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Iḥyāʾ – Printed Editions

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Printed Editions of Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn

For details on the al-Ghazālī’s Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-Dīn including detailed list of contents and information on translations please see the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn page. This page contains information on the printed Arabic editions. 

  1. First printed edition: Būlāq, 1269/1853: al-Juzʾ al-awwal (– al-juzʾ al-rābiʿ) min kitāb iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn / taʾlīf Abī Ḥāmid Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī. – [Cairo : s.n.], 1269 [1853] – 4 v. in 2 ; 33 cm. – See sample pdf
  2. First India printed edition by offset lithography from a handwritten original (ḥajrīya): Iḥyāʾ al-ʿulūm fī arabaʿ mujalladāt / li-ḥujat al-Islām Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī. [Lucknow] : Niwal Kishūr, 1863. – See sample pdf. bi Ihitimām Muḥammad  ʻAlī Mumtāz: 1280/1863; vol1 and vol2 in pdf facimile.1
  3. al-Ghazālī. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. printed on the margins of the  commentary (sharḥ) of al-Iḥyaʾ by Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī’s [d. 1791] Itḥaf al-sada al-muttaqīn bi sharḥ iḥyāʾ ʿulum al-dīn, 10 vols. Cairo: al-Maṭbaʿa al-maymuniya,1894. (20×29 cm)2 (download page)
  4. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, 4 vols. Cairo: ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-awlādahu, 1939. (20×29 cm) The standard edition A facsimile. This is perhaps the best edition; it was first published ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-awlādahu and reprinted by Dār Iḥyāʾ al-kutub al-ʿArabiyya with an introduction by Dr. Badawī Ṭabāna in 1957;3 also on archive.org and locally: vol1 –vol1-alternate – vol2  – vol3 – vol3-alternate – vol4  – (in PDF facsimile). A feature of this edition is its lack of any paragraphing or sentence break as it was authored. This can be jarring for modern readers who prefer shorter sentences and many paragraphs. 
  5. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Cairo: Lajnat Nashr al-Thaqāfa al-Islāmiyya, 1356–57 (1937–38). This is the edition that the Dār al-Shaʿab based their edition on. It has been recreated here with the pagination in red on the pdf files.4 Do note that this is a very readable edition that is used for scholarly purposes: 
  6. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn an edition printed in Cairo: Dār al-Shaʿb, n. d. (silsilat kitāb al-shaʿb): 16 volumes in 4 volumes or individually in a paperback cover. It’s available in PDF facsimile at archive.org: cover–1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16. This edition is usually the bargain editions printed for mass market and printed on newsprint paper. 
  7. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn a complete edition printed in Beirut: Dār al-Qalam, n.d. by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Sayyrawān in 5 volumes PDF facimile at archive.org (20×29 cm)
  8. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. an edition in 5 volumes: Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn – taṣnīf al-Imām Abī Ḥāmid Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Ghazālī. Wa-bi-dhaylihi kitāb al-Mughnī ʿan ḥaml al-asfār fī al-asfār fī takhrīj mā fī al-Iḥyāʾ min al-akhbār. Miṣr : al-Maktabah al-Tijārīyah al-Kubrā, [195-?]: vol1 – vol2 –vol4  – vol5: contains Taʿrīf al-aḥyāʾ bi-faḍāʾil al-Iḥyāʾ by al-ʿAydarūs, al-Imlāʾ ʿan ishkālāt al-Iḥyāʾ by al-Ghazzāli, and ʿAwārif al-maʿārif by al-Suhrawardī. (in PDF facsimile)
  9. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1982 edition in 4 volumes: vol1  – alternate vol1 – vol2 – vol3 – vol4 (in PDF facsimile).
  10. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Beirut: Dār al-khayr 1997 edition in 7 volumes (bound in 6). (17×24 cm) At the end of volume 6:202 it states that they completed printing of this book on Sunday 26 of Shawwāl 1357/ 18 December 1938! followed by: al-Imlāʾ ʿan ishkālāt al-Iḥyāʾ by al-Ghazāli, Taʿrīf al-aḥyāʾ bi-faḍāʾil al-Iḥyāʾ by al-ʿAydarūs and has al-ʿIraqī’s al-Mughnī ʿan ḥaml al-asfār fī al-asfār fī takhrīj mā fī al-Iḥyāʾ min al-akhbār on the margins. This edition has an extensive index (Volume al-fahāris [7]) by Riyaḍ Muṣṭafā al-ʿAbdullāh that covers the following: (1) Qurʾān, (2) Ḥadīth, (3) sayings (ḥikam wa muʾthurāt), (4) personalities, (5) religions, sects, creeds, (6) cities and places, and (7) poetry.
