The Alchemy of Happiness (Kimiya-yi Sa'ādat) was written by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī – commonly known in the western world as Al-Ghazzali – a Persian theologian and philosopher who was also called The Proof of Islam. The influence of Al-Ghazzali upon both the Christian and Islamic thinkers of the Middle Ages and beyond is being more and more widely documented. Known as The Proof of Islam, Ghazzali finally won acceptance for Sufism in Islam, and his methods of argument and analysis powerfully impressed the scholars of the West, who imitated him extensively.
Above all, Ghazzali was a Sufi, The Alchemy of Happiness is his own abridgement, designed for the ordinary reader, of his colossal master-work, The Revival of Religious Sciences.
Azafran Books has presented this important work with updated editing, formatting, and design presentation in order to make available a selection of classic books for today’s contemporary readers.
CHAPTER I
THE KNOWLEDGE OF SELF
KNOWLEDGE of self is the key to the knowledge of God, according to the saying: “He who knows himself knows God,”1 and, as it is Written in the Koran, “We will show them Our signs in the world and in themselves, that the truth may be manifest to them.” Now nothing is nearer to thee than thyself, and if thou knowest not thyself how canst thou know anything else? If thou sayest “I know myself,” meaning thy outward shape, body, face, limbs, and so forth, such knowledge can never be a key to the knowledge of God. Nor, if thy knowledge as to that which is within only extends so far, that when thou art hungry thou eatest, and when thou art angry thou attackest some one, wilt thou progress any further in this path, for the beasts are thy partners in this?
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