àn. Iœya"Ulùm al-Dìn, our main focus, is regarded
as the master piece of al-Ghazàlì.
The book
The Iœya"Ulùm al-Dìn covers a wide range of topics in which eco-
nomic issues are mentioned in relation to other matters, and, in
some cases in special chapters. The book is divided into four vol-
umes, outlined as follows:
The book of worship. It comprises of ten chapters: acquisition of
knowledge, articles of faith, secrets of purity, secrets of prayers, secrets
of Zakàh and alms giving, secrets of fasting, secrets of pilgrimage,
Qur"àn recitation and interpretation, rules of invocations and sup-
plications, and observance of daily duties according to fixed times.
The approximate size of this volume is about 110,000 words (English
version).
The book of worldly usage. This includes ten chapters: rules of
eating and drinking, rules of marriage, rules of earnings, trade and
commerce, lawful and unlawful issues, rules of companionship and
brotherhood, rules of habitation and solitude, rules of journey, music
and ecstasy, rules of enjoining good and forbidding evil, rules of liv-
ing as exemplified by the character and conduct of the Prophet. The
size of this volume is over 90,000 words.
The book of destructive evils. This volume is composed of, yet
again, ten chapters: wonders of soul, discipline of the soul, harms of
greed and sexual passion, harms of tongue, harms of anger, hatred
and envy, evils of the world, evils of wealth and miserliness, evils of