“Said Jesus (on him be peace), ‘Do not look upon the property of the people of this world for its glory is as nothing in the light of your faith.’” (Vol. IV, p. 144.)
“It was said to Jesus: ‘If you will allow us we will build a house and worship God in it.’ He replied: ‘Go and build a house upon the sea.’ They said: ‘How can we build upon such a foundation?’ He replied: ‘How can your worship exist together with your love of the world?’” (Vol. IV, p. 158.)
“It is related that Jesus said: ‘Four things do not come to us except with difficulty. Silence, which is the first principle of worship, humility, the abundant remembrance of God and poverty in all things.’” (Vol. IV, p. 159.)
“Said Jesus (on him be peace), ‘Verily I say unto you, whosoever seeketh heaven let him eat barley-bread and sleep on the dunghill with the dogs. This is enough for me.’” (Vol. IV, p. 164.)
“Jesus was accustomed to say, ‘O children of Israel, let the water of the brook suffice you and the vegetable of the field and the barley loaf; and beware of the white loaf for it will keep you from worship.’” (Vol. IV, p. 164.)
“Said Jesus (on him be peace), ‘My food is hunger; all my thoughts are fear of God; my dress is wool; my warming-place in winter is the rays of the sun; my candle is the moon; my steed is my legs; my food is fruit that springs from the ground; I go to bed and have nothing and arise without anything; and yet there is no one richer than I am.’” (Vol. IV, p. 146.)
“Said Jesus (upon him be peace), ‘The world is a bridge; therefore cross over it and do not build on it.’” (Vol. III, p. 149.)
“Said Jesus (on him be peace), ‘Whosoever seeks the world is like him who drinks water from the salt sea. The more he drinks the more he thirsts.’” (Vol. III, p. 149.) This occurs for the second time, but Al-Ghazali loves to repeat his own sayings as well, often in the same book.
“It is related in the gospels that whosoever shall ask for forgiveness of him who praises him, has driven away the devil.” (Vol. III, p. 127.)
The following quotations or references to the Gospel occur in some of his shorter works. In the “Alchemy of Happiness,” there is this reference to the Gospel: “Whosoever sows reaps, whosoever sets out arrives, and whosoever seeks finds.” (Cf. Matt. 7: 7.) We have already quoted the words from his epistle, “O Child”: “Verily I have seen in the Gospels, etc.” In the same epistle he refers to the parable of Dives and Lazarus: “When the people of hell will say to the people of the garden, ‘Give us a little water from that which God has granted you to cool our tongues.’” He quotes Jesus as saying: “I was not unable to raise the dead, but I was unable to cure the folly of fools,” and quotes the Golden Rule in several places without acknowledging its source as being the Gospel of Jesus.