The Beginning of Guidance

Author: Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali

Pick-up location: Ang Mo Kio Hub

As characteristic of all the writings of Imam al-Ghazali, the Beginning of Guidance (Bidayatul Hidaya) has a sense of immediacy and urgency. It forces you to take stock of your spiritual situation and to take steps to remedy the diseases of the heart today. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today.

While being concise and to-the-point, the manual is laid out in the form of a detailed daily timetable providing the reader strong inspiration and much heart-rending counsel. The three sections of this book are on obedience, refraining from disobedience, and the etiquette of companionship – with the Creator and with creation. One of Imam Ghazali’s final works, it embodies a lifetime of learning, experience, and spirituality, and can be taken as an introduction to his larger works.