Downloading Imam Ghazzali's Ihya Ulumuddin??

[Yahya Bhai]

Assalamu alaikum,
Can we download Imam Ghazzali's Ihya Ulumuddin from the net?

Please give me a link where the english translation is authentic and reliable.

Also please advise regarding the capability and qualification needed before reading the book.

Thank you,
Jizzakallah

[tru_Qur'an]

Wa'alaykum Salaam.....

You can see my shaykh's advice by reading my post here: (its the last post)

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38778

[seeker_ikb]

Wa'alaykum Salaam.....

You can see my shaykh's advice by reading my post here: (its the last post)

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38778

Would you please mention the name of your shaykh ?

[seeker_ikb]

Assalamu alaikum,
Can we download Imam Ghazzali's Ihya Ulumuddin from the net?

Please give me a link where the english translation is authentic and reliable.

Also please advise regarding the capability and qualification needed before reading the book.

Thank you,
Jizzakallah

You should visit the following link.

Life Changing Books of Tasawwuf

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42774

[tru_Qur'an]

Name: Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz Ahmad Sulaiman.


Country of Birth: Egypt.


Marital Status: Married and have 4 children.


Schools Attended:

Kafr-Suliaman Elementary School, 1963-1968

Demmiette, Egypt.


Al-Azhar Preparatory Institute of Demmiette, 1968-1971

Demmiette, Egypt.


Al-Azhar Secondary Institute of Demmiette, 1971-1974

Demmiette, Egypt.


Al-Azhar University, Commerce College, 1974-1976

Cairo, Egypt.


Al-Azhar University,College of Religion, 1977-1980

Department of Hadith, Bachelor in Religion Studies

Cairo, Egypt.


Al-Azhar University, College of Religion, 1989-1992

Department of Hadith, Diploma in Hadith Studies

Cairo, Egypt.


Al-Azhar University, College of Religion, 1992-1995

Department of Hadith, Master Degree in Hadith Studies

Cairo, Egypt.


Institute for the Preparation of Muslim Teachers, 1995-1996

Port Said, Egypt.


Work Experience:

Ministry of Awqaf(Religious Affairs), 1982-present

Demmiette, Egypt.


Imam of Islamic Center of New Mexico, 1997-2001

Albuquerque, New Mexico.


Imam of Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, 2002-present

Phoenix, Arizona.


http://www.iccpaz.com/index.php?opti...d=14&Itemid=28

[seeker_ikb]

Assalamu alaikum,
Can we download Imam Ghazzali's Ihya Ulumuddin from the net?

Please give me a link where the english translation is authentic and reliable.

Also please advise regarding the capability and qualification needed before reading the book.

Thank you,
Jizzakallah

In the following link, you will find the book.

http://www.maktabah.org/index.php/su...um-al-din.html

[seeker_ikb]

Wa'alaykum Salaam.....

You can see my shaykh's advice by reading my post here: (its the last post)

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38778

I have read some parts of Shaykh GF Haddad's article. After reading it , one can easily understand how beneficial IHYA is .

[tru_Qur'an]

I have read some parts of Shaykh GF Haddad's article. After reading it , one can easily understand how beneficial IHYA is .

Assalamu 'alaykum akhi,

Jazak'Allah khair. I apologize if I made it sound that the Ihya is a book that has no benefit to obtain from it; this was not the intended point nor did my sheikh mention anything like that.

The book is a masterpiece when it comes to ethics and morality. May Allah, the Most High, reward Hujjatul Islam,Imam Ghazali, raheemahullah, for all of his effort that he put into this work.

My point was that one has to be careful when it comes to the ahadith mentioned in the book. The english translation of Ihya alone without the checking of a Muhaddith, like al Muhadith Al 'Iraqi, raheemahullah, was something that my sheikh frowned upon. His whole point was that if they are going to translate a book, such as the Ihya, they should also translate what al-Iraqi said regarding his deep research into the authenticity of the ahadith mentioned.

According to Imam As Subki,raheemahullah, the Ihya contained weak, very weak, and fabricated ahadith numbering less than 1,000 out of about 4,000 ahadith altogether. (See Gf Haddad's article) http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/d/dids_e.pdf

As I stated before, the Ihya is an excellent book but on the other hand the arabic readers can benefit more from the Ihya when they read the Takhreej of a Muhaddith informing the reader if such and such a hadith has a basis or not.

Again, this is not an attack on the Ihya, just an advice. I apologize once again for not speaking clear in my first posts regarding this matter.


Barak'Allahu feekum

[Yahya Bhai]

thanks for the link

[Murat Yazici]

I have the following impression:

Most of the criticism about the hadiths in Ihya seem to have been written after Mongolian invasion and the concomitant burning, destruction, and irreversible loss of numerous books.

Who can guarantee that some or all of the allegedly "forged" hadiths in Ihya were not documented in some of the lost texts or that they were not related by some hafizs (hadith scholars) that lived at the time of the Imam or before?

One more point: I think using the word "forged" instead of mawdu may be misleading. It is often very difficult (if not impossible) to prove that a hadith is really forged (i.e. never spoken by the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam). I can imagine two ways of providing such a proof:

1. The Prophet will say: "I never said this."
2. A person will be with/near the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam all His life and will record each and every thing He has ever said and done. Then, if we cannot find the hadith in question among those records, we can say it is forged. (This is of course not possible.)

A hadith scholar declares a hadith to be mawdu if he cannot find evidence showing that it is indeed a saying of our beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam. This does not prove that the Prophet did not say it. What this means is that according to that scholar the saying in question cannot be shown to be a genuine hadith. Some other hadith scholar, however, may have sufficient evidence showing to him that the saying in question is indeed a hadith. This is a matter of ijtihad.

In a nutshell, I believe the following: Great scholars like Imam Ghazali and those before him would not have included a hadith in their books unless they had good evidence at their disposal convincing them that the hadith in question is not mawdu. They may have listened/read that hadith from a hafiz (hadith authority) they trust or they may have themselves concluded that the hadith in question is not mawdu. For me, the question then becomes: "Do I trust Imam Ghazali?" The next question: "Do I feel safe trusting Imam Ghazali?" To both questions, my answer is yes.

Of course, I say these only for Imam Ghazali and the likes of him; not for any "scholar" or any writer in the history of Islam. Trusting such great pious Imams (that thousands of other scholars and awliya coming afterwards have vouched for) does not entail any real danger.

Of course, everybody is free to agree or to disagree!