Kīmiyā-yi Saʻādat Persiska (Farsi) 2026

“Kimiya-ye Sa‘adat (The Alchemy of Happiness)” by Abu Hamid Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali of Tus is one of the most significant works of Persian ethical and mystical literature, written in the late fifth century AH. It is a Persian abridged and adapted version of his renowned Arabic work Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (The Revival of Religious Sciences), though Ghazali reorganized and expanded it specifically for Persian-speaking readers.

The book begins with four fundamental themes: self-knowledge, knowledge of God, knowledge of the world, and knowledge of the Hereafter. It then develops these ideas through four major sections: acts of worship, social and ethical conduct, destructive traits, and salvational virtues, examining the path toward personal refinement, moral development, and spiritual fulfillment.

In “Kimiya-ye Sa‘adat”, Ghazali presents profound religious, ethical, and mystical teachings through elegant and accessible Persian prose enriched with stories, parables, and clear explanations. The rhythmic qualities of his writing, including the use of rhetorical devices such as parallelism and wordplay, have made this work one of the masterpieces of classical Persian prose.

Beyond its place in Islamic thought, the book remains a timeless reflection on human nature, the relationship between humanity and the world, and the search for the meaning of life. This edition, prepared with an introduction and critical editing by Baha al-Din Khorramshahi, includes explanations of difficult vocabulary and notes on selected Quranic verses and hadiths, making this classic work more accessible to modern readers.