al-Ghazali website

Main: Biography: Original Source Material

  1. ʻAbd al-Ghafir al-Farisi (d. 529/1135) - Entry on Ghazali originally from “History of Nishapur” Ghazali's student. (source:  “Tabaqat al-shaifi'iyya al-kubra” ), alternate source: Ibrahim al-Siyrafini's condensation of ʻAbd al-Ghafir al-Farisi's al-siyaq li-tārīkh Nishapur (History of Nishapur) titled: "al-muntakhab min al-siyaq li-tārīkh Nishapur" (Selections from the "History of Nishapur") (المنتخب من السياق لتاريخ نيسابور) (PDF)

  2. Eulogy by: al-Abiwardi (Abu l-Muzaffar Muhammad ibn Ahmad) from Abiward in Khorasan (d. 507/1113)

  3. (العواصم من القواصم)Abu Bakr ibn al-ʻArabi (d.543/1143)- “al-‘Awasim min al-qawasim” Ghazali's student. (found in some editions: A. Talabi) (PDF)  

  4.  Ibn ‘Asakir (d. 581/1176)

    1. (تبين كذب المفتري فيما نسب للأشعري) “Tabyin kadhib al-muftari”; matbaʻt al-tawfiq, Damascus, 1347/1924, pp. 291-306.

    2. Also in “Tārīkh dimashiq”  (link to the history book in pdf)

  5. (المنتطم في تاريخ الملوك والامم) Ibn al-Jawzi  (d. 597/1201)al-Muntaẓam fī tārīkh al-mulūk wa-al-umam, Ḥaydarābād : Maṭbaʻat Dāʾirat al-Maʻārif al-ʻUthmānīyah, 1357- [1938- ] vol. 9. pp. 168-170. (PDF) Also inculded is Beirut, 1992. htm 

  6. Yaqūt al-Ḥamwī (d. 626/1229) in his Muʻjam al-buldān (pdf) Dār Ṣādir, Beirut, 1977, v.4, p49-50

  7. Ibn al-ʾAthīr (d. 636/1239) “al-Kāmil fī al-tārīkh” vol. 10. p. 173.

  8. (مرآة الزمان) Ṣibt ibn al-Jawzi  (d. 654/1257) “Mirʾat al-zaman” (PDF) 

  9. Muhyi al-din al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277) in his tabaqat

  10. (وفيات الأعيان وانباء ابناء الزمان) Abī al-ʻAbbās Shams al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr ibn Khallikān  (d. 681/1282) -  Wafīyāt al-aʻyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ al-zamān, taḥqīq Iḥsān ʻAbbās, Dār Ṣādir, Beirut,1971, vol4. 216-219.  The pdf file includes an English translation by: Baron M. de Slane. Beirut, Librairie du Liban, 1970. pp. 621-624 and a bio of his brother from vol. 1 pp. 97-8. (pdf)

  11. (Al-Dhahabi (d. 748/1348)

    1. (سير إعلام النبلاء)  - “Siyar aʻlam al-nubalaʾ” also in html and

    2. ( تاريخ الإسلام ) “Tārīkh al-islam”

      3.   (link to the history book in pdf)

    3. al-ʻAbar fi khabr man ghabr Beirut: 1985, Dar al-kutub al-`ilmyah

  12. (مرآة الجنان وعبرة اليقظان) Al-Yafiʻi (d. 768/1367) - “Mir'at al-Jinan” (PDF) also in html

    13. - and also: al-Yafi, Mirat al-Jinan, Beirut, Dar al-kutub al-'ilmya, vol.3 pp136-146 (pdf).

  13. (طبقات الشافعية الكبرى)**Taj al-din ibn al-Subki (d. 771/1370) “Tabaqat al-shaifiʻiya al-kubra” vol. 6. pp. 191-389. A biography of al-Subki is online. (link)  (in PDF complete)

  14. Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) “al-Bidaya wa -l-nihaya” (link to the whole book, article only in PDF) ed. Abdullah al-Turki; Giza: 1998, dar Hajr, 16:213-215.

  15. ( الطبقات العلية للواسطي ) Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Wasti (d. 776/1374) "al-tabaqat al-ʻulya fi manaqib al-shafiʻiya" pdf . From A.A. al-`Asam's al-falisuf al-Ghazali. Beirut: dar al-Andlus, 1981 2nd ed. with addendum, pp. 153-194. 

  16. Ibn al-Mulaqqan (d. 790/1388) “al-ʻAqd al-mudhahab fi tabaqat hamlat al-madhab” (PDF) 

  17. Taqi al-din ibn Qadi Shahbah (d. 851/1447) “Tabaqat al-Shafiʻiya” (PDF)

  18. al-nujum al-zahira' vol. 5, p. 203.

  19. Tarikh ibn al-wardi. vol. 2 p. 21.

  20. Rawdat al-janat, pp. 180-185.

  21. Tabaqat ibn Hidyata Allah, pp. 69-71.

  22. Lubab, vol. 2. p. 170.

  23. Mukhtasr abi fida', vol. 2, p.237.

  24. al-ʻaini (d. 855/1451) "ʻaqd al-juman"

  25. al-Jami (d. 898/1492) "Nafakhat al-uns"

  26. Tash Kubari Zadah (d. 962/1365) “Miftah al-saʻadah wa misbah al-siyadah” (PDF) 

  27. Salah al-din Al-Safadi (d. 964/1367) “al-Wafi fi l-wafiyat”, vol. 1, pp. 247-277

  28. al-Minawi (d. 1031/1621) al-kawakib al-duria fi tarjim al-sada al-sufia

    29.

  29. al-ʻaydrawis baʻAlwi (d. 1038/1628) in his taʻrif al-Ahya' bi fadil al-Ihya'. (PDF) Printed on the Margins of Zabidi's Ithaf.

  30. Ibn al-ʻImad al-hanbali (d.1089/1679) - “Shadharat al-dhahab fi akhbar man dhahab” Beirut: 1989, Dar ibn Kathir; 6:18-22.

  31. al-Ghazali: From the commentary on Ihya' (Ithaf al-sadah al-mutaqin bi sharh ihya' ʻulum al-din) by Murtada al-Zabidi (d. 1791): (Introduction pp. 1-55). Important work on his life and authenticity of his works.

  32. al-‘Uthman, ‘Abdelkarim. Sirat al-Ghazali wa-Aqwal al-Mutaqaddimin fihi [The Life of al-Ghazali and the Remarks of the Ancients concerning him ]. (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, n.d.) A compilation of important biographical original source material presented at the Ghazali millenary 900 years since his birth held in Damascus, 1961. (Arabic PDF) To keep the volume size down the complier took the liberity of excising the repeated material in individual biography. Not sure if there was a paper shortage at that time but its annoying. 

 The above are a complete list of biographies whereas the rest are secondary biographical sources on al-Ghazali. A listing of Ghazali's main teachers with whom he learned.

 
 

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