Theology (ʿilm al-kalām wa-uṣūl al-dīn)
This is revised format and an alternate format of this page is available with pdf links to the works.
Number: [M:22; A:22; GAL, S., I, 747, no 23a]
Title: {المستظهري: فضائح الباطنية وفضائل المستظهرية} al-Mustazhiri or Faḍāʾḥ al-Baṭiniyya wa faḍāʾil al-mutazhiriyya (Infamies of the Esoterics and the Renown of the Exoterics)
Subject: Theology
Short description: (Infamies of the Esoterics [Ismaili Shia’] and the Renown of the Exoterics [play on word using the Abbasid’s Caliph al-Mustazhir to mean the Sunni Muslims]); Ghazali’s answer to Isma’ili Shi’is of his time.
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- Streitschrift Des Gazali gegen die Batinijja-Sekte by Ignaz Goldziher. This is a part-edition of “Fada’ih al-batiniyya” with German analysis based on the ms. at the British Library in London in Arabic with German Intro/Translation. in Arabic with German Intro/Translation. Also see in German: “Die Streitschrift des Gazali gegen die Ibahiya”, Übersetzer : Otto Pretzl, 1933 München.
- Fada’ih al-Batiniyya (Infamies of the Batinies) In Arabic Ed. A. Badawi (This is the complete edition based on two manuscripts while the Goldziher edition doesn’t have the full text.
- Fada’ih al-Batiniyya. Note also that the Badawi edition was not proofread. See introduction to the 2001 edition corrected and commented on by Muhammad ‘Ali al-Qtub, al-maktaba al-’asriyya: Beirut, 2001 p.6).
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- English: al-Mustazhiri: Trans. R. McCarthy. Partial translation only.
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- Ismaili rebuttal: Dāmigh al-bāṭil wa-hatf al-munāḍil taʾlif ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-Walīd (d.1215); taqdim wa-tahqiq Mustafa Ghalib. Beirut: Muʾassasat ʿIzz al-Dīn, 1982. 2 vols. (an Ismaʿīlī answer to the al-Ghazali’s Mustazhiri from the 13th Century). Note: A. Badawi was looking for this work while preparing his edition of Fada’ih but was unable to secure a copy of it, see his introduction.
Studies: Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis A study of Fr. Richard McCarthy, S.J. translation of al-Mustazhiri was completed as MA thesis and published as Al-Ghazali and Ismailis by Farouk Metah published by Insititue of Ismaili Studies, London.
Number: [M:24; A:25]
Title: {الاقتصاد في الاعتقاد} al-Iqtisad fil- Itiqad, (Median (lit. Economy) in Belief).
Subject: Theology
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- Critical Edition: al-ghazzali’s al-iktisad fi’l-itikad edited by H. Atay and I. Cubkcu. Nur Matbaasi, Ankara 1962.
- Popluar edition: Arabic. (al-Iqtisad fil- Itiqad). Also Dr. Insaf Ramdan’s edition with explanatory notes. (Damascus: 2003)
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- Complete English translation: Al-Ghazali’s Moderation in Belief, Translated with an interpretive Essay and Notes by: Aladdin M. Yaqub. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013).
- Partial English translation: Al-Ghazali on Divine Predicates and their Properties: by A. Abu Zayd. (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1970).
- A complete Spanish translation by Miguel Asín Palacios El justo medio en la creencia, compendio de teología dogmática de Algazel (Madrid: Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, 1929)
- in Japanese: ガザーリー 中村 廣治朗訳 2000、「イスラーム神学綱要」 上智大学中世思想研究所 『中世思想原典集成11 イスラーム哲学』 平凡社、pp.405-594
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- Davis, Dennis Morgan, Jr. AL-GHAZALI ON DIVINE ESSENCE: A TRANSLATION FROM THE IQTISAD FI AL-I’TIQAD WITH NOTES AND COMMENTARY, University of Utah, 2005.
