Al-Ghazali's Path to Sufism : His Deliverance from Error Book

In truth, while I love Fons Vitae, it is imperative that they start using Muslim translators for many of these texts. The overall tone of the text lacks the passion of absolute conviction and yaqin (certainty) that Imam Al-Ghazali's words exude, and the footnotes, while scholarly for an orientalist, and terribly deficient and sometimes downright insulting to a believing Muslim with an informed background in Islamic studies.

I have been wanting to read this text for years, as Al-Ghazali's personal dilemma as to the fate of his own soul when he was at the height of power within the very powerful realm of Islamic scholarship is extremely compelling. I very much loved the documentary film "The Alchemy of Happiness", and I was hoping that more of an autobiographical narrative would comprise much of Al-Munqidh. It did not. Most of the text is very analytical and scholarly. Those autobiographical moments of disclosure are priceless however. This is perhaps one of the most touching:

I reflected on my intention in my public teaching, and I saw that it was not directed purely to God, but rather was instigated and motivated by the quest for fame and widespread prestige. So I became certain that I was on the brink of a crumbling bank....Mundane desires began tugging me with their chains to remain as I was, while the herald of faith was crying out: "Away! Up and away! Only a little is left of your life, and a long journey lies before you! All the theory and practice in which you are engrossed is eyeservice and fakery! If you do not prepare now for the afterlife, when will you do so? And if you do not sever these attachments now, then when will you sever them?"

Al-Ghazali gets to the point where he can no longer lecture in front of his many students. He cannot speak at all--his tongue is frozen. He abandons his prestigious post after distributing his wealth to provide for his family, and leaves to live in retreat and prayer and to break his ego before God....

May God have mercy upon the Proof of Islam, Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali.