Al-Ghazali: The Mysteries of the Pilgrimage (Book 7 of Ihya' 'ulum al-din, The Revival of the Religious Sciences)

  Kitāb asrār al-ḥajj. Book 7 of the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn.THE REVIVAL OF THE RELIGIOUS SCIENCES Translated from the Arabic with an Introduction and Notes by M. Abdurrahman Fitzgerald In the Mysteries of the Pilgrimage (Kitāb asrār al-ḥajj), book 7 of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn), Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī discusses the fundamentals of the pilgrimage, including its pillars, preconditions, and obligations. The book begins with an introduction on the merits of the pilgrimage and its rewards. Al-Ghazālī explains the Qurʾānic statement announcing the pilgrimage: And proclaim to the people the pilgrimage; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass—that they may witness benefits for themselves and mention the name of God on known days [22:27–28]. In chapter 1, al-Ghazālī enumerates the merits and the profound significance of Mecca and Medina, the sacred mosque, the black stone, and the Kaʿba. In the n