ejaculations. They are like a man who should meet a lion in a desert,
while there is a fortress at no great distance away, and when he sees
the ravenous beast, should stand exclaiming, 'I take refuge in that
fortress,' without moving a step towards it. What will such an
ejaculation profit him? In the same way, merely ejaculating 'I take
refuge in God' will not protect thee from the terrors of His judgment
unless thou really take refuge in Him."

Ghazzali's moral earnestness is equally apparent in the following
extract from his work "Munqidh min uddallal" "The Deliverance from
error," in which he sets himself to combat the general laxity and
heretical tendencies of his time:--

"Man is composed of a body and a heart; by the word 'heart' I understand
that spiritual part of him which is the seat of the knowledge of God,
and not the material organ of flesh and blood which he possesses in
common with the animals. Just as the body flourishes in health and
decays in disease, so the heart is either spiritually sound or the prey
of a malady which ends in death.

"Now ignorance of God is a deadly poison, and the revolt of the passions
is a disease for which the knowledge of God and obedience to Him,
manifested in self-control, are the only antidote and remedy. Just as
remedies for the body are only known to physicians who have studied
their secret properties, so the remedies for the soul are devotional
practices as defined by the prophets, the effects of which transcend
reason.

"The proper work of reason is to confess the truth of inspiration and
its own impotence to grasp what is only revealed to the prophets; reason
takes us by the hand and hands us over to the prophets, as blind men
commit themselves to their guides, or as the desperately sick to their
physicians. Such are the range and limits of reason; beyond prophetic
truth it cannot take a step.

"The causes of the general religious languor and decay of faith in our
time are chiefly to be traced to four classes of people: (1)
Philosophers, (2) Sufis, (3) Ismailians[45], (4) the Ulema or scholastic
theologians. I have specially interrogated those who were lax in their
religion; I have questioned them concerning their doubts, and spoken to
them in these terms: 'Why are you so lukewarm in your religion? If you
really believe in a future life, and instead of preparing for it sell it
in exchange for the goods of this world, you must be mad. You would not
give two thing