Posted by Mawlana Badrul Islam

The following link will allow you to download the entire It’haf al-Sadat al-Muttaqin bi Sharh Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din in scanned PDF format. This is the best ever edition of this magnificent book (thus confirmed by Mawlana Husain Kadodia sahib). As it is a late 1800s print, you may initially have difficulty in reading the text, but you should soon get used to it. Download all ten volumes and save them in a single folder without renaming them. Insha Allah, all the volumes should be interlinked (i.e. you should be able to use the PDF contents on the left side of your screen).

http://www.ghazali.org/books/ithaf/index.html

For your information, the following is what Mawlana Husain sahib had told us:

There are only 3 prints of Ithaf.
This copy, which is the original and the best by far.
No other edition is available online.
The other two are by Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah and Dar al-Fikr.
They are typed out editions of this one, with the usual thousands of free errors added.

Amongst the benefits of this edition is that:
– All references are given to it.
– A 3 volume index has been printed separately for it
– The references in Mawsu’ah Atraf Al-Hadith are to it as well.
– Much less errors

It is a bit harder to read than the other prints and not as “smart”, however I would recommend this print anytime. This would be understood by anyone who has experienced the frustration of trying to figure out a difficult text only to find out that it was a typo that was causing the problem.

Ithaf is extremely beneficial in making takhrij, however the Ilmiyyah and Fikr prints are useless in this regard as they have no glossary of ahadith, neither do they match the Mawsu’ah Atraf al-Hadith.

Note: This isn’t a Bulaq print as mentioned on the ghazali.org site. It is a Maymaniyyah print, as clearly mentioned on pg.573 of volume 10.

The editor is also clearly mentioned on that page as Muhammad az-Zuