Al-Ghazali on the manners relating to eating is the eleventh chapter of the Revival of the Religious Sciences which is widely regarded as the greatest work of the Muslim spirituality. This volume begins the section dealing with man and society, and the norms of daily life. While concentrating on a daily activity, eating, al-Ghazali presents the importance of aligning every aspect of one’s life with religion and spirituality. Referring extensively to the example of the Prophet and to early Muslims, al-Ghazali illustrates how the simple activity of eating can encourage numerous virtues which are themselves necessary for the remainder of the spiritual life.
The section of Al-Ghazali on the manner relating to eating are divided into what a person must uphold when eating alone, how a person must conduct himself when eating in company and the manner of hospitality. Through these sections, al-Ghazali also discusses lawful and unlawful foods and practices, cleanliness, fasting, general health issue, contentment with little and generosity.
About The Author
Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali was born in 450 AH (1058 A.D) in the Iranian town of Tus, studied Islamic law and theology at the Seljuq College in Nishapur, and became a distinguished professor at the famous Nizamiyya University in Baghdad.
Despite his glittering success, he was inwardly dissatisfied, so he abandoned his career for the life of hardship, abstinence and devotion to worship. During ten years of wandering, he experienced a spiritual transformation, in which the Truth came to him at last, as something received rather than acquired.
Blessed with an inner certainty, he then applied his outstanding faculties and vast learning to the task of revitalizing the whole Islamic tradition. Through his direct personal contacts, and through his many writings, he showed how every element in that tradition could and should be turned to its true purpose.
Imam al-Ghazzali was fondly referred to as the "Hujjat-ul-lslam", Proof of Islam, he is honoured as a scholar and a saint by learned men all over the world and is generally acclaimed as the most influential thinker of the Classical period of Islam.
He passed away in 505 AH (1111 A.D).