Number: [M:25; A:26, 133]
Title: {الرسالة القدسية} al-risala al-qudsia, (The Jerusalem Epistle) thus called as it was written in Jeruaslem.
Subject: Creed
Short description: A short work on the principles of the creed
Citation/Association: Mentioned in ihya’
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Publication: Published as part of Book 2 of the Ihya’ and in “The Jerusalem Epistle a dual language edition with English translation and commentary published as: Al-Ghazali’s Tract on Dogmatic Theology”. Edited, Translated, Annotated and Introduced by A. L. Tibawi, Islamic Quarterly, IX (1965) pp. 65-122.
Translation: The Jerusalem Epistle a dual language edition with English translation and commentary published as: Al-Ghazali’s Tract on Dogmatic Theology. Edited, Translated, Annotated and Introduced by A. L. Tibawi, Islamic Quarterly, IX (1965) pp. 65-122. In German: “Die Dogmatik Al-Gahzalis nach dem II. Buch seines Hauptwerkes” ( “Ihya”) H.Bauer, Halle,1912.
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Number: [M:32]
Title: {قواصم الباطنية } Qawaṣim al-baṭinyah awa jawab al-masāil al-ʾarbaʿa al-lati saʾalaha al-baṭiniya bi-hamadhan (Backbreakers of the Esoterics -aka- Answer to the Four Questions that the Esoterics Queried in Hamadan)
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Publication: published in Theology Faculty Journal of Ankara University in 1954 with an introduction by Prof. Ahmed Ateş; pp.23-54
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Number: [M:33; A:33; K:7475, 12790]
Title: {المقصد الاسنى في شرح اسماء الله الحسنى} al-maqṣad al-asna fi sharah asmāʾ Allāhu al-ḥusna, (The best means in explaining Allah’s Beautiful Names)
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Manuscript: al-Maqṣid al-asnā fī asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusná, Staatsbibliothek der Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Tübinger Depot. Manuscript. Gotha 716.
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- Ninety-Nine Names of God: in Arabic with English Introduction. (Beirut: Dār al-Mashriq, 1982); edited by Fadlou Shehadh.
- M. Bejou edition with notes, (Damascus, 1999);
- Note there is at least two other editions of this book edited by al-Jafan and Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmiya edited by A. Shamasuddin.
- al-Qaṣd al-asná sharḥ asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusná, al-Qāhirah : Maktabat al-Kullīyāt al-Azharīyah, [1900?]
Translation:
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- Stade, Robert Charles, Ninety-Nine Names of God in Islam: A translation of the major portion of al-Ghazali’s Al-Maqsad al-Asna, Daystar Press, Ibadan, 1970.
- Al-Ghazali, The ninety-nine beautiful names of God = al-Maqṣad al-asnā : fī s̲ẖarḥ asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā / translated with notes by David B. Burrell and Nazih Daher. Cambridge, UK : Islamic Texts Society, 1992.
- The Name & the named : the divine attributes of God / compiled by Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti ; introduction by William C. Chittick ; including Al-Ghazali’s al-Maqṣad al-asnāʼ fī sharḥ Maʻāni asmāʼ Allāh al-ḥusnā = The noblest of aims in the explanation of God’s fairest names. Louisville, KY : Fons Vitae, 2000.
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Number: [M:37; A:37; GAL, I, 421, no 1 & S., I, 746]
Title: {جواهر القرآن ودرره} Jawāhir al-Qurʾān wa durarah (Jewels of the Qur’an and its Pearls).
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- edited by: Dr. Muhammad R. R. al-Qabani, Dar iḥyaʾ al-’ulum: Beirut, 1990) Based on the Cairo 1933 2nd ed. p.6.
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- English translation by Muhammad Abul Quasem, Kuala Lumpur: 1977.
- Italian Translation: LE PERLE DEL CORANO, INTRODUZIONE, TRADUZIONE E NOTE DI MASSIMO CAMPANINI, TESTO ARABO A FRONTE, BUR CLASSICI. (Milan, 2000) ISBN: 8817173282. paperback 207pp.
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Number: [M:43; A:43; GAL, S., I, 747 no 13]
Title: {فيصل التفرقة بين الإسلام والزندقة} Fayasl al-tafriqa bayn al-Islam wa-l-zandaqa (The Criterium of Distinction between Islam and Clandestine Unbelief)
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- LinkFayṣal al-tafriqah bayna al-Islām wa-al-zandaqah / taʾlīf Abī Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī ; taḥqīq Sulaymān Dunyā. al-Qāhirah : ʻĪsá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1961.
- Fayasl al-tafriqa bayn al-Islam wa-l-zandaqa edited by M. Bejou (Damascus: 1993) (Arabic PDF) As well as Dar al-kutub al-`ilmiyah edited by A. Shamasuddin.
- LinkFayṣal al-tafriqah bayna al-Islām wa-al-zandaqah / Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī ; taḥqīq Asʻad Jumʻah, [Tunis?] : Dār Kīrānīs lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 2014.
Translation:
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- Fayṣal al-Tafriqa bayn al-Islām wa l-Zandaqa in Richard J. McCarthy’s Freedom and Fulfillment (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980), pp. 145-174.
- On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s Faysal al-Tafriqa, Sherman A. Jackson (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002). Reviewed D. Stewart (JAOS vol. 124.1 2004).
- Uber Rechtgläubigkeit und religiose Toleranz. Eine Ubersetzung der Schrift Das Kriterium der Unterscheidung zwischen Islam und Gottlosigkeit” (Faysal at-tafriqa bayna l-Islam wa-z-zandaqa), eingeleitet, ubersetzt und mit Erlauterungen versehen von Frank Griffel, Zurich: Spur Verlag 1998, 110 p. (introduction, German translation and commentary on al-Ghazali’s Faysal al-tafriqa).
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{other possible work}
Fātiḥat al-ʻulūm / taʾlīf Abī Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī al-Ṭūsī ; kharraja aḥādīthahu wa-sharaḥa mufrādāt ʻAdnān Abū Shāmah, Dimashq : Maktabat Dār al-Fajr, [1997?]
al-Fawāʼid al-jalīyah fīmā lābudda minhu min al-furūṣ al-ʻaynīyah / taṣnīf Abī Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī al-Ṭūsī ; [dirāsat wa-taḥqīq Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Qādir al-ʻAydarūs, Muḥammad Yaslim ʻAbd al-Nūr]. al-Mukallā [Yemen] : Dār Ḥaḍramawt lil-Dirāsāt wa-al-Nashr, 2012. الفوائد الجلية فيما لابد منه من الفروض العينية / تصنيف أبي حامد محمد بن محمد بن محمد الغزالي الطوسي ؛ [دراسة وتحقيق محمد عبد القادر العيدروس، محمد يسلم عبد النور]. المكلا : دار حضرموت للدراسات والنشر، 2012.
al-Fuṣūl fī al-asʻilah wa-ajwibatihā / lil-Ghazzālī ; taḥqīq wa-taʻlīq Aḥmad ʻAbd al-Raḥīm al-Sāyiḥ.
al-Qāhirah : al-Dār al-Miṣrīyah al-Lubnānīyah, 1991.
Notes : Title on added t.p.: Jāmiʻ al-ḥaqāʾiq bi-tajrīd al-ʻalāʾiq. Published from the unique ms. in the Library of the University of Upsala. Wrongly attributed to al-Ghazzālī; an amplification of Tuḥfat al-safara ilá ḥaḍrat al-barara, variously attributed to Ibn al-ʻArabī, Bisṭāmī, and Jalāl al-Dīn Aḥmad. Title page in Spanish ; text in Arabic and Spanish. Title : LinkĞāmiʻ al-ḥaqāʾiq bi-tağrīd al-ʻalāʾiq / origen y texto por M. J. Casas y Manrique. Upsala : Almquist, 1937.
al-Insān al-kāmil fī maʻrifat al-awākhir wa-al-awāʼil/ taʼlīf ʻAbd al-Karīm ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jīlānī. Wa-bi-hāmishih, Kitāb Iljām al-ʻawām ʻan ʻilm al-kalām / taʼlīf Abī Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī. Thumma yalīh, Kitāb al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl. Thumma, Kitāb al-Maḍnūn bihi ʻalá ghayr ahlih. Thumma, Kitāb al-Maḍnūn al-ṣaghīr al-mawsūm bi-al-ajwibah al-Ghazzālīyah fī al-masāʼil al-akhrawīyah / al-jamīʻ lil-Imām al-madhkūr. Miṣr : al-Maṭbaʻah al-Azharīyah al-Miṣrīyah, 1316 [1898 or 1899] (reprinted [Cairo] : Maktabat Muḥammad ʻAlī Ṣubayḥ wa-Awlāduh, [1963]) Author : Jīlī, ʻAbd al-Karīm ibn Ibrāhīm, 1365 or 1366-
Number: [M:52; A:52, 257, 258; GAL S., I, 751]
Title: {مشكاة الانوار} Mishkāt al-Anwār, (Niche of the Lights) Qur’anic Hermeneutics of the chapter of Light.
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- Cairo 1322 edited/published by Farj Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī and Aḥmad ʿAzzāt
- Edited by Abu al-ʿalāʾ ʿAfīfī, Cairo: Dār al-Qawmiya lil-Ṭābʿa wā al-Nashr, 1964. see below perhaps an improvement on ʿAfīfī’s editon.
- edited by abdelaziz al-Sirawan, ʿālam al-kutub, 1986. Used many mss and print editions to prepare this one.
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- David Buchman, Al-Ghazali, The Niche of Lights / Mishkat al-Anwar. A parallel English – Arabic text Brigham Young University Press, 1999
- Italian translation: by Massimo Campanini as Le luci della sapienza, Mondadori, Milano 2012. (ISBN: 9788804574255)
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Number: [M:63; A:71; GAL. S: I, pp.746-747 no 11 & 12; K:1129]
Title: إلجام العوام من علم الكلام
Iljām al-ʿawāmm ʿan ʿilm al-kalām [Warding off the masses from sciences of theology]
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Publication: Iljām al-ʿawāmm ʿan ʿilm al-kalām [Warding off the masses from sciences of theology] from: Majmuʿat rasāʾil al-imām al-Ghazālī vol. p. (Beirut: 199?)
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Number: [M:74; A:81; GAL no 43]
Title: {الحكمة في مخلوقات الله} Al-ḥikma fī makhluqāt illāh, (Wisdom in God’s Creation)
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Publication: Al-ḥikma fī makhluqāt illāh ed. M. R. Qabani.
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Number: [M:162; A:162]
Title: {قانون التإويل} Qānūn al-tāʾwīl, [Methodology of interpretation]
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Publication: Qānūn al-tāʾwil [Methodology of interpretation] Edited by M. Bejou (Damascus: NP, 1993).
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Title: {الفصول في الأسئلة واجوبتها} al-fuṣūl fīl al-isʾaila wā ajwabatiha, (Chapters on Questions & their Answers)
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Short description: [On God’s breathing of the soul into humans and human creation]
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Number: [M:32; A:32]
Title: {جواب المسائل الأربع التي سألها الباطنية بهمدان} Jawāb al-masāʾil al-ʾarbaʿa al-latī saʾilahā al-baṭinīa bi-hamathan, (Answer to the four queries that the Hamadaian esoterics asked)
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Manuscript: sole existant manuscript
Publication: Jawāb al-masāʾil al-ʾarbaʿa al-latī saʾilahā al-baṭinīa bi-hamathan, edited by Muhammad Abdo – (Beirut: DKI, 2011). From a sole existant manuscript.
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