Al-Ghazali on Invocations and Supplications

Author Information: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111), theologian, logician, jurist and mystic, was born and died in Tus in Central Asia, but spent much of his life lecturing at Baghdad or leading the life of a wandering dervish. His most celebrated work, "Revival of the Religious Sciences", has exercised a profound influence on Muslim intellectual history by exploring the mystical significance of the practices and beliefs of Islamic orthodoxy, earning him the title of "Hujjat al Islam", the `Proof of Islam'.---Translator Information: Prof Kojiro Nakamura was the Head of the Islamic Studies Department at the University of Tokyo.

Al-Ghazali's Introduction to the "Revival of the Religious Sciences"---Publisher's Note---Editor's Note---Abbreviation---Preface---Introduction---Notes to Introduction---Prologue---Chapter One: On the General Merit and Profit of Invocation, with an Illustration from the Qur'an, the Traditions and the Narratives---Chapter Two: On the Forms and Value of Supplication and Some Transmitted Prayers; the Merit of Asking for Forgiveness and of Invoking Blessing upon the Emissary of God (may God bless him and grant him peace)---Chapter Three: Transmitted Prayers whose Authors and Circumstances [of Composition] are Known and whose Use in the Mornings and Evenings and immediately after each Ritual Prayer is Desirable---Chapter Four: Prayers Transmitted from the Prophet and his Companions, with the "Isnad" Omitted and Chosen from the Collections of Abu Talib al-Makki, Ibn Khuzayma, and Ibn Mundhir---Chapter Five: Prayers Transmitted for Every Emergent Occasion---Notes---Appendix I: Persons cited in text---Appendix II: Some Important invocations---Bibliography---Index to Qur'anic Quotations---General Index