-
SpiritualRoadmapbyGhazali, page : 93
formal visit to his
tomb at Medina
32
to return to it. Here, too I sought retirement, still longing for solitude and the
purification of the heart for the recollection of Allah. The events of the interval, the
anxieties about my family, and the necessities of my livelihood altered the aspect
of my purpose and impaired the quality of my solitude, for I experienced pure
ecstasy only occasionally, although I did not cease to hope for itt; obstacles
would hold me back, yet I always returned to it.
I continued at this stage for the space of ten years, and during these periods of
solitude there were revealed to me things innumerable and unfathomable. This
much I shall say about that, in order that others may be helped: I learned with
certainty that it is above all the mystics who walk on the road of Allah; their life is
the best life, their method the soundest method, their character the purest
character; indeed, were the intellect of the intellectuals and the learning of the
tomb at Medina
32
to return to it. Here, too I sought retirement, still longing for solitude and the
purification of the heart for the recollection of Allah. The events of the interval, the
anxieties about my family, and the necessities of my livelihood altered the aspect
of my purpose and impaired the quality of my solitude, for I experienced pure
ecstasy only occasionally, although I did not cease to hope for itt; obstacles
would hold me back, yet I always returned to it.
I continued at this stage for the space of ten years, and during these periods of
solitude there were revealed to me things innumerable and unfathomable. This
much I shall say about that, in order that others may be helped: I learned with
certainty that it is above all the mystics who walk on the road of Allah; their life is
the best life, their method the soundest method, their character the purest
character; indeed, were the intellect of the intellectuals and the learning of the