Hi, my name is Rosa Sanji Day. I will come back to Philosophy of Life Podcast. It's good to be here with you guys again. This podcast has always been about simple things, philosophy. Why? Because the philosophy helps us to understand the world around us. It helps us to see where we're coming from, what our goals are, and what obstacles stand in our way. And once we recognize those things, we have a chance to improve it step by step, thought by thought. I used to say this often in the beginning of my podcast. And I want to return to it now because this is the root of this podcast. Philosophy as a guide for life. Today we will begin a journey into the life of one of my favorite philosophers, Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali. He was known as Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. His real name was quite different. In Persian, we call him Muhammad Ghazali. Simple Muhammad Ghazali. His first name is Muhammad, last name is Ghazali. His full name in Arabic is much more sophisticated and longer. Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali. Abu means his son was Hamid. And Muhammad was his first name, and Ben Muhammad, his father's name was also Muhammad. And Al Ail AL stands for the Hazali. Also Abu Hamid Muhammad Ben Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Arabic name. In Persian, just Muhammad Khazali. Well we want to call it today mostly Muhammad or not Muhammad, just Khazali. He's one of the most influential thinkers, not only in Iran, not only in the Muslim world, but across the history of mankind. He's a philosopher, theologian, and mystics. His mysticism is also kind of very important in his life because he was a philosopher in order to understand mysticism. He left philosophy and he became mystics. He left, he sold everything. He just think about it that you are you are famous, you're in government, you run everything, and you leave everything behind. You sell everything, give it away all your money, everything you have, just to understand what is mysticism. Because that's what they told them to do. If you really want to understand it, you have to give away everything. And he did it when he was 50 years old. I don't know, so 50 years old is kind of a very difficult time in life, and especially back then in Iran. You're almost at the end of your life, and you're really getting old and you don't have anything. How do you rely on what is going to happen? So he left everything behind and became very into the mysticism, Sufism. That's what makes him very interesting, personal, and understand the world from different points of view. Although his mysticism is changed his life completely. Some people see him as defender of fate. Other some there are close to door, you close someone who closed the door to the philosophy. Yet not no matter where you stand on Ghazali, you can't ignore him. His writing shapes centuries of thought in the Middle East, in Europe, and behind. However, we are not gonna repeat what I said last time. But we're getting the starting the first the first part of this podcast will be about his life, his own life, and then in second part and third part we're gonna start talking about the book itself. So let's begin. Born in the city of Tous in Iran in 1058. Ghazali grew up at a time when Islamic world was both flourish and deeply divided. His early education was in the traditional science of the time, law, theology and philosophy. He quickly rose to a reputation that for his sharp mind and his ability to debate. So back then in Iran it was quite important that you can debate and win the debates. And that was that was crucial for a person or philosopher or educated that you can debate and win the debate for any prize, theoretically. By his 30s, Khazali was already famous. He became a professor at the Nazari School in Baghdad, one of the most prestigious institutions in the Muslim world. Imagine a young man barely past his twenties, already sitting at the intellectual center of empire. That was Khazali. He wrote aboundedly. Overly seventy books are attributed to him. His work covered theology, law, philosophy, mysticism, and ethics. Among them are some of the most influential texts in Islamic intellectual history, the incorrect of the philosophy, revive of the religion and science. And of course the Persian work Kimi A Saudat, which we will focus on a little bit later. But Ghazali life was not simply about writing books and teaching students. Around the age 30 and some people saying even forty, he was experiencing deep spiritual crisis. Despite his success, wealth and good reputation, he felt empty. He doubt whether his knowledge he pursued was truly bringing him closer to God or simply feeding his ego. The crisis led him to abandon his position in Baghdad. He left his student, his salary, and his prestigious job behind. For years, he lived of isolation and wandering and examining the world around him. He studied Sufism, Islamic mysticism, and that transformed him completely. By the time he was about fifty years old, Bazali has turned away from the path of philosophy as an abstract intellectual exercise and embarrassed more spirituality, a practice approach to life. He returned to his hometown of Teus, where he continued teaching but with very different spirit, focusing more of purification of his soul or debate. His final years were dedicated to guiding others in the way of inner transformation. For Ghazali's true knowledge was not just in the book, but in living. Not just in argument, but in practice. And that's why Kim Yes or Alchemy of Happiness is so important. It was written in Persian, not in Arabic, which means he intended just for not for a scholar. He wrote it for ordinary people. In it, he distilled his entire life, experience, his philosophy, his theology, and his mysticism into a guide for how to live. So in this first part we see Gazali as a man of two lives, the first life a brilliant scholar, a debater, and a philosopher. The second a seeker, a mystique, and a teacher of heart. This duality is why he remained both controversial and admirable. Some call him the man who entered philosophy in the Islamic world. Other call him the man who saved religion from becoming cold and lifeless. Either way, Hazali left a mark that cannot be erased. When we talk about Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, we can ignore another giant, Abbasana, known in Iran as Ibn Sina. Both men are among the most influential thinker not only in Iran, but in the entire history of philosophy. And yet they present two different paths. Abbasana, born nineteen eighty, died in 1037, was a philosopher, physician, and scientist, a true polymath. His writing on medicine, especially the book The Canon of Medicine were thought in Europe for centuries. His work on logic and metaphysics shaped the entire tradition of Islam and even Western philosophy. Avassana believed deeply in the power of reason and explained the universe, the soul, and the God himself. For him, philosophy was the highest road to the truth. Azali born 1058, about twenty years after Avassana died, and he died eleven eleven eleven. On the other hand, leaves a generation later, he too mastered philosophy, theology, but after his spiritual crisis, he came to believe the poor reason has limitation. The philosophy left on its own could not give certainty, could not give you peace to the soul. For Ghazali, the heart needed something beyond logic, fate, spirituality, mysticism. That's what he needed. These differences led to one of the most famous intellectual confrontation in Islamic history. He accused Abbasana and his follower of falling into the error, especially on the issue like the eternity of the world, God knowledge of particular, and resurrection of the body. Azali declared that is on these points philosophers were not just mistaking, but dangerously long. Imagine the contrast. Avassana saying the universe has no beginning is eternally flawed from God. Azali respond, No, the universe was created in time by God will. To deny that is to deny Quran. Avassana says God only knows the world in general terms, like a sun illuminating all things without focusing on each leaf or stone. Azali, on the other hand, respond, No, God knows every detail, every particular, even the movement of single ant in the darkness of a night. Avasana says the soul may be survive, the bodily resurrection is not essential. Azali replied, resurrection of the body is a central part of faith. To deny it, it is the heresy. So you see Azali was not just a thinker, he was a defender. Some would say he was a gatekeeper of orthodoxy. He believed philosophy has gone too far and has to be pulled back. Some admire him for this, other criticize him, saying he has closed the door of free inquiry. And yet, here's the paradox. Azali himself was a philosopher, trained in the very method he attacks. His brilliance comes from the fact that he understood Avastan so deeply that he could dismantle his argument point by point. So if Avassan represents the peak of rational philosophy in the Islamic world, Hazali represents the turn toward mysticism and fate. Both are giant, both are controversial, and both shape the way Iranian, Muslim and even European thought for centuries. Understanding Khazali without Avasana is like hearing only one side of a debate. Together they reveal the tension between reason and fate, between philosophy and religion, between the mind and heart. The tension is exactly what led Khazali to write the alchemy of happiness. Not an abstract theory, but as a guide for the soul. And that brings us to the next part, Kimi Saudat. This book divided into four parts, each one an attempt to explain what true happiness means and how we can achieve it. And that's where we go to part two. In the book Kimia Isadat, or Alchemy of Happiness, has four pillars. And then pillar number one is knowledge of self. The purpose is that you have to understand the nature, composition, and destiny of human soil. Razali emphasized that knowing oneself is the foundation of knowing the Creator. One true purpose of life. That is the truth purpose of life. And Hazali begins with this truth. He who knows himself know his Lord. A human being is not just the body. The body is like a horse or a tool. The true self is the soul which rides and drag the horse. If the horse is ignorant, the body runs wild. If the soul is awake, the body became servant of good. He compares the heart to the mirror. And I I should explain what mirror means really in that age. So they have metal and they polish the metal so much that it can reflect you. It was not in the traditional mirrors that we have today. So the mirror in the past was the piece of metal that polished so much that it can reflect you. So here started again. He compares the heart to the mirror. If it is covered with dust and rust, meaning zin, arrogance and greed, it cannot reflect the light of a God. But if it is polished with humanity and remembrance, it became clear and reflect the truth. Yet Azali add deeper warning. A human who lives only at the level of instinct and desire without awareness of soul is lower than animal. For animal at least they act according to their nature, by the human with higher potential can fall beneath the nature if they ignore their purpose. God had said that humanity is created higher than animal, but this higher station is not automatic, it's required awakening. A person must first recognize the existence of their inner self, then awake to the potential hidden within it, and finally rise to a station of being truly human as God intent. Therefore the ordinary human who lives blindly with all reflection has not yet reached the reality of being human. It is only true self awareness as once being arise, and that awareness is not for power or pride or intellectual alone, but is directed once being toward goodness, modesty, and recollection of God. To Ghazali the true human is born not at the physical birth, but at the moment of awakening, when one understood oneself, polished the heart, and reflect the divine light. Only then does a person