A study of Al-Ghazali`s spiritual ethics with reference to Khulasat al-Tasanif fi `Ilm al-Tasawwuf

Abstract

Al-Ghazali’s Khulāsat al-Tasanif fi 'Ilm al-Tasawwuf, though concise is a significant work in the form of an epistle to his disciple, comprising thirty three principles on spiritual ethics, the way of Sufism, methods of da'wah and adult education. This text should be highlighted by Muslim scholars on Ghazalian corpus given the significance of its contribution to spiritual ethics. However, almost all Western scholars on Islam have doubts about the authenticity of the text whereas Muslim scholars think lightly of this contribution due to several reasons: it being a minor Persian work, being a summary of the famous Ihya'’, and being a duplication of another Persian epistle, Ayyuh'l-Walad. Muhammad Amin al-Kurdi (d. 1332/1914) asserts that the Arabic version of Khulasat al-Tasanif is from an original Persian manuscript, whereas Ayyuha’l-Walad has been popularly translated into various languages without evidence being shown that it is from the Persian text, and it is being celebrated in many printed versions. Surprisingly, these two texts, the Ayyuha’l-Walad and the KhulasatÏ al-Tasanif have similar contents, even though some words and examples may vary slightly and not being so systematically arranged. Why did al-Ghazali write a similar text under two different titles? This question justifies the need for an intensive comparative contextual analysis of these two texts. This research will contribute the first English translation of Khulasat al-Tasanif from the Arabic version of al-Kurdi.