the censure of wealth and miserliness: book 27 of ihya’ ’ulum al-din, the revival of the religious sciences

＂ The Censure of Wealth and Miserliness＂ is Book 27 of the ＂ Revival of the Religious Sciences＂, which is al-Ghazali’s magisterial compendium consisting of 40 volumes on 40 different aspects of Islamic belief, practice, ethics, and worldview. Al-Ghazali writes that wealth is the principal pillar of this world, and the more wealth we have, the more engaged we become with the world. In this volume, ＂ The Censure of Wealth and Miserliness＂, al-Ghazali explains the connection between one’s inner relationship to wealth and one’s outward actions and lifestyle. He roots his treatment of the subject in the Quranic passages, hadith, and traditional accounts which relate to wealth and the love of it. He covers such topics as the proper uses of wealth according to the obligations of both the law and social graces; the vices of miserliness, greed, covetousness, and avarice, as well as the virtues of generosity, openhandedness, and altruism.

Nancy Roberts has translated works in the areas of modern Arabic literature, currents events, Islamic law, Islamic thought and history, and Muslim-Christian relations. For her English translation of The Man from Bashmour, by Salwa Bakr, Nancy won the 2008 Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. For Fons Vitae, she translated both the encyclopedic ＂Islamic Jurisprudence According to the Four Sunni Schools＂, and the classic Sufi text of Ibn Ata’Allah al Iskandari, ＂Subtle Blessings＂.