Al-Ghazali on the Condemnation of Pride and Self-admiration: Kitab dhamm al-kibr wa'l-ujb

The latest volume in the Islamic Texts Society’s series of translations of Imam Ghazali’s Ihya’ is the ‘Book Condemning Pride and Self-Admiration’. This is the ninth Book in Rub[ 3, which deals with the Muhlikat or Destructive Vices. The translator, Dr Mohammed Rustom, is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. In his introduction he explains that his work on Dhamm al-kibr wa l-[ujb dates back as far as 2003, when as an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto he produced a preliminary translation. The book under review is therefore the end product of a long and profound engagement. In keeping with the established format of the ITS series, the translation text is complemented by several valuable elements which others would do well to emulate: an introduction, notes, an appendix on persons cited in Ghazali’s text, a bibliography, an index of Qur’anic quotations, and a detailed general index.