Abu Hāmed Mohammad Al-Ghazzālī was born in the city of Tus, Persia, in the year 1058. Al Ghazali was a polymath and wrote authoritatively on jurisprudence, theology and philosophy. But his world-view was decidedly mystical and he soon joined the Sufi Brotherhood - an esoteric group viewed with suspicion by orthodox Muslim clerics of his day. Following a spiritual crisis at the age of 37, he resigned from his professorship in Baghdad, and retired from the world to practice sufi spiritual disciplines. It was during this time Al Ghazali wrote his masterwork, 'Ihya'ul ulumuddin' (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) which finally won acceptance for Sufism in Islam, and the respect of Medieval western scholars such as St Thomas Aquinas. 'The Alchemy of Happiness' is Al Ghazali's own abridgement of this colossal work. Full of wisdom and compassion, 'The Alchemy of Happiness' is replete with telling comparisons and penetrating allegories. It is a book that works upon the innermost soul, forcing the reader to view his True Self with all its inadequacies, and offering a path to Union with God through Love.
