Alchemy of Happiness

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Summary: Al-Ghazzali's own abridgement of his masterwork
Review: Although Al-Ghazzali offers a few anachronisms (he died in 1111), and uses quotes from Islamic traditions to drive home his points (which many people in today's world would not accept as authoritive), his short but powerful argument for why people should take their spiritual lives seriously has perhaps never been improved upon in all the intervening centuries. His compelling perspective has not been lost in the translation from one time to another, from one culture to another, or from one language to another.

Rating:
Summary: "To know Thyself is to know Thy Lord!"
Review: Clear guidance for this age old wisdom propounded by so many enlightened souls from Socrates to Muhammad, peace be upon them. A potent source of inspiration and guidance for purifying the soul and attaining The Divine Presence.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a great disservice to the Imam's original!
Review: Without doubt the original work by Imam al Ghazzali, entitled "Keemiya-i-Sa'adaat" (Alchemy of Happiness) is one of the great works of world religious literature, especially mystical. However, although it is an abridgement of Imam Ghazzali's magnus opus, "Ihya al Ulum ud-Din" (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) made by the master himself, this translation presents but a TINY portion of the abridged work. To give you an indication of just how much has been left out of this book, I have seen a full Urdu translation of the Keemiya and it runs to approx. 1000 pages. This work is 122 small sized pages!! (The Ihya of course is about 4000 large pages).Obviously therefore most of the book is missing. Secondly, this is an English translation of a French translation of the Urdu version of the Persian from the original! The number of errors in that sequence will be large. Also the translator has made some glaring errors in the translation of some technical Sufi terms used by the Imam. e.g. the word "sama'" has been translated, incorrectly, as it almost invariably is by Orientalists as "music". Now, "sama'" as understood by the Sufis themselves does NOT mean music. Its actual meaning is to listen to melodious voices or singing without musical accompaniment.That is what sama' gatherings were: gatherings of Sufis and disciples to listen to mystical poems sung in melodious voices with the rules of musical rhythms etc. with NO accompanying instruments NOT musical concerts as is often implied.

Therefore as a general taster of the great work by Imam Ghazzali this is ok but it is a poor substitute. Alas, the English speaking world must still wait for the first complete and accurate translation of the Alchemy of Happiness.