Islam is the prodigal son, the Ishmael, among the non-Christian religions; this is a fact we may not forget. Now we read in Christ’s matchless parable of the prodigal how “When he was yet a great way off his father saw him and ran out to meet him and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Have missionaries always had this spirit? No one can read the story of Al-Ghazali’s life, so near and yet so far from the Kingdom of God, so eager to enter and yet always groping for the doorway, without fervently wishing that Al-Ghazali could have met a true ambassador of Christ. Then surely this great champion of the Moslem faith would have become an apostle of Christianity in his own day and generation. By striving to understand Al-Ghazali we may at least better fit ourselves to help those who, like him, are earnest seekers after God amid the twilight shadows of Islam. His life also has a lesson for us all in its devout Theism and in its call to the practice of the Presence of God. S. M. Z. _Cairo, Egypt._ Contents I. THE ELEVENTH CENTURY 19 II. BIRTH AND EDUCATION 51 III. TEACHING, CONVERSION, AND RETIREMENT 81 IV. WANDERINGS, LATER YEARS AND DEATH 111 V. HIS CREED AND CREDULITY 145 VI. HIS WRITINGS 169 VII. HIS ETHICS 195 VIII. AL-GHAZALI AS A MYSTIC 219 IX. JESUS CHRIST IN AL-GHAZALI 255 APPENDIX: A. Bibliography 295 B. Translations of Al-Ghazali’s Works 297 C. List of Al-Ghazali’s Works 299 D. Comparative Table of Events 303 Illustrations The old ruined Mosque at Tus, Persia, probably dating from the Eleventh Century _Frontispiece_ The supposed grave of Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali at Tus ” _Facing page_ The East Gate, Damascus 54 Interior of the Great Mosque at Damascus. In the center the _Mihrab_ showing the direction of prayer and to the right the Great Pulpit 106 The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, as seen from the Lutheran Church 126 Pen-case of Al-Ghazali, made of brass inlaid with silver, preserved in the Arab Museum, Cairo 172 A facsimile page of the _Ihya_ (Vol. II, page 180, Cairo Ed.). It gives a diagram of the prayer _kibla_ and the rules to be observed in facing it correctly 180