al-Ghazali website

- - - - - - - -

Main: Article: Contesting the authenticity of Ma`arij

Ma‘arij al-Qudus fi Madarij M’arifat al-Nafs

I think that the book called Ma‘arij al-Qudus fi Madarij M’arifat al-Nafs, is a book that is falsely attributed to al-Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. My conclusion is based first on the studying the history of the manuscripts of al-Ghazali’s books and that of Ma‘arij al-Qudus. Second by analyzing the works of the specialized scholars who classified al-Ghazali’s book. Third by comparing the internal contents of Ma‘arij al-Qudusfi with al-Ghazali’s writing and his style and semantics. The book so called Ma‘arij al-Qudus fi Madarij M’arifat al-Nafs was not written by al-Ghazali and was with no doubt falsely attributed to him.  The following details show how the book Ma‘arij al-Qudus was one of the books that was falsely attributed to Imam Abu  Hamid al-Ghazali:

1. This book: Ma‘arij al-Qudus was neither mentioned in the early classification of al-Ghazali’s books such as the famous classification of al-Subki (d. 771). Nor it is mentioned by the later authors who listed al-Ghazali’s works like al-Murtda al-Zabidi (d. 1205). This mean that the name of this book Ma‘arij al-Qudus was a recent compilation that came into existence at least in the late thirteenth century or even after that.  So there was no such book during the life of Imam al-Ghazali called Ma‘arij al-Qudus.
2. Badawi states in describing the manuscript number 630 falsafa in Dar al-Kutb al-Misrya (National Egyptian Archives) that in the title page of this manuscript there is only the title “Ma'arij al-Qudus” without any mentioning of an author. C. f. Badawi p. 245.
3. al-Ghazali never mentions this book (Ma‘arij al-Qudus ) in any of his works. He does not mention it in al-Munqidh min al-dalal in which he mentions a good number of his books. Also he did not mention it in the ihya’.
4. Ma‘arij al-Qudus does not mention any of the works or books of al-Ghazali, nor does it refer to any of the sections in al-Ghazali’s other works of a similar topic.
5. The compiler of Ma‘arij al-Qudus has placed an introduction under the title: “On the meanings of synonymous terms denoting nafs (soul) and they are four nafs (soul), qalab (heart), rouh (spirit) and aql (intellect). This is nothing but a summary in four pages of a well known section in the ihya’ comprising of 50 pages. It is the first book of 3^rd Quarter on the ways to perdition (book 21) titled The Marvels of the Heart, in which Imam al-Ghazali has discussed in detail these concepts. If  Ma‘arij al-Qudus was authentically belong to al-Ghazali, then al-Ghazali would have directed the reader to the ihya’ for more details on this crussial topic. If he had written Ma‘arij al-Qudus before al-Ihya’ , then al-Ghazali would have mentioned it in the ihya’.
6. In Ma‘arij al-Qudus there is again another chapter titled “Expounding the examples of the heart with its armies which has three examples” and this is again a summary that is inferior of the similarly titled section from the ihya’. If it was truly and authentically written by al-Ghazali, then, al-Ghazali would have directed the reader to the detailed section in book 21 on the Marvels of the Heart, in his Ihay’.
7. As a conclusion Ma‘arij al-Qudus  is not written by al-Ghazali, and the book as a whole is not much more than a collection of summaries from the works of al-Ghazali without a cohesive connection among its chapters; which is contradictory to al-Ghazali’s writing styles.

Additional information from Badawi, pp. 244-248:

According to Badawi he mentions the following Mss for this book:

• Wali al-din 1814[10] Baghdad,

• 630 falsafa in dar al-kutb al-misrya (National Egyptian Archives)

• Kuperlu 853

• Aya sofia 1: 388 [20 Arabic taswauf]

The 630 falsafa in dar al-kutb al-misrya (National Egyptian Archives) was copied by Muhammad Baqir ibn khadma’li in 1176 in 74 folios aprox 20 lines per page written in an are 6.4 X 12.2 cm with numerous corrections in the margins in a different hand.  (Badawi p. 246)

However the Baghdad Mss is in better shape as it was written by a better copyist. It begins the same as the work above however it ends differently where it mentions  Mi’ayar al-ilm and Mizan al-‘amal. It is part of a Mujmua’ work includes an epistle on states of the soul, Ma‘arij al-Qudus, mi‘yar al-‘ilm, mahik al-Nazar. Copied in 887. (Badawi, p. 247-8

Page Information:

* How to make the most of this site and all about downloading files.

* Page updated on: 2007-11-27.

* URL: http://ghazali.org/articles/ma-mq-contention.htm. 

* Site © Copyright 2007 by Muhammad Hozien. All rights reserved. This site is dedicated to academic study of Imam abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Individual content may have its own individual copyrights. See copyright information.