Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual Autobiography, al-Munqidh min al-Dalal [Paperback]

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (Author), Ilse Lichtenstadter (Editor), R. J. McCarthy (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

This spiritual autobiography describes Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's intellectual crisis, which led him to achieve direct knowledge of God. Among his most outstanding contributions to Muslim intellectual life were masterly defenses of Islamic orthodoxy, mysticism, and law, against the attacks of those who advocated purely legalistic, or entirely esoteric, readings of the religion. He hence articulated the Islam of the middle way, in balance between the extremes of the letter and the spirit. Also included in this volume are extensive translations from key works of al-Ghazali.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali is generally acclaimed as the most influential thinker of medieval Islam, whose writings have been regarded as the greatest in spirituality and have been, for centuries, the most read work after the Qur'an in the Muslim world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Fons Vitae; 2nd edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887752277
• ISBN-13: 978-1887752275
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 4, 2007

By 

Adnan Khan (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual Autobiography, al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (Paperback)

This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. The translation is amazing and every word is a gem. You will be amazed by how many questions this book will answer. I highly recommend this book even if you are not very spiritual.
Quick tip: If you find yourself struggling to undestand some of the words in this book, I highly recommend looking that up in [..] or Wikipedia.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Autobiography of Imam al-Ghazali, February 8, 2011

By 

D. J. Spaulding (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual Autobiography, al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (Paperback)

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali is without doubt one of the mostly interesting, and most important, figures in the history of Islamic theology, philosophy, and Sufism. He was a polymath of the highest order. This book is a translation of his autobiographical journey from philosophical skepticism to the the mystic faith of Sufism. It includes a very thorough introduction to al-Ghazali, as well as several translations of other short works by al-Ghazali in the appendix. The only gripe I had with the book is the choice of font size, but other than that this book is more than worth buying and spending an afternoon reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to follow chapter notes, still nice, January 18, 2007

By 

A. S. Abdulbari "Seeking Knowledge" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual Autobiography, al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (Paperback)

This is a letter written to a questioner by Imam Al-Ghazzali. The translation is a bit difficult to follow - especially after having read this in Arabic. Unfortunately, many of the arabic words are difficult to translate into english without thorough explanation. Though the translator does note these difficulties and explains the different plausible meanings of the words, it is hard to follow the references that are in the back of the chapter. It would have been much easier to place the comments and explanations in footnotes. Other than that, the translation seems very accurate. I enjoyed reading the letter. The translation of faysal at-tafriqah has recently been re-done by Dr. Sherman Jackson, and it is superior to the one contained in this book.

Still a wonderful addition to your library.