Al-Ghazali’s mysticism was always accompanied by orthodox insistence on the six articles of faith and the five pillars of practice, through which alone the soul can receive its fundamental impulse towards God. Yet Al-Ghazali’s mysticism leads him to emphasize always the spiritual side of worship. The mere form is nothing in itself. The author of the Masnavi had mastered Al-Ghazali and absorbed his spirit when he wrote: “Fools laud and magnify the mosque, While they strive to oppress holy men of heart. But the former is mere form, the latter spirit and truth. The only true mosque is that in the hearts of saints. The mosque that is built in the heart of the saints Is the place of worship of all, for God dwells there.” What he says on the imitation of God is based almost literally on Al-Ghazali’s book describing God’s attributes. “God calls Himself ‘Seeing,’ to the end that His eye may every moment scare you from sinning. God calls Himself ‘Hearing,’ to the end that You may close your lips against foul discourse. God calls Himself ‘Knowing,’ to the end that You may be afraid to plot evil. These names are not mere accidental names of God, As a negro may be called _Kafur_ (white); They are names derived from God’s essential attributes, Not mere vain titles of the First Cause.” Abu Saʾid bin Abu ’l-Khair, also of Khorasan (A. H. 396-440), was one of Al-Ghazali’s teachers in the school of mysticism. When he was asked what a Sufi was he said: “Whatever is in thy head, forget it; whatever is in thy hand, give it away; and whatever happens to thee, disregard it.” In regard to the rise of Sufic teaching, its origin and character, Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje remarks: “The lamp which Allah had caused Mohammed to hold up to guide mankind with its light, was raised higher and higher after the Prophet’s death, in order to shed its light over an ever increasing part of humanity. This was not possible, however, without its reservoir being replenished with all the different kinds of oil that had from time immemorial given light to those different nations. The oil of mysticism came from Christian circles, and its Neoplatonic origin was quite unmistakable; Persia and India also contributed to it. There were those who, by asceticism, by different methods of mortifying the flesh, liberated the spirit that it might rise and become united with the origin of all being; to such an extent that with some the profession of faith was reduced to the blasphemous exclamation: ‘I am Allah.’” [Illustration: Facsimile title page of the last book Ghazali wrote, entitled “Minhaj Al-ʾAbidin.” On the margin this Cairo edition gives another of his celebrated works, “Badayat-al-Hadaya.”]