Counsels of Religion

This is Imam al-Haddad's largest work. He once said to one of his students, ?Our aim in the Book of Counsels was that it be easy, clear, intelligible to the reader possessed of understanding, and sufficient. Should he not find it sufficient, then it would prepare him for more elaborate works. Someone once called it the ?h? of the Ihya'? which seems to indicate that he saw it as the essence and heart of Ghazali's famous opus magnum. When it was said to Imam al-Haddad, ?This book is nothing but the Ihya',? he replied, ?It is as you say.?

The contents of the book are indeed in many ways similar to those of the Ihya', despite the fact that the latter is made of four large volumes. The book opens with a discourse on taqwa or God-fearing. Other subjects include: the essential role of Knowledge in Islam; the Five Pillars of Islam, wherein the ritual prayer, zakat, fasting, and pilgrimage are discussed not with regard to their outward legal aspect, but rather to their dimension of ihsan, which is what one ought to do and what pitfalls to avoid in order to render the act of worship outwardly and inwardly sound and thus acceptable to God; the rights and duties of people toward each other. Then come two chapters which in the Ihya' constitute two of its largest sections and so to speak its heart, ?Ruinous Things? and ?Saving Things? which include the various ailments of the heart and how to treat them, followed by repentance and the nine stations of certainty mentioned in the Book of Assistance.

The correct manner in which to make use of both Imam al-Haddad's and Imam al-Ghazali's books, as proved by experience, is to return to them repeatedly and read them again. With each reading meanings that are new appear and others that have already been grasped become more deeply ingrained in one's psyche, until, as second nature, one begins to produce answers to existential questions and solutions to ever changing situations that are in conformity with that holy pattern, which is none other than the Sunna of the Prophet-may God's blessings and peace be upon him and his family.