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/199



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III. The Book of Fear.

IV. The Book of Poverty and Asceticism. V. The Book of the Unity of God.

VI. The Book of Love.

VII. The Book of Good Intent and Sincerity.

VIII. The Book of Self-examination.

IX. The Book of Meditation.

X. The Book of the Remembrance of Death.

Especially the third and fourth parts of his great work show us Al-Ghazali as a mystic and a preacher cf righteousness. His ten books on " Things that deliver the soul " furnish material from which it would not be difficult to collect a beautiful anthology or a daily calendar of spiritual thoughts. Such a rosary of pearls from Al Ghazali’s works might well be used for devotion by Christians as well as by Moslems.

Another most interesting book is that on the names of God, entitled Al-Maksad ul-Asna Sharh Asma -Allah ul Husna, "The Highest Aim: the Explanation of the Beautiful Names of God." The book is divided into three parts of which the first deals philosophically with the meaning of the word " name " and its distinction from the nam ing of the thing and the thing named itself: also how it is possible for God to have many names and yet to be one essence. The second part of the book is the longest and treats of the ninety-nine names of God in order showing how they are comprehended in the seven attributes and the one essen