“In the time of the philosophers, as at every other period, there existed some of these fervent mystics. God does not deprive this world of them, for they are its sustainers.”

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“If the thought that he is effaced from self occurs to one with a realization of fans ['no-mind'], that is a defect. The highest state is to be effaced from effacement.”

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“I have poked into every dark recess, I have made an assault on every problem, I have plunged into every abyss, I have scrutinized the creed of every sect, I have tried to lay bare the inmost doctrines of every community. All this have I done that I might distinguish between true and false, between sound tradition and heretical innovation.”

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“To get what you love, you must first be patient with what you hate.”

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“Desire makes slaves out of kings, and patience makes kings out of slaves.”

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“As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good; I was actually being redirected to something better.”

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“Soft words soften the hearts that are harder than rock, harsh words harden hearts that are softer than silk.”

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“Those who look for seashells will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls.”

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“All of a man’s happiness is in his being the master of his ego, while all his suffering is in his ego being his master.”

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“Whosoever complains of the bad character of another man has revealed the badness of his own character.”

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“Know that thankfulness is from the highest of stations, and it is higher than patience, fear, and detachment of the world.”

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“We are creatures that love to blame the external, not realizing that the problem is usually internal.”

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“Knowledge without action is wastefulness and action without knowledge is foolishness.”

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“The tongue is very small and light but it can take you to the greatest heights and it can put you in the lowest depths.”

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“I have poked into every dark recess, I have made an assault on every problem, I have plunged into every abyss, I have scrutinized the creed of every sect, I have tried to lay bare the inmost doctrines of every community. All this have I done that I might distinguish between true and false, between sound tradition and heretical innovation.”

— Al-Ghazali أبو حامد محمد بن محمد الطوسي الغزالي 1058 – 1111 CE
(Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali)
Philosopher of Sufism

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“Islam is now Wrestling with Western thought as it once wrestled with Greek philosophy, and is as much in need as it was then of a 'revival of the religious sciences'. Deep study of al-Ghazali may suggest to Muslims steps to be taken if they are to deal successfully with the contemporary situation. Christians, too, now that the world is in a cultural melting-pot, must be prepared to learn from Islam, and are unlikely to find a more sympathetic guide than al-Ghazali.”

— William Montgomery Watt 1909 – 2006 CE
"The Last Orientalist"

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“The great Mohammedan theologian, Al-Ghazzali, had similarly turned from the consideration of truths about God to the contemplation and direct apprehension of Truth-the-Fact, from the purely intellectual discipline of the philosophers to the moral and spiritual discipline of the Sufis.”

— Aldous Huxley 1894 – 1963 CE
from Perennial Philosophy

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“[Al-Ghazzali's autobiography is important for] the purely literary student who would like to become acquainted with the inwardness of religions other than the Christian”

— William James 1842 – 1910 CE
"Father of American psychology”
from The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902

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