“he who lies, Folded in favour on the Sultan’s breast, Needs not a letter nor a messenger.” The book tells us something about this side of his experience in the Quest of Life, and when the story is finished we are reminded not to seek the Living among the dead, but to believe that the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him in truth. J. R. H. _Friends’ Settlement, Woodbrooke, England._ Preface There are a score of lives of Mohammed, the great Arabian Prophet, in the English language, yet there is no popular biography of the greatest of all Moslems since his day, Al-Ghazali. Even the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ gives only scant information. Professor Duncan B. Macdonald prepared a life of Al-Ghazali with special reference to his religious experiences and influence in a paper published in the twentieth volume of “The Journal of the American Oriental Society” (1899), but now out of print. His scholarly investigations and conclusions, however, deal with Al-Ghazali’s inner experiences and his philosophy, rather than with his environment and the events of his life. We acknowledge our great indebtedness to his paper and to the original Arabic sources on which it was based, especially the introduction to the Commentary on the _Ihya_ by Sayyid Murtadha in ten volumes and entitled _Ithaf as-saʿada_. I have found additional material in Al-Ghazali’s writings and other books mentioned in the bibliography given in the appendix of this book, especially the _Tabaqat ash-shafaiʾya_ by As-Subqi, who wrote long before Murtadha and to whom Macdonald refers, but whose work he did not use. The study of Al-Ghazali’s life and writings will, more than anything else, awaken a deeper sympathy for that which is highest and strongest in the religion of Islam; for the student of his works learns to appreciate Islam at its best. As Jalal-ud-din says: “Fools buy false coins because they are like the true. If in the world no genuine minted coin Were current, how would forgers pass the false? Falsehood were nothing unless truth were there, To make it specious. ’Tis the love of right Lures men to wrong. Let poison but be mixed With sugar, they will cram it into their mouths. Oh, cry not that all creeds are vain! Some scent Of truth they have, else they would not beguile.” There is a real sense in which Al-Ghazali may be used as a schoolmaster to lead Moslems to Christ. His books are full of references to the teaching of Christ. He was a true seeker after God.