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sofia_reading's review
1.0
This is a wonderful book by Imam al Ghazali in its original Arabic, but this particular translation is really poor, making a good fluid read of the text difficult to achieve.
crimpinglife's review
4.0
I read The Alchemy of Happiness as translated by Claud Field as part of an exploratory paper that I was writing to complete my undergraduate program(!). It was short (8 chapters long) and helpful for my paper as it's content complimented another of Al-Ghazali's writings, The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife. There were some great portions that helped me understand various aspects of Islamic eschatology, theology and cosmology; these parts (which constitute 7 out of 8 chapters) were excellent and I recommend reading them as Al-Ghazali had an astute understanding of how they related to cultivate a profound devotional life.
There was also a not great part to this book. As many of the female readers have noted, there is a chapter of marriage and women called "Marriage as a Help or Hindrance to the Religious Life" and in this chapter, Al-Ghazali makes it clear that the cultivation of a profound devotional life, where one observes the Law, follows the Path, and is thus able to come face-to-face with the Truth...is the domain of men alone. Al-Ghazali might make exceptions for a few women, but in general, he believes that the Sufi path is for men, that women are generally confined to the Law and men are responsible for keeping women "in the path of the Law". I confess, I spent the reading of this chapter laughing because the content was that absurd.
But what does this mean? Should women eschew reading this book? I would say no. Al-Ghazali may have had a fine intellect, but that does not mean that he's infallible and the chapter on marriage makes that clear. Sometimes, I feel the Muslim community places too much value on the words of great scholars and seem to forget that they are human. There's still a lot of value that can be learned from this book; just because Al-Ghazali does not believe that a profound devotional life is something that women can/should pursue doesn't mean he's right. If anything, he's just wrong on this score.
There was also a not great part to this book. As many of the female readers have noted, there is a chapter of marriage and women called "Marriage as a Help or Hindrance to the Religious Life" and in this chapter, Al-Ghazali makes it clear that the cultivation of a profound devotional life, where one observes the Law, follows the Path, and is thus able to come face-to-face with the Truth...is the domain of men alone. Al-Ghazali might make exceptions for a few women, but in general, he believes that the Sufi path is for men, that women are generally confined to the Law and men are responsible for keeping women "in the path of the Law". I confess, I spent the reading of this chapter laughing because the content was that absurd.
But what does this mean? Should women eschew reading this book? I would say no. Al-Ghazali may have had a fine intellect, but that does not mean that he's infallible and the chapter on marriage makes that clear. Sometimes, I feel the Muslim community places too much value on the words of great scholars and seem to forget that they are human. There's still a lot of value that can be learned from this book; just because Al-Ghazali does not believe that a profound devotional life is something that women can/should pursue doesn't mean he's right. If anything, he's just wrong on this score.
libraryofalexandria's review
5.0
“Man was intended to mirror forth the light of the knowledge of God.”
artuditu's review
3.0
The translation of the book was bad.
I enjoyed the lessons on spirituality but Ghazzali's views on marriage really killed it for me.
I enjoyed the lessons on spirituality but Ghazzali's views on marriage really killed it for me.
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