Written work
The Niche of Lights
مشكاة الأنوار (Mishkat al-anwar)
A commentary on the Light verse (Qur'an 24:35) and the hadith of the seventy thousand veils. Al-Ghazali holds that the only true light is God and everything else is borrowed light; he distinguishes degrees of knowledge and vision, interprets the symbolic language of the Qur'an and classifies humanity according to the veils (of pure darkness, of light and darkness, of pure light) that separate it from God. It is his most speculative work and the one that has most interested mystical and philosophical readers.
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Authorship note
Disputed attribution: Gairdner (1924) translated it as authentic; Montgomery Watt questioned its last section (the "veils"); Badawi noted that it appears complete in a collective manuscript copied four years after his death (Şehid Ali Paşa 1712), and Hermann Landolt has defended its authenticity. Most now accept it.
Editions and translations
Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.
English
The Niche of Lights: A Parallel English-Arabic Text
Brigham Young University Press, 1998
Translation: David Buchman
ISBN 0842523537
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazzali's Mishkat al-Anwar («The Niche for Lights»)
The Conscious LibraryAl-Ghazzali's Mishkat al-Anwar («The Niche for Lights»)
Royal Asiatic Society, Londres, 1924
Translation: W. H. T. Gairdner
Dominio público; reimpresión de Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, 1952.
العربية
Al-Ghazali
Mishkat al-anwar
The Conscious LibraryMishkat al-anwar
al-Dar al-Qawmiyya, El Cairo, 1964
Translation: Abu l-'Ala 'Afifi (ed.)
Edición crítica. Sin ISBN.
Français
Le Tabernacle des lumières
Éditions du Seuil, 1981
Translation: Roger Deladrière
ISBN 2020057441
Other works by Al-Ghazali
- The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya ulum al-din) · 1097
- The Extensive (Shafi'i law) · 1088
- The Intermediate (Shafi'i law) · 1090
- The Concise (Shafi'i law) · 1101
- The Quintessence of the Epitome
- The Sifted Notes on the Foundations · 1085
- The Healing of the Thirsty (on legal reasoning) · 1093
- The Essentials of Legal Theory · 1109
- The Foundation of Analogy
- The Aims of the Philosophers · 1094
- The Incoherence of the Philosophers · 1095
- The Standard of Knowledge (logic) · 1095
- The Touchstone of Reasoning (logic) · 1095
- The Criterion of Action · 1095
- The Correct Balance · 1100
- Moderation in Belief · 1095
- The Jerusalem Epistle · 1096
- The Decisive Criterion for Distinguishing Islam from Clandestine Unbelief · 1101
- The Rule of Interpretation · 1105
- Restraining the Common People from Theology · 1111
- The Infamies of the Batinis (al-Mustazhiri) · 1095
- The Excellent Refutation of the Divinity of Jesus from the Gospel
- The Book of the Forty (principles of religion) · 1100
- The Jewels of the Qur'an · 1100
- The Noblest Aim: on the Beautiful Names of God · 1100
- Dictation on the Difficult Passages of the Ihya · 1105
- The Beginning of Guidance · 1100
- The Precious Pearl (on the science of the hereafter) · 1100
- Deliverance from Error · 1108
- The Alchemy of Happiness · 1105
- Counsel for Kings · 1109
- The Virtues of Mankind: Letters of the Proof of Islam · 1111
- Refutation of the Antinomians · 1106
- O Disciple (Letter to a Disciple)
- The Path of the Worshippers
- What Is to Be Withheld from the Unworthy
- The Lesser Withheld Book (Answers on Eschatological Questions)
- The Epistle on Divinely Bestowed Knowledge
- The Ladders of Holiness in the Degrees of Self-Knowledge
- The Unveiling of Hearts
- The Secret of the Two Worlds
- The Wisdom in God's Creatures
- Book of Counsel
Sources
- al-Ghazali. Mishkat al-anwar («The Niche for Lights»). Trad. e introd. de W. H. T. Gairdner. Londres: Royal Asiatic Society (Monographs, vol. XIX), 1924; reimpr. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1952.
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