Imam Al-Ghazali’s The Forty Principles of Religion (Al-Arba`in fi Usul al-Din)

Imam Al-Ghazali’s The Forty Principles of Religion (Al-Arba`in fi Usul al-Din) The Forty Principles of Religion is an adapted abridgment of The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ `Ulum al-Din). The major difference is that the first quarter of the The Forty Principles of Religion addresses Islamic theology. Of these first ten books, eight are about the attributes of God, the nineth about the Day of Judgement, and the tenth about Prophethood. Many of the original books of the first quarter of the Ihya’ are pushed back to the second quarter of the Forty. In reading The Forty Principles of Religion, I relied mostly on the Ihya’ for a wider context, and Al-Hafiz al-`Iraqi’s verification of the Prophetic traditions. For those who follow both the original Arabic text and the English translation of the The Forty Principles of Religion, they will notice that I have provided an alternative translation of certain texts.

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Course Instructor

Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway