The Alchemy of Happiness & The Mesnevi and the Acts of the Adepts

The Alchemy of Happinessby Al-Ghazzali, tr. by Claud Field The Kimiya-yi Sa'adat (Alchemy of Happiness) was written towards the end of Abu ?amid Mu?ammad ibn Mu?ammad al-Ghazali's life shortly before 499/1105. During the time before it was written the Muslim world was considered to be in a state of political as well as intellectual unrest. al-Ghazali noted that there were constant disputes regarding the role of philosophy and scholastic theology and Sufi's became chastised for their neglect of the ritual obligations of Islam. Upon its release, the Kimiya-yi sa'adat allowed al-Ghazali to considerably reduce the tensions between the scholars and mystics.The Mesnevi and the Acts of the AdeptsAuthor:Eflaki tr. by James W. RedhouseIn spite of the fact that the Persian Sufi master Rumi has achieved huge name reconition, his works took a long time to be translated into English. This was one of the first English translations of a major portion of Rumi's Masnavi, his largest work. The complete Masnavi is said to comprise 25,700 couplets. This translation is of the first book (of six) of the Masnavi; this was as far as Redhouse apparently got with his translation. Later, in 1898, E.H. Whinfield released an abridged translation of the first six books, also available at this site (here). The first complete translation of the Masnavi was by R.A. Nicholson, published in London by Luzac and Co. from 1925-40. A.J. Arberry also published several ground-breaking translations of Rumi in the mid-20th century.The Acts of the Adepts, which forms the first part of this book, is also notable. This is an abridged translation of the Menaqibu 'l Arifin, by the historian Eflaki. This is a remarkable collection of legendary stories about the early Sufis.