Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/192

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men many years and not for one hour have you purified yourself for my gates, and every day a voice was sounded in your ears saying, What you do for others why do you not do for me who sur rounds you with my mercy! but you were deaf and not willing to hear/

In his "Alchemy of Happiness " there is a beau tiful chapter on " Know Thyself." The parable there used regarding man’s soul and the enemies that lay siege against it reminds one very much of Bunyan’s "Holy War." The shortest of his works, as far as I am aware, is called Al-Qawa id Al-Ashara (The Ten Articles); this has been frequently reprinted. It consists of ten principles of faith and conduct, and is scarcely longer than an ordinary letter. Of a similar character is Risalat-ut-Tair the parable of the birds. His most celebrated treatise on ethics and conduct is entitled Mizan ul Amal It might be compared to the book of Ecclesiastes or the first chapters of the book of Proverbs. In the introduction Al-Ghazali shows the folly of those who neglect to secure the happiness of their immortal souls as well as the peril of those who despise faith in the world to come. The true way of happiness consists in knowing the right and doing it. The soul is a unit and its various powers are knit together and are interdependent. The path of the mystic unites true faith with true practice. He also speaks of the possibility of change of character through religious