  11. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Beirut: Dār Ṣadir, 2000 which is a reprint of the Aleppo: Dār al-Waʿī edition in 5 volumes edited by ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī Amīn Qalʿjī. (17×24 cm) This edition has an index of the ḥadith at the end of volume 5.  This edition also includes al-Imlāʾ ʿan ishkālāt al-Iḥyāʾ by al-Ghazāli, Taʿrīf al-aḥyāʾ bi-faḍāʾil al-Iḥyāʾ by al-ʿAydarūs, al-Suyūṭī, Tashyad al-ʾarkān fī laysa fī al-imkan ʾabdaʿ mimā kān (Fortifying the foundations of [the statement] “the best of all possible worlds” ) and has al-ʿIraqī’s al-Mughnī ʿan ḥaml al-asfār fī al-asfār fī takhrīj mā fī al-Iḥyāʾ min al-akhbār on the margins with additional work by the editor which is pretty much standard practice at this point. 
  12. Al-Ghazālī. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Cairo: Dār al-Āfāq al-ʿArbiyya 2004, edited with additional ḥadīth verification over al-ʿIraqī’s al-Mughnī by Muḥammad M. Tāmir in 5 volumes: vol2 –vol3 – vol4 –vol5  (in PDF facsimile)5
  13. Al-Ghazālī. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Dār al-Fikr, Damascus 2006 edition, reprinted 2016 which is the edition that I have. edited by Muḥammad Wahbī Sulymān (who sourced the Hadith) and Usāma ʿUmawra (who wrote the commentary). (17×24 cm) This edition also contains an index of the text. This is a commendable effort as it’s one of the actual subject index of the text not terms and where they are found in the text. I do think that the index does need more work but it is way better that what I have seen. According to the editors who prepared the text for publication they say that it is based on the text of Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī from the itḥāf. Just saying that is problematic from two aspects, first is you are basing this a single source and the other is that Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī in his itḥāf did not comment on all the of the text of the Iḥyāʾ as mentioned by the editors of the itḥāf. It would have been much better to base the edition on text that is included on the margins of itḥāf. See edition below by Dār al-Fayḥāʾ which used the marginal text as the base text. Further I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that I have been impressed by the typesetting and production quality of Dār al-Fikr, Damascus however this edition suffers from horrible typesetting and a horrible naskh font for the text. Substandard work from an ace publisher of Arabic works. To say I was disappointed by the production of the book is an understatement. 
  14. Al-Ghazālī. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Damascus 2010 edition: Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn: wa-maʿahu kitāb al-Mughnī ʿan ḥaml al-asfār fī al-asfār lil-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī, Takhrījāt al-imām al-Zubaydī fī Itḥāf al-sādah al-muttaqīn, Takhrījāt al-imām Ibn al-Subkī fī Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿīyah al-kubra, wa-yalīhi al-Imlāʾ ʿalā mushkil al-Iḥyāʾ  / Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī ; taḥqīq wa-takhrīj ʿAlī Muḥammad Muṣṭafā, Saʿīd al-Maḥāsinī ; qaddama la-hu al-Shaykh Asʿad Ṣāghirjī. (Damascus: Dār al-Fayḥāʾ and Dār al-Manhal Nāshirūn, 2010). (17×24 cm) This is perhaps one of the best modern printed edition that is superior to the minhāj edition mentioned below that uses the text of the iḥyāʾ that was printed on the margins of itḥāf as its basis and a few choice manuscripts. The reason that this is important is the text has good base text. Further, this edition has more extensive sourcing of Hadith using not only al-ʿIrāqī sourcing but that of Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī as well as al-Subki’s comments which are basically the statement that the “hadith could not be found.” a generally unhelpful thing to say, since Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī has sourced them all.  Additionally, the editors added Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī’s comments on who are the personalities that al-Ghazālī mentions and other clarifications. 6
