The Mysteries of Charity and the Mysteries of Fasting by Imam Al-Ghazali (Book 5 and 6)

In-store location: Shelf 3.14

By Imam Al-Ghazali, Translated by M Abdurrahman Fitzgerald, Fons Vitae Publishing, Paperback, 155 pages

The Mysteries of Charity and the Mysteries of Fasting (Kitab asrar al-zakat wa Kitab asrar al-siyyam) is Book 5 and 6 of the Revival of the Religious Sciences series (Ihya ulum al-din) by Imam Al-Ghazali.

In Book 5 Al-Ghazali begins with a discussion of the various kinds of zakat and the conditions under which they become obligatory. He explains the manners related to zakat and its inward and outward conditions. He then discusses the recipients of zakat, who qualifies for it and in what circumstances, and the manners related to receiving it. Finally, Al-Ghazali explains charity and its virtues.

In Book 6 Al-Ghazali begins with the outward obligations and sunna elements of fasting, and what is required if the fast is broken. He explains the mysteries of fasting and its inner conditions. Finally, he discusses the voluntary fasts and their order in supererogatory worship.

About the author:

Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) was a leading scholar, jurist, and theologian of the golden age of Islam, and he remains its truest advocate in modern times. As a teacher of both inward and outward faith, he recorded these practical teachings in his forty-book compendium of Islamic knowledge.

Imam Al-Ghazali was fondly referred to as the "Hujjat-ul-lslam", a Proof of Islam, is honoured as a scholar all over the world and is generally acclaimed as the most influential thinker of the Classical period of Islam.