Al-Ghazali: The Arrangement of the Litanies and the Exposition of the Night Vigil – Book 10

Title: Al-Ghazali: The Arrangement of the Litanies and the Exposition of the Night Vigil – Book 10
Author: Imam Al-Ghazali / Translated by James Pavlin and Muhtar Holland
ISBN: 
Publisher: Fons Vitae

With The Arrangement of the Litanies and the Exposition of the Night Vigil, Imam al-Ghazali completes the first quarter of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, the Quarter of Worship, to be followed by the Quarters of Customs, Perils, and Deliverance. Were humankind but more acutely aware of life’s extreme brevity and the actual urgency of being constantly present to God, each day in our lives would necessarily be punctuated by a near continuous recitation of sacred litanies.

This volume, at the same time, highlights the mercy inherent in the division of the twenty-four hour day which allows people to engage in worship in diverse ways, even as they at-tend to work, study, families, other duties, and sleep. Just as the soul needs variety, so the times of day, with their various qualities and concomitant litanies, are a mercy for the soul, which would otherwise be burdened by boredom and monotony.

Al-Ghazali clarifies how gentleness and tenderness are incalculably more valuable and beneficial for the soul than the almost countless devotional activities in which one could engage. Consistency in an act is better than rigorous practices that tire the soul resulting in inconstancy. In his treatment of the night vigil, al-Ghazālī holds that one of the litanies of the night is sleep itself, and the essence of the night vigil in particular is intimate conversation with God, the Beloved.

The mercy of the sunna explored in this book takes into ac-count the various types of people, their callings, their paths in life, and their abilities.

Table of Contents

Series Editor’s Note
Biography of Imām al-Ghazālī
About the Revival of the Religious Sciences

The Arrangement of the Litanies and the Exposition of the Night Vigil
Preliminary Remarks

Chapter I
The Merit of the Litanies, their Arrangement, and their Rules
The Merit of the Litanies, and the Explanation that Constant Practice of them is the Path to God
An Elucidation of the Numbers of the Litanies and their Arrangement
An Elucidation of the Litanies of the Daytime (al‑nahār)
An Elucidation of the Litanies of the Night (al‑layl), Being Five in Number
An Elucidation of the Difference in Litanies for the Differing [Human] States

Chapter II
On the means of Facilitating the Night Vigil and about the nights of which spending them in worship is recommendable, and about the excellent merit of the night vigil and of what is between the two evening prayers, and the manner of the division of the night
The Excellent Merit of Spending what is between the Two Evening Prayers in Worship . .
The Merit of the Night Vigil (qiyām al‑layl).
Explanation of the Means by which the Night Vigil is Facilitated
Explanation of the Ways of Dividing the Night
Explanation of the Pre-eminent Nights and Days

Bibliography
Indices
Index of Qurʾānic Verses
Index of Ḥadīth
Index of People and Places
Subject Index
About the Translators

About The Author:

Al-Ghazali
Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (c. 1058–1111), known as Al-Ghazali, was an influential Persian Islamic polymath who became one of the most prominent theologians, jurists, and mystics in Islamic history. After a brilliant rise to fame as a professor in Baghdad, he experienced a profound spiritual crisis around 1095, questioning the certainty of purely intellectual knowledge and becoming disillusioned with his career. He famously renounced his prestigious position and spent over a decade traveling, during which he embraced Sufi mysticism and sought a deeper, more personal experience of God. This journey culminated in his integration of Sufi practices with orthodox Sunni theology and produced his magnum opus, The Revival of the Religious Sciences, solidifying his reputation as the “Proof of Islam” and profoundly influencing subsequent generations of Islamic and Western thinkers.

Muhtar Holland
Muhtar Holland (1935–2010) was an English-born translator and author who embraced Islam in 1969 and dedicated his life to translating classical Islamic texts for an English-speaking audience. Educated at Oxford University, where he studied Arabic and Turkish, Holland held academic positions in Toronto, London, and Malaysia before focusing on writing and translation. His work includes influential translations of Imam al-Ghazali’s Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship and Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani’s Revelations of the Unseen. He passed away in 2010 while still engaged in his translation projects of Ghazali for Fons Vitae, leaving a lasting legacy in the field of Islamic scholarship. He has worked as Senior Research Fellow at the Islamic Foundation in England and the Director of the Nur al-Islam Translation Center in New York.

James Pavlin
James Pavlin is currently Adjunct Professor in the History Department at William Paterson University in New Jersey and a part-time Lecturer in the Department of Religion at Rutgers University. Dr. Pavlin received his Doctorate in Philosophy in 1998 from New York University, Department of Middle Eastern Studies. He has conducted hundreds of workshops, seminars, presentations, and public speeches.