Sunday, 20 December 2009

Imam Ghazali-The Alchemist of Happiness

“In God, there is no sorrow or suffering or affliction. If you want to be free of all affliction and suffering, hold fast to God, and turn wholly to Him, and to no one else. Indeed, all your suffering comes from this: that you do not turn toward God and no one else.”

“If your intention in seeking knowledge is between God Most High and yourself and not merely to gain information, then rejoice! The Angels will spread out their wings for you while you walk, and the creatures in the sea will ask God to pardon you.”
[Imam Al’Ghazali in his Bidaya al Hidaya]

"The happiness of the drop is to die in the river."

"If the first inward thought is not warded off, it will generate a desire,
then the desire will generate a wish, and the wish will generate an intention,
and the intention will generate the action, and the action will result in ruin and divine wrath.
So evil must be cut off at its root, which is when it is simply a thought that crosses the mind, from which all the other things follow on."

"The first step to self-knowledge is to know that thou art composed of an
outward shape, called the body, and an inward entity called the heart, or
soul. By "heart" I do not mean the piece of flesh situated in the left of
our bodies, but that which uses all the other faculties as its instruments
and servants. In truth it does not belong to the visible world, but to the
invisible, and has come into this world as a traveler visits a foreign
country for the sake of merchandise, and will presently return to its
native land. It is the knowledge of this entity and its attributes which is
the key to the knowledge of God."

"Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvelously made and for some great end. Although he is not the form everlasting, yet he lives for ever; and though his body is mean and earthly, yet his Lofty and the spirit is divine "

"... A man should say to his soul every morning," God has given thee twenty-four treasures; take Heed lest thou lose anyone of them, for thou wilt not be able to endure the regret that such losses will follow. "
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Watch all 13 parts of this amazing documentary titled "Ghazali: The Alchemist of Happiness" (on youtube) that sheds lights onto the life and philosophies of Imam-Ghazali

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