  15. Al-Ghazālī. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Jedda: Dār al-Minhaj, 2011. In 10 volumes at archive.org. (17×24 cm)  There is another reprint of this exact text in 4 large volumes (20×29 cm) published in 2019. I will comment on the ten volume edition. This is a very nice and fancy edition. It’s a showcase piece of the Art of Arabic Book Printing. The publisher has an ījāza for the text which is an interesting feature usually reserved for hadith collections. The publisher describes the manuscripts that are used to establish the text in the introductory volume and the text mentions the manuscript variants in few instances. The bibliography of the texts cited is very good and is for the most part a comprehensive list. This is a welcome innovation and is used throughout the publishers other works. Where this edition shines is in its clarity in readability and explanation of the text. It is generously spaced and laid out on the page. The printing is two color on cream colored paper that is sturdy, the binding is well done and is of high quality. Their sense of design and graphics are over the top for my taste. They do have the good sense to use Uthmān Ṭaha’s calligraphy for the title.  Most of the times al-Ghazālī is clear in what he says but at times the reader needs additional explanation and that is where this edition makes very good use of Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī’s commentary as well as sourcing al-Ghazālī source material in books that he quotes and where that is not available the editors used sources that were “published” after al-Ghazālī’s work. This is no small task, Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī’s commentary already had a majority of those sources but the editorial team has found them all as well as the poetry. No other edition of the Iḥyāʾ has this information! Another benefit is the bibliography is cited in full with the exception of few works that were left out of the bibliography. In a small number of instances I was not able to match the short form of the references in the footnotes to the bibliography. In some cases the name of the book was not found at all as in Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān, where its listed under ibn Balibān al-Iḥsān, the other is Rawḍat al-ʿUqalāʾ where there are two editions listed and its not clear which one is used, mostly it’s the 2009 edition that is used. al-Nisāʾīs’ sunan al-kubra is not listed in bibliography but is cited in the footnotes. These are such minor gripes in the big picture but I spent countless fruitless searches to find the edition they used online. al-Fawāʾid of Tamām al-Razi (d.414), Riyad 1992 is missing. Musnad al-Firdaws is listed under al-Firdaws, Diwān Abū Tamām is listed under Sharḥ diwān Abū Tamām . Lastly the introductory volume is not numbered which is a bit odd, even though it’s in its own separate volume with Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn: al-Muqadimāt as the title.  A few gripes are the absence of referencing of the Quranic text, namely the sūra and aya which is basically standard practice on all modern printed editions. Frankly I find this baffling and hard to justify such an oversight. This is missing in both 10 volume and the 4 volume editions. Luckily it’s not in their other al-Ghazālī published works after 2017 where they invented an amusing novel way to display the sūra and aya which fits nicely in the rounded aya number decorative circle. In the 2025 published edition of al-Risala al-Qushayriyya they reverted to mention of the traditional sūra and aya in the footnote. Also noteworthy is the lack of hadith grading especially from al-ʿIrāqī and others. The hadith are cited in the sources but not the grading. 7

4 volume minhaj edition

Notes:
  1.  Note that volume 2 is missing the last page.
  2. This work is still in print in facsimiles of this edition there is also a re-keyed DKI edition printed in Beirut, 2002 that is not to be trusted as the it introduced errors in the text. 
  3. This was then known as the Ṭabāna edition.
  4. Thanks is due to Prof. Frank Griffel, Yale University for this information, his help in recreating this edition and providing the scans of the missing pages.
  5. volume 1 not available
  6. It does have an index but not as extensive as the dār al-khayr 1997 edition by Riyaḍ Muṣṭafā al-ʿAbdullāh.
  7. It has very good sourcing of texts that were used by al-Ghazālī.
mh
ghazali.org