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Library Al-Ghazali

O Disciple (Letter to a Disciple) — Al-Ghazali

Traditional attribution

O Disciple (Letter to a Disciple)

أيها الولد (Ayyuha l-walad) / ای فرزند (Ay farzand)

Al-Ghazali según Khalil Gibran
byAl-Ghazali

A letter of advice to a disciple who, after years of study, asks which knowledge will benefit him. The answer insists that knowledge without action is useless, on the need for a master, on sincerity and on the remembrance of death, with the refrain "O son!". Short and accessible, it is one of the most translated texts attributed to al-Ghazali; Hammer-Purgstall published it in German in 1838.

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Authorship note

Disputed attribution. Bouyges, Allard and the Encyclopædia Iranica accept it as a work later than the Ihya, written in Persian (Ay farzand) and later translated into Arabic (Khulasat al-tasanif). Alexey Khismatulin regards it as a Persian forgery of one or two generations later, put together from two authentic letters in Faza'il al-anam and letters by Ahmad al-Ghazali and 'Ayn al-Qudat; the earliest Arabic manuscripts date from the sixteenth century.

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

Deutsch

  • O Kind! Die berühmte ethische Abhandlung Ghasali's. Arabisch und deutsch

    A. Strauss's sel. Witwe, Viena, 1838

    Translation: Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall

    Dominio público.

Français

  • Lettre au disciple (Ayyuha 'l-walad)

    UNESCO / Commission internationale pour la traduction des chefs-d'œuvre, Beirut, 1951

    Translation: Toufic Sabbagh

    Sin ISBN.

العربية

  • Ayyuha l-walad — Al-Ghazali

    Ayyuha l-walad

    Dar al-I'tisam, El Cairo, 1983

    Translation: 'Ali Muhyi al-Din al-Qaradaghi (ed.)

    ISBN 9771420550

    ISBN de 10 dígitos tal como figura en Open Library.

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Other works by Al-Ghazali

Sources

  • Wikipedia (en), «Al-Ghazali», secciones Works y Works in Persian (resumen de la tesis de A. Khismatulin sobre la falsificación de Ay farzand y de la segunda parte de Nasihat al-muluk).

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