become what they were created to be. This first chapter then is not about simply about psychology or philosophy. It is about call to awaken. To know oneself is open doorway to God. Without that awakening, the body rules and drug the soul downward. With that, the soul rules, and the body became a noble servant in the path of goodness. The second pillar is the knowledge of the world and his illusion. The purpose to understand the true nature of this word, which he called Dunya, is deceptive and is a place as a temporary passage, not as a permanent home. Hazali warned us, don't be fooled by the shine of the world. He wrote, The world is like a shadow. If you chase it, it runs. If you're torn away from it, it swallows you. He used another metaphor. Wealth and desire are like a salt water. The more you drink, the thirstier you become. And the chase never ends. To Hazali this word is like a bridge, not a home. You walk across it, but you don't build your home on it. That doesn't mean he abandoned life altogether. Hazali was not against marriage, family or honest work. But he insists, remember that these things are temporary. They can serve you, but don't let them own you. The true purpose of the world is to be filled for planting seed that will grow into the next world. If you mistake the field for the harvest, you lose everything. Part three or pillar three is a after. The purpose to awake a soul to reality of the world, where every deed bears fruit, and where only purified heart can truly see. Azali teach that the heart is more than the lump of the flesh that circle blood, while the bodily heart sustain life, the true heart is an inner essence, the spiritual core, where perception, knowledge, and the awareness of God take roots. He writes Knowing the Heart is a subtle substance connected with the physical heart. It is a seed of knowledge of a God, the one that perceives, that knows, that experience. The philosophy seeks proof through reason alone, but Ghali warned that the reason is limit to the world of appearance. The heart, when polished, can perceive the reality of the next world. Just as the eyes can see the physical form, the heart sees spiritual truths. To drive this lesson home, Gazali tells a story. A man once asked a wise teacher, When should I repent? The teacher replied before you die. The man objected. But I don't know when I will die. The teacher says then repent now. The short dialogue revealed the essence of the chapter. The next world is not distance idea, it is always near. And the death it may come at any moment. To delay repentance, it is a gamble with the soul eternal home. The only safe time to turn back to God is now. If the heart is clouded with the ego, greed or pride, it became blind. The next world is hidden from such a heart. But if the heart purifies with the remembrance and love, it became like a mirror reflecting divine light. For Gazali, the next world is not just an idea to think about, it is something real, something felt inside the heart. To know it is to see with the heart that this life is temporary, and that true life begin when the soul goes back to God. The fourth part is love of a God. At the end his work, Gazali asks, How do we actually walk this path? He compared the soul to a garden, where truth are the flower, patience, gratitude, humanity, sincerity, inside the weeds, anger, anyway, greed, pride. If you don't pull the weeds, the choke the flower. Spiritual work is consistent gardening, pulling out the false, planting the truth. He also gave another image. The heart is a guest house. If you fill with ideals the king will not enter. In another, if your heart is full of eagle, selfness or pride, there is no room left for God. But purification is not the end, it is preparations. The heart must be emptied, so it can be filled. And what is filled? Not fear, not ritual, not even the knowledge by itself, but love of a God. Prozali love is the true salvation. Fear may keep you from sin, but only love draw you into union. Ritual without love is hell, but ritual with love became light. When you love God, everything else, wealth, power, even the fear of heal loses the grip. This love is the soul returned to his origin, the human being beginning in God, and salvation is to end in God. To go on words, indeed we belong to God, and indeed to him we return. Azali insists that the real home of the soul is not the world, but is the presence of absolute or alhaq. The path of salvation then is not escape but return, not outward performance, but inward transformation, to polish the heart until it's reflected light of the beloved, to let it go self until only God remains. In the end, salvation is simply this, to love God, and through that love to find your way back to Him. Azali's alchemy of happiness begins with self and end with God. The journey started with knowing yourself, realizing that without awareness you are loathed an animal, but with self knowledge you awake to your truth, humanity. From there it's returned to knowing God, seeing him as a source for all reality and the lights that give meaning to your soul. Then Ghazali warned us the world is illusion, the shine of will, desire of power, distract us from eternal. The world is a bridge, not a home. To mistake it for more, to lose it everything. He left our eyes behind it to the next world, where every deed bear fruit, and where the soul meet the true destiny. Finally he gave us the heart of matter. Salvation is love of a God, to beat the winds, to polish the mirror of the heart, to empty of self idle, all of this that only makes space for love. Fear may be restrained, knowledge may guide, but love is transformation. In the end, soul is a journey of cycle. It comes from God, a travel through the test of this world, and it finds itself in completion in return to God. To know Him, to love Him, to rest in Him. This is the true happiness, the alchemy that turned the soul into gold. So what was Khazali thinking? In part two we walked through four main chapters of Alchemy of Happiness. We saw how Ghazali built a