AL-GHAZALI ON VIGILANCE AND SELF-EXAMINATION by: ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI

Al-Ghazali on Vigilance and Self-examination is the thirty-eighth chapter of the Revival of the Religious Sciences and follows on from Al-Ghazali on Intention, Sincerity & Truthfulness. Here Ghazali focuses on the different stations of steadfastness in religion (murabata), vigilance and self-examination being its cornerstones. As in all his writings, Ghazali bases his arguments on the Qur’an, the example of the Prophet and the sayings of numerous scholars and Sufis.

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111), 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, of which this is an important chapter, 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’.