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SpiritualRoadmapbyGhazali, page : 31
You must know -and may Allah Most High refine your righteousness and soften
your guidance to the truth- that the different religious observances and religious
communities of the human race and likewise the different theological systems of
You have asked me, my brother in religion, to show you the aims and inmost nature of
the sciences [materialistic, spiritual and cultural, philosophical and Judeo-Christo-Muslim
religion] and their secrets and the perplexing depths of religious systems. I relate to you
the difficulties I encountered in my attempt to extricate the truth from the confusion of
contending sects, between the wide difference in ways and methods, and how I braved
climbing above the plain of naive emulation and second-hand belief (taqlid) to the peak
of direct vision. What I have benefited firstly from the science of theology [with its logic
and debate] (kalam), secondly, what I hated of the methods of the academics (ta`lim)
(authoritative instruction), who are rendered incapable to comprehend the truth in
respect to following the spiritual guide [the Prophet Muhammad] (taqlid), thirdly, what I
rejected of the methods of philosophy, and lastly, what I was satisfied with in the Science
of Ihsan (Spiritual Perfection) [Sufi]. What core truths that became clear to me of
the
sayings of people after my manifold investigation. What busied me from spreading
knowledge in Baghdad although there are plenty of demanding students and what made
your guidance to the truth- that the different religious observances and religious
communities of the human race and likewise the different theological systems of
You have asked me, my brother in religion, to show you the aims and inmost nature of
the sciences [materialistic, spiritual and cultural, philosophical and Judeo-Christo-Muslim
religion] and their secrets and the perplexing depths of religious systems. I relate to you
the difficulties I encountered in my attempt to extricate the truth from the confusion of
contending sects, between the wide difference in ways and methods, and how I braved
climbing above the plain of naive emulation and second-hand belief (taqlid) to the peak
of direct vision. What I have benefited firstly from the science of theology [with its logic
and debate] (kalam), secondly, what I hated of the methods of the academics (ta`lim)
(authoritative instruction), who are rendered incapable to comprehend the truth in
respect to following the spiritual guide [the Prophet Muhammad] (taqlid), thirdly, what I
rejected of the methods of philosophy, and lastly, what I was satisfied with in the Science
of Ihsan (Spiritual Perfection) [Sufi]. What core truths that became clear to me of
the
sayings of people after my manifold investigation. What busied me from spreading
knowledge in Baghdad although there are plenty of demanding students and what made