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/204



treatises were composed which derived much from him. Claud Field says " the most important of these is the Akhlaq-i-Jalali, by Jalaluddin Asa ad Aldawani, which has been ably translated into English by Mr. W. F. Thompson. The Akhlaq-i Jalali itself is largely a translation into Persian from the Arabic, the original of which appeared in the tenth century under the name of Kitab-ut Taharat. Two centuries after it was translated into Persian by Abu Nasr, and named Akhlaq Nasiri, enriched with some important additions from Avicenna. In the fifteenth century it as sumed a still further improved form under its pres ent name, the Akhlaq-i-Jalali. " *

That Al-Ghazali was a careful student of nature is evident in all his writings. Those portions of the Koran which deal with natural theology and the proof of God’s existence from the starry heavens, from the fertile ground, the animal crea tion, and the sea with its terrors, especially seem to appeal to him. One of his books is entitled Al Hikmat fi Makhlukat Allah (The Wisdom of God Shown in the Marvels of Creation). It is one of his shorter writings but full of beautiful passages on the glory of the starry heavens, the earth and the sea, and the four primal elements. One long chapter is devoted to embryology and the physical wonders of the human frame. Another is on birds, another on quadrupeds and on fishes. The con "The Mystics of Islam."