Al Ghazali on Islamic Guidance by Al Ghazali, Translated by Muhammad Abul Quasem

In the 11th Century AD, there was a significant deterioration in Muslim's belief and observance of the Shariah as a result of the evil influence of AlFarabi and IbnSina's Neoplatonic philosophy, of Shia Batinism, of false Sufis and evil religious scholars. It was at this time of laxity in beliefs and practices that Abu Hamid Muhammad Al Ghazali (D 505 Hijri) flourished as a renewer (Mujaddid) of the deen and as one of the greatest intellectuals of Islamic history. Well-versed in almost all major intellectual disciplines of the time, Al-Ghazali refuted the prevailing false beliefs entirely and exposed the wrongness of existing practices. As substitutes to these, he presented a belief system following the Ashari Sunni tradition and a method of practices in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah, Fiqh, Sufism and his own thoughts and experiences. This system of practices may be called Al Ghazalis theory of Islamic guidance, an aspect of which is set forth in the Present work. Guidance (h