About The Book

Ayyuha al-Walad ("O My Son") is Imam al-Ghazali's celebrated short letter of spiritual advice to a young student. The student had asked his teacher — late in al-Ghazali's life, after the Ihya was already complete — what knowledge would actually benefit him on the Day of Judgment, and what he should now do with his life. al-Ghazali's response is at once intimate, severe, and full of tenderness: he warns the student against accumulating learning without action, urges him to take a true spiritual director, distills the practical heart of the path into seven short counsels, and ends with a prayer for the student's success.

Of all al-Ghazali's works, Ayyuha al-Walad is the most-translated — read in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Malay, English, French, German, and other languages. It is among the first texts of Islamic spirituality placed in the hands of beginning students of the path.

About The Author

Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Ghazali (450-505 AH / 1058-1111 CE), Hujjat al-Islam (the Proof of Islam), is among the most influential thinkers in the history of Islam. Born in Tus in Khurasan, he studied under al-Juwayni Imam al-Haramayn at Nishapur and rose to teach at the Nizamiyya college in Baghdad before withdrawing into a long spiritual retreat from which he emerged with the Ihya. Ayyuha al-Walad was composed in the closing years of his life.

عن الكتاب

"أيها الولد" رسالةٌ قصيرة للإمام الغزالي إلى طالبٍ من تلاميذه. كان الطالب قد سأله — في أواخر عمره بعد فراغه من الإحياء — أيُّ علمٍ ينفعه يوم القيامة، وما الذي ينبغي أن يصنعه ببقيّة حياته. فجاء جواب الإمام حميمياً صارماً عَطُوفاً في آنٍ واحد: يُحذِّر تلميذه من جمع العلم بلا عمل، ويُلْزِمه باتّخاذ شيخ مُرَبٍّ، ويختصر له لُبَّ الطريق في سبع وصايا، ويختم بالدعاء له. الكتاب من أكثر مؤلَّفات الغزّالي تُرْجَمَةً إلى لغات العالم.

عن المؤلف

الإمام أبو حامد الغزالي (٤٥٠-٥٠٥ هـ)، حجّة الإسلام. تتلمذ على إمام الحرمين الجويني، ودرّس بالنظاميّة ببغداد، ثم اعتزل في رياضة روحية طويلة صنّف بعدها "إحياء علوم الدين". صنَّف "أيها الولد" في أواخر حياته.