Imam al-Ghazali wrote his book titled Ihyau Ulumid-Din as a reformation project for the Islamic ummah. The great scholar of our century, Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, points to this aspect of the work as follows: It is understood that the author included in his book many subjects—such as creed, jurisprudence, spiritual discipline, refining character, attaining the rank of ihsan, encouraging good deeds, and warning against evil—along with advice filled with subtle wisdom that softens hearts, exhortations to faith and righteous deeds, and warnings against the diseases of the heart with explanations of their treatments, all so that the book would serve as a guide for Muslims and replace an entire Islamic library by rendering other books unnecessary.
The book Ihya can be called a book of reformation and guidance as a whole. Here, the author has acted like a spiritual guide and mentor, composing the book as if building an Islamic library. For this reason, the book contains subjects such as creed, jurisprudence, spiritual discipline, refining character, and attaining the stations of ihsan.
Features of this book:
1. This book unties the knots in previous books and clarifies obscure points.
2. This book gathers their scattered issues and arranges them in a specific order and sequence.
3. It summarizes issues that previous books covered at great length and records what is written.
4. It removes the repetitions of previous books and provides evidence for what is written.
This book examines and clarifies certain issues that were never explained in any other book and were difficult for minds to grasp.