AL-GHAZALI: REVIVAL OF THE RELIGIOUS SCIENCES

MS 5321
MS Short Title AL-GHAZALI: REVIVAL OF THE RELIGIOUS SCIENCES
Text AL-GHAZALI: REVIVAL OF THE RELIGIOUS SCIENCES; KITAB IHYA’ ‘ULUM AL-DIN. VOL. 3: THE BOOK OF FEAR AND HOPE; KITAB AL-RAJA WA’L-KHAWF
Description MS in Arabic on vellum, Morocco, 1350, 17 ff. (complete), 25x19 cm, single column, (17x12 cm), 19 lines in Maghribi script of Fasi style, royal Marinid waaf inscription.
Binding Morocco, 18th c. blind-tooled red leather, sewn on 2 cords.
Context Vol. 3 from a four-volume set of Ghazali’s magnum opus.
Provenance 1. Ali b. Muhammad b. Yahya al-Shafi’I, Morocco (1350); 2. The Marinid Sultan al-Mu’ayyid al-Mansur Amir al-Mu’minin Abu ‘Inan al-mutawakkil, Fez (1350); 3. Qarawiyyin mosque, Fez (1350-); 4. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) was one of the greatest Islamic intellects, and equalled in his reputation as mystic thinker only perhaps by Ibn al-‘Arabi. In his vast work al-Ghazali sought to harmonize Islamic mysticism with every aspect of Islamic law, theology and worship, stressing the spiritual nature of Islamic ritual and search for knowledge. 

The work is universally acclaimed as a landmark in the acceptance of Islamic mysticism in mainstream Islam, and must count as one of the most highly regarded and quoted religious texts from the medieval period. The present volume is a mystical explanation of the nature of the human soul.
Place of origin Morocco
Dates 1350