Al-Ghazali - An Illustrated Biography

About The Book The importance of al-Ghazali in the intellectual and spiritual history of both the Western and Islamic world cannot be too highly estimated. He is considered to be the savior of Islam because in his 40-volume opus magnum, The Revival of the Religion Sciences, he clarifies the spiritual meanings and inner purposes of every aspect of the Islamic faith. This book, an illustrated biography for both parents and children—with adjacent text for both—presents this inspiring life with exquisite miniatures in the Persian style. The biography covers his humble birth and education, rise to fame, spiritual crisis, and subsequent journeying to find the Truth in Syria, Palestine, and Mecca before returning home, having purified his heart. The text is distilled from his own autobiography, Deliverance from Error, written in the 11th century CE and from other scholarly biographies.This book is based on his semi-autobiographical account and the accounts of his students and his many biographers. Chief among these is Taj al-Din al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi iyya al-kubra.  About The Author Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali was born in 450 AH (1058 A.D) in the Iranian town of Tus, studied Islamic law and theology at the Seljuq College in Nishapur, and became a distinguished professor at the famous Nizamiyya University in Baghdad. Despite his glittering success, he was inwardly dissatisfied, so he abandoned his career for the life of hardship, abstinence and devotion to worship. During ten years of wandering, he experienced a spiritual transformation, in which the Truth came to him at last, as something received rather than acquired. Blessed with an inner certainty, he then applied his outstanding faculties and vast learning to the task of revitalizing the whole Islamic tradition. Through his direct personal contacts, and through his many writings, he showed how every element in that tradition could and should be turned to its true purpose. Imam al-Ghazzali was fondly referred to as the "Hujjat-ul-lslam", Proof of Islam, he is honoured as a scholar and a saint by learned men all over the world and is generally acclaimed as the most influential thinker of the Classical period of Islam. He passed away in 505 AH (1111 A.D). About The Illustrator Demi is the author and illustrator of more than 300 children’s books, including picture-book biographies of spiritual leaders such as Jesus, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Lao Tzu, Krishna, Mahavira, and Muhammad. Her titles have been designated American Library Association Notable Children's Books, New York Times Best Illustrated Books, Notable Books for a Global Society, and American Bookseller Pick of the List Books. She lives in Yarrow Point, Washington.