To-day the black-browed Afghan, the Uzbek Tartar, the dervish, travel-stained and footsore, nay the poorest lad of Khorasan can buy the whole story of what Jesus did and taught. No Moslem is now dependent on Al-Ghazali’s few quotations from the Gospel. A new day has dawned for Persia and the Near East. Everywhere the New Testament is better known than any of the ninety-nine works of Al-Ghazali, and we may also say, without exaggeration, that the New Testament finds a larger circle of readers. The mystics in Islam are near the Kingdom of God and for them Al-Ghazali may be used as a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. Did not the author of the Gulshan-i-Raz (the Garden of Mysteries) write: “Dost thou know what Christianity is? I shall tell it thee. It digs up thine own Ego, and carries thee to God. Thy soul is a monastery wherein dwells oneness, thou art Jerusalem, where the Eternal is enthroned; the Holy Spirit works this miracle, for know that God’s being rests in the Holy Spirit as in His Own Spirit.” And such seekers after God to-day will find those who will lead them to Christ. For, as Dr. J. Rendel Harris expressed it: “All of us who love Christ are beginning to realize that we live in the same street and are on the same telephone, some of us that we are lodged next door to one another and can knock on the partitions, a few that we are all under the same roof and all within arm’s length and heart reach.”
Appendix
A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Abu Nasir Abd ul Wahab Taqi id Din as Subqi.—Tabaqat-ash-Shafaʾiya al Kubra. Vol. IV, pp. 101-102.
- Barbier de Meynard, M. C.—Traduction nouvelle du traite de Ghazzali intitule le Préservatif de l’erreur et notices sur les extases (des Soufis). (Journal Asiatique, Paris, 1877.)
- Brockelmann, Carl—Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, Weimar, 1898, 2 vols.
- Chenery, Thomas—The Assemblies of Al-Hariri, London, 1878, Trans.
- Clark, Edson L.—The Arabs and the Turks, Boston, 1875.
- DeBoer, T. J.—The History of Philosophy in Islam, London, 1903.
- Dozy, (Trans. by Francis Griffin Stokes)—Spanish Islam, London, 1913.
- De Vaun, Cara—Gazali (Les Grand Philos.—Felix Alcan), Paris, 1912.
- Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Field, Claud—The Alchemy of Happiness, by Ghazali (from Hindustani).
- — The Confessions of Al-Ghazali, London, 1909, Trans.
- — Mystics and Saints of Islam, London, 1910.
- — Persian Literature, London (undated).
- Fortescue, Adrian—The Lesser Eastern Churches, London, 1913.
- Gairdner, W. H. T.—Al-Ghazali’s Mishkat-ul-Anwar and the Ghazali Problem, Der Islam, Bd. V, Heft 2/3.
- Gardner, W. R. W.—Al-Ghazali. In Islam Series, Christian Literature Society for India, 1919.
- Gautier, Lucien—Ad-Dourra al-fakhira: La perle precieuse de Ghazali. Traite d’eschatologie musulmane, publie ... avec une traduction francaise. Geneve, 1878.
- Gosche, von R.—Über Ghazzali, Leben und Werke, Berlin, 1859.
- Huart, Clement—A History of Arabic Literature, London, 1903.
- Hurgronje, Dr. C. Snouck—Mekka, Haag, 1886.
- Ibn Khallikan.
- Jackson, A. V. Williams—“From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam”: New York, Macmillan Company, 1911.
- Jayakar, Lt. Col. A. S. G.—Ad-Damiri’s Hayat Al-Hayawan (under Al-Hammam), Vol. I, London, 1906, Trans.
- Jewish Encyclopædia, The.
- Journal of The American Oriental Society, Vol. XX, pp. 71-132. New Haven, Conn., 1898.
- Lane-Poole, Stanley—Mediæval India under Mohammedan Rule, in the Story of the National Series, London, 1903.
- Mohammed Iqbal—The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, London, 1908.
- Miguel Asin et Palacios—Al Gazel: Domatica, moral, Ascetica. (Zargoza. Spain, 1901.)
- — Logia et Agrapha Domini Jesu apud Moslemicos Scriptores, etc. (Latin and Arabic) Firmin-Didot and Co., Paris, 1917.
- Le Strange, G.—Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, Oxford, 1900.
- Macdonald, D. B.—Aspects of Islam, New York, 1911.
- — Emotional religion in Islam as affected by music and singing. Being a translation of a book of the Ihya ʿUlum ad-Din of Al-Ghazzali with analysis, annotation and appendices. (Royal Asiatic Society. Journal. 1901.)
- — Encyclopædia of Islam, Leyden—art., “Ghazali.”
- — The Life of Al-Ghazali with special reference to his religious experiences and opinions (Journal American Oriental Society).
- — Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory. 1903.
- — The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, Chicago, 1909.
- Murtadha—Introduction to the Celebrated Commentary of the Ihya entitled Ithaf ul Saʾada. Cairo Edition.
- Nicholson, Reynold A.—Kashf Al-Mahjub, the oldest Persian Treatise on Sufism by Al-Hujwiri, London, 1911.
- — Literary History of the Arabs, New York, 1907.
- Nöldeke, Theodore—Sketches from Eastern History, London, 1892.
- Osborn, Robert Durie—Islam Under the Khalifs of Baghdad, London, 1878.
- Saladin, H.—Manuel d’art Musulman, Paris, 1907, Vol. I.
- Tyrwitt, W. S. S.—Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus, London, 1907.
B. TRANSLATIONS OF AL-GHAZALI’S WORKS
Hebrew.
- Makasid al Falasifah—De’ot ha-Pilusufim—Isaac Albalag, 13th C.
- — Kawwanot ha-Pilusufim—Judah Nathan, 14th C.
- Tahafut al-Falasifah—Happalat ha-Pilusufim—Zerahiah ha-Levy, 1411.
- Ma’amar bi-Teshubot She’elot Nish’al Mehem (Answers to Philanthropical Questions)—H. Malter, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1897; also called Kawwanot ha-Kawwanot.
- — Mozene ha-’Iyyunin—Jacob ben Makir (d. 1308).
- Mizan al-ʿAmal—Mozen Zedek—Abraham Ibn Hazdai ben Samuel ha-Levy of Barcelona, ed. J. Goldenthal, Leipsic, 1839.
- Mishkat al-Anwar fi Riyad al-Azhar bi-Taufik al-Anhar—Maskit ha-Orot be-Pardes ha-Nizzanim—Isaac ben Joseph Alfasi.
Latin.
- Maqasid Falasifa—Logica et Philosophia—Dom. Gundisalvi, Venetiæ, 1506.