ABOUT THIS EDITION

The Confessions of Al-Ghazali, known in Arabic as al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (Deliverance from Error), is Al-Ghazali’s account of the crisis of doubt that led him to abandon the most prestigious teaching post in the Islamic world, and of the path that brought him back to certainty. It is one of the very few genuine autobiographies to survive from the medieval Islamic world.

This edition reproduces the translation by Claud Field, first published in London in 1909 by John Murray in the Wisdom of the East series. Field’s rendering is condensed rather than complete, and readers who want the full Arabic text in English should seek a modern scholarly translation. What Field offers instead is speed and clarity: the shape of Al-Ghazali’s argument, in readable English, at the length of a single sitting.

Field’s spelling has been preserved throughout, including his transliterations (Ghazzali, Muhammed, Aboû Hâmid) and his British usage. Only the publisher’s advertising matter and series apparatus of the 1909 printing have been omitted. The translator’s three original footnotes are collected at the end.

Typesetting is in Literata, a typeface designed for extended reading on screen and in print.

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