Description
COSIMO CLASSICS The Mishkat Al-Anwar by Al-Ghazzali Translated by W H T Gairdner
The Mishkat AlAnwar literally translated The Niche for Lights is a theological and philosophical sufi text by the wellknown Muhammad AlGhazzali. Though the exact date of its writing is unknown it was authored after his opus Ihya ulum aldin or Revival of Religious Sciences. The work focuses on expanding upon the meaning behind a verse in the Quranthe Light Verse (S. 24 35)and upon the Veils Tradition in Islam. The book is divided into three sections; in the first AlGhazzali deconstructs the word light and all its meanings in the second he discusses the symbolic language in the Quran and Muslim traditions and in the third he applies his findings to the verse and tradition itself. ABU HAMED MUHAMMAD IBN MUHAMMAD ALGHAZZALI (10581111)was a Persian Islamic philosopher theologian psychologist and mystic known today as one of the most famous Sunni scholars in history sometimes cited as nextinimportance only to Muhammad. Born in Tus AlGhazzali was a pioneer of methodic doubt; his work The Incoherence of Philosophers shifted early Islamic philosophy from metaphysics to the theory of occasionalism an Islamic doctrine that states causeandeffect is controlled by God. He also succeeded in bringing orthodox Islam in contact with Sufism. The author of more than 70 books on various subjects his influence continues to stretch far and wide even today.show more