Al-Ghazali on the Manners Relating to Eating

Al-Ghazali on the Manners Relating to Eating 

Book XI of the Revival of the Religious Sciences

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 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 that of the early Sufis, 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 sections of Al-Ghazali on the Manners 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 manners of hospitality. Through these sections, al-Ghazali also discusses lawful and unlawful foods and practices, cleanliness, fasting, general health issues, and the blessings of contentment with little and generosity.

About the Author: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111), theologian, logician, jurist and mystic, spent much of his life lecturing at Baghdad or leading the life of a wandering dervish. His most celebrated work exercised a profound influence on Muslim intellectual history by exploring the mystical significance of the practices and beliefs of Islamic orthodoxy, and earned him the title of hujjat al-Islam, the ‘Proof of Islam’. Denys Johnson-Davies is a well-known translator having published more than thirty volumes from Arabic literature. He is the joint translator of An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith and Forty Hadith Qudsi.

The eleventh chapter of the Revival of the Religious Sciences begins the section dealing with man and society. In this volume, concentrating on the manners relating to eating, Ghazali first discusses what a person must uphold when eating by himself: that the food is lawful, that both the person and the surroundings should be clean, that one must be content with what is available, and how the person should conduct himself while eating and after eating. Ghazali then proceeds to discuss eating in company and says that to all the above should be added the necessity of courtesy, conversation and the proper presentation of food. Finally, Ghazali expounds the virtues of hospitality and generosity and the conduct of the host as well as that of the guest. Other topics that are discussed are: abstention from food, fasting and general health.

In this new edition, the Islamic Texts Society has included a translation of Imam Ghazali’s own Introduction to the Revival of the Religious Sciences which gives the reasons that caused him to write the work, the structure of the whole of the Revival, and places each of the chapters in the context of the others.