Description: In his 40-volume magnum opus, the ' Revival of the Religious Sciences', Ghazali devotes the first quarter to ' Worship', the second to ' Customs', and the third to ' Perils' . He opens the final quarter, ' Deliverance', with the subject of Repentance (tawba), or turning around, which is the universal entry point and basis for any spiritual journey. This is both a foundational text and a mirror for the wayfarer. People already take continuous account of themselves with the passing thought, " If only I had... !" . Ghazali counsels, " We should interrogate ourselves before being interrogated. If a person does not hold himself accountable in this world, his accountability in the hereafter will be lengthy." One should not be deceived by the ephemera of this world. Repentance is a core concept in both the Quran and the Sunnah as well as being a cornerstone in Sufism. God says, " There is no Muslim except that he combines obedience to God and disobedience to him." Al-Ghazali builds this pivotal volume on four pillars: the essence of repentance; that which requires it, with a careful division of major and minor sins; the conditions for accomplishing repentance and its continuance to the end of life; and the remedy for those who knowingly persist in sin and what causes them to even do so. Some transgressions are only between human beings and God. Among the 17 major sins four are concerned with the Heart and four with the limbs. Actions we consider insignificant, done constantly, affect and darken the Heart. The believer, a hadith tells us, sees his sin like a mountain about to fall on him; the hypocrite sees it as a fly he swipes from buzzing around his nose. Along the way he sets out the categories of sins that the reader may examine his own heart: the Lordly sins of self-magnification, the love of praise and high standing, and the craving for dominance; then envy, treachery, and hypocrisy. Following are such beastly sins as gluttony and greed. Small sins, he warns, grow heavy through persistence. We are reminded that whosoever does an atom's weight of good will see it. The weight of those atoms accruing should not be deemed insignificant. Just as the many small acts of disobedience build up, even humility and seeking forgiveness by the heart is not lost to God. Just the movement of the tongue is better than silence, and making the limbs accustomed to good deeds will become a natural disposition repelling many acts of disobedience. While if there is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself- a great reward. But there is the issue of seeking forgiveness while persisting in ill deeds. How does one untie the knot of persistence in sin? The cause of persistence in sinning is heedlessness, and this is remedied by Knowledge and understanding. The cause of persistence is also desire, and this can be rectified in time with patience and cutting off the cause of what motivates one to desire. Each believer has specific kinds of sins. The problem resulting from the sins is the death of the heart, and this is not seen in this realm the way illness of the body is seen in physical death. The soul is naturally disposed to be influenced by the present. This is the nature of desire: delight and desire are in the present, yet the promised punishment is unseen and not immediately present. The great task is how to untie the knot of persistence and abandon sins. Besides reflection on passages from the Quran, the stories of the prophets and righteous predecessors and the punishments which come from such as intoxicants, pride and envy, we must be aware of WHY we were created in the first place. There is a tradition from the Prophet in which he says: " There is no day on which dawn breaks and no night in which the twilight fades, except that two angels converse with each other in four voices. One of them says, "If only these people were not created." The other one says, "If only, since they are created, they would know WHY they were created." The ot
