Kimiya al-Saada
- Author died
- 505 AH
- Editions
- Kimiya al-Saada
Kimiya al-Saada (The Alchemy of Happiness) is a Persian treatise on ethics, counsel, and Sufi practice by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH / 1111 CE) . Serving essentially as a Persian abridgment of his magnum opus, Ihya Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), the work summarizes topics treated comprehensively in the larger Arabic book .
Purpose and Theme
Al-Ghazali composed the work for ordinary believers seeking the path of spiritual knowledge . Drawing an analogy with physical alchemy—which purports to transform base metals into gold or silver—the book employs the concept of an "alchemy of happiness" as a spiritual elixir that refines the soul, purges vices, and cultivates virtues . Al-Ghazali asserts that while material alchemy is kept in royal treasuries, spiritual alchemy resides only in the divine treasuries: among the angels in heaven and within the hearts of saints and knowers of God on earth .
Structure
The treatise is organized into four introductory discourses (unwanat) and four core pillars (arkan) . The four introductory discourses are:
- Knowledge of the self (ma'rifat al-nafs)
- Knowledge of God (ma'rifat al-rabb)
- Knowledge of the worldly life (ma'rifat al-dunya)
- Knowledge of the hereafter (ma'rifat al-'uqba)
The four pillars mirror the thematic structure of the Ihya, treating acts of worship, daily conduct and social dealings, destructive vices (al-muhlikat), and salvific virtues (al-munjiyat) .
Translations and Reception
The book was translated into Ottoman Turkish by several scholars and poets:
- Muhammad ibn Mustafa al-Wani (d. 1000 AH) .
- The poet Necati (d. 904 AH; another report gives 940 AH) .
- Husam al-Din ibn Husayn al-Sahabi (d. 970 AH / 971 AH), who completed his translation in Constantinople in the middle decade of Sha'ban 970 AH, titled it Tadbir Iksir (also cited as Kimiya Khaza'in 'Irfan), and dedicated it to Sultan Suleiman .
- Kami, who began a translation for Sultan Selim but left it incomplete .
The Maliki jurist al-Maziri criticized the ambitious title and premise of Kimiya al-Saada, arguing that claiming a single book could fundamentally transmute human nature into spiritual perfection was an excessive claim, as such transformative guidance belongs solely to divine revelation . Later scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah, frequently cited and engaged with the treatise alongside al-Ghazali's major corpus .
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