structure. Know yourself, beware the world, prepare for hereafter, and walk the path of salvation. But now let's ask a deeper question. Why did Khazali write in this way? What was he really trying to solve? To answer that, we have to remember the man himself, Ghazali was not writing as a young student. He wrote this book after his crisis, after leaving Baghdad, after questioning philosophy, after a year of a special retreat. This book is the voice of Ghazali the mystiques, the seeker, not the Ghazali an academic professor. So behind each of four chapter there is a hidden solution, something Ghazali was working out in himself. When Ghazali says he who knows himself knows his Lord, he is not giving an abstract teaching. He is speaking from his own experience of collapse he had. At the peak of his career, Ghazali admitted he has no longer trusts his own knowledge. Philosophy has given him answers, but no certainty. He doubts even in his fate. So what was the solution? Instead of looking outward, he turned inward. Knowledge of self became the path to knowledge of God. So the solution is here. The true is not found endless argument, but is self awareness and a spiritual experience. That was Razali's answer to philosophy limitation. Remember Razali once the star professor of Baghdad, wealthy, admired, at the center of the empire, and yet he abandoned all. Why? Because he felt it was empty. So when he warned us that the world is a shadow, when he says the world is like a salt water that never satisfied, he is describing his own life. He has drunk deeply from that cup and yet remained very thirsty. So his resolution is simple. The world is not evil, but is a test. It is not your destination, but is your bridge and If you build your life on it, you will end up empty handed. If the world is a bridge, where does it lead? This is Gazali in third step, the hereafter. Here he is answering the ultimate why. If life is short, if success and fame vanish, then why live at all? Razali resolution is that the purpose of a life is preparation. Every action and attention has a weight because it carries into eternity. In a way this was Razali Medicine against despair. If nothing in his life satisfies, that meaning must lie in what comes after. The hereafter is not just doctrine for him, it is anchor of his entire worldview. Finally Razali chores practical. He knew humans are weak. He knew desire, pride and anger pull us down. So his last chapter is a manual. Pull the weeds, plant flowers, purify heart. This is the resolution of his own struggle. How do I live so that my soul is ready for what comes after death? And that is where the title comes in, the alchemy. It's not about gold, it is about transformation, turning the base metal of selfish soul into a gold of purified heart. That for Gazali is the true happiness. So what was Ghazali really thinking when he wrote The Alchemy of Happiness? He was solving four problems at once his crisis of knowledge, solving by self awareness, his disillusion of power, solving by deattachment from the world, his question of meaning resolved by focusing on hereafter, and his struggle with soul, resolving the path of purification. This is why the book felt both personal and universal. It is Hazali autobiography in philosophy, his own crisis written as a guide for others. And maybe this is why still speak to us a thousand years later, because the question he faced who am I? What is the true world? What is my purpose? How do I live rightly? Are the same question we still facing. For me, myself was unexpected. I changed my view completely to this man. To me now, I found a beautiful soul, restless in his search for truth. He first turned to philosophy, thinking it could be resolved his deeper question, but instead bringing peace is widening the gap and distance. He realized that philosophy could sharp his mind but could not heal the heart. It was then that he turned to Sufism, not as an escape, but as a deeper way of knowing. To truly understand it, he left behind position, wealth, status. In that emptiness he discovered something unexpected, that he himself has been empty all along. Like many people, he didn't know what he didn't know until the light of Sufism revealed it. And yet Ghazali did not reject the philosophy altogether. He mastered it in order to face it. He dismounted his claim, especially those of Avassana, not by ignorance, but by deeper understanding. For him philosophy was a tool, not a goal. The goal was always the heart, purified, awaked, filled with the love of a god. This Khazali legacy, a mind trained by philosophy, a soul transferred by Sufism, and a heart devoted to God. In the end, Khazali leave us with simple but urgent lesson. A man once asked, wise teacher, when should I repent? The teacher answered Before you die. The man replied, But I don't know when I will die. The teacher says then repent now. And that is the essence of the journey. Life is short and the next world is near, and the heart is the only vessel that you can trust and carry us safely across. The heart is not the flash that beats in the chest, but is subtle center of a soul, the mural that reflects light when it's polished, the garden where virtue bloomed when the weeds are cleared. As Ali shows that the path is not about fear alone, no knowledge alone, no ritual without the spirit. It is about awakening, about purifying the heart, and about returning to one from whom we came. The self must be known, the world must be unmasked, the next world must be prepared for, and the heart must be filled not with the pride or illusion, but with remembrance, sincerity and love. In the end, all the roads lead back to God, and to walk that road with a clear heart is the true alchemy of happiness. Thank you for listening. As always, I would love to hear your thought, your reflection, your agreement, your disagreement. Azali Juni was not just his own. It is a mirror for us, asking what path we follow and what fills our own heart. Until next time, stay thoughtful, stay awake, and walk the path with sincerity.