Advice to a Son by Imam al-Ghazali

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1. "Certainly all advice is laid open in the treasure vault of the Divine Message."

 2. "My son, giving advice is very easy but following it is difficult, because by tasting, how it is to follow the lower desires once, the forbidden is rendered dear to their heart."

 3. "A man who reads a hundred thousand details of knowledge and studies them, and does not act upon this knowledge, it will not benefit him, unless he puts it to practice."

 4. "If you pursued the acquisition of knowledge got a hundred years and compiled a thousand books, you would still not be ready to receive the Mercy of Allah Ta'ala, unless you acted upon it."

 5. "My son, you will not receive wages for what you do not work."

 6. "My son, live as you please, you are bound to die one day; love whatever you wish, you are bound to part from it one day; act as you please, you will be recompensed accordingly."

 7. "My son, the quintessence of knowledge is that you realise, what obedience, and worship are all about."

 8. "My son, it is indispensable that whatever you say or do is according to the Sacred Law constitutes straying from the right path. It is also essential that you are not deluded by the escapades and overindulgence of the pretenders of Sufism, because following this path is by struggling, and killing its sensual desires with the sword of ascetic practices, and not by pretence and lack of restraint. And know that a lose tongue and a heart, utterly filled with heedlessness and sensuality are signs of great misfortune, therefore, if you do not kill your lower self by the sincerity of self-castigation, your heart will never be revived by the light of gnosis."

 9. "The quality of anything that is taste-related cannot be conveyed by words."

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