Al-Ghazali on the Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration Book XXIX of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din)

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Al-Ghazali on the Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration Book XXIX of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din)

The Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration is the twenty-ninth chapter of The Revival of the Religious Sciences, a monumental work of classical Islam written by the theologian-mystic Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. Perhaps the most important chapter in the whole of Revival, The Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration delves into the fundamental spiritual ailments and major impediments of the soul, namely pride and self-admiration. In Part One, Ghazali focuses on pride, firstly by showing how the Qur’an condemns it, then by demonstrating what pride is and what its symptoms are, how pride manifests outwardly, as well as the seven causes of pride, the root cause being self-admiration. In seeking ways to cure the soul of pride, Ghazali presents the virtue of humility as the spiritual virtue par excellence; he offers examples of true humility, of false humility, and the manner by which the seven causes of pride can be uprooted. In Part Two, Ghazali hones in on the root cause of pride: self-admiration. As with pride, Ghazali defines self-admiration, shows the various ways it manifests inwardly, how it causes negligence, delusion and complacency, how each of these can be remedied.

Just as humility is recognised as the virtue par excellence, pride is recognised as the vice par excellence; and this by all religions. The Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration is therefore a genuine contribution to the field of virtue ethics and will be of interest to all those engaged in the religious and spiritual life.

Reviews

…a graceful rendering of Ghazali’s original that strikes a skilled balance between accuracy and readability, avoiding faults like bringing too much Arabic syntax into the English or reproducing untranslatable Arabic idioms.’
Ken Garden, Reading Religion.

‘Mohammed Rustom has produced an attentive translation that is highly readable. …Given the renewed interest in virtue ethics in recent decades and a number of recent studies on Islamic ethics, Al-Ghazali on the Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration is a welcome contribution of a primary text related to this burgeoning field.’
Jawad Qureshi, Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies.

‘Al-Ghazali’s moral psychology forms the most lasting part of his legacy: his piercing yet thoroughly humane observations on our many foibles, in particular, have lost none of their currency. Anybody willing to examine how the vice of pride can sour the human heart and warp not only our relations with one another, but our very perception of reality, will stand to benefit from Mohammed Rustom’s excellent English translation.’
Taneli Kukkonen, NYU Abu Dhabi.

‘Mohammed Rustom’s annotated translation of one of the most important parts of al-Ghazali’s hugely influential Revival admirably combines lucidity with scholarly accuracy, and is a pleasure to read. I recommend it without hesitation to anyone interested in al-Ghazali, Sufism, or virtue ethics in Islam.’
Dr Ayman Shihadeh, SOAS University of London.

‘In his vivid and lively English translation of the twenty-ninth book of the Revival, Mohammed Rustom has gone to great pains to accurately convey the highly nuanced nature of the original Arabic, thereby bringing al-Ghazali’s thought to life for the contemporary reader.’
Steven Styer, University of Oxford.

‘…the series as a whole, [is] a significant contribution to our understanding of this key figure in Islamic intellectual thought.’
Oliver Leaman, BRISMES Bulletin.

‘Rustom’s translation is a welcome effort in furthering Ghazālī’s—along with classical Islamic texts at large—exposure to the English-speaking world.’
Noah Taj, Carleton University.

About The Author

Abu Hamid ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi al-Shafi’i al-Ghazali

Abu Hamid ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi al-Shafi’i al-Ghazali (or al-Ghazzali) was born in 450/1058, in Tus (located in present-day Iran). He studied under the great theologian and jurist Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (478/1085) and produced a number of texts on Islamic law and theology. At the age of 34 he accepted a position as rector and professor of the Nizamiyya College in Baghdad. He remained busy teaching, refuting heresies, and responding to questions from all segments of the community. During this period he produced the celebrated works The Objectives of the Philosophers (Maqasid al-Falasifa), followed by The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-Falasifa), in which he strongly challenged Peripatetic philosophy. Thereafter, facing a personal spiritual crisis, Imam Ghazali abruptly left his position and spent the next ten years in or between the cities of Damascus, Makka, Madina, and Jerusalem. During this period, he wrote the seminal Revivification of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din), a grand work of forty books outlining the significance and wisdom underlying the practices of Islam. At this point, Imam Ghazali returned to teaching in Nishapur and finally in his birth place of Tus, leaving a legacy of works that synthesized jurisprudence, philosophy, theology, and sufism. Imam Ghazali died in 505/1111 in Tus and in short time was recognized as the reviver (mujaddid) of the century, celebrated ever since among Muslims as the Proof of Islam (Hujjat al-Islam).

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111), theologian, logician, jurist and mystic, was born and died in Tus in Central Asia, but spent much of his life lecturing at Baghdad or leading the life of a wandering dervish. His most celebrated work, Revival of the Religious Sciences, has exercised a profound influence on Muslim intellectual history by exploring the mystical significance of the practices and beliefs of Islamic orthodoxy, earning him the title of Hujjat al Islam, the ‘Proof of Islam’.

Mohammed Rustom

Mohammed Rustom is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Carleton University. He is the author of the award-winning book The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Sadra (2012) and co-editor of The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary (2015).

About The Publisher

The Islamic Texts Society

The Islamic Texts Society is a publishing house founded in 1981 and registered as an educational charity in the UK (reg. no. 283832). The Islamic Texts Society produces English translations of works of traditional importance to the Islamic faith and culture, including editions of hitherto unpublished manuscripts, and also sponsors contemporary works on Islamic subjects by scholars from all parts of the world. The Islamic Texts Society hopes thereby to promote a greater understanding of Islam among both Muslims and non-Muslims, catering for laypersons as well as academics in the field of Islamic studies.

To date the Islamic Texts Society has published over eighty books on various aspects of Islam and the Islamic heritage, including Qur’anic studies and tafsir, hadith and the life of the Prophet, Islamic law and jurisprudence, spirituality and Sufism. Among the Islamic Texts Society’s bestselling publications is Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings, generally acknowledged as the best book in English on the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

One of the major and on-going projects of the Islamic Texts Society is the publication in English of the most important works of the great medieval theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111). So far twelve volumes have appeared in this series, of which two have won the British Book Design and Production Award for the best general paperback.

The Islamic Texts Society is committed to the highest editorial and design standards in all its publications and these standards have become the hallmark of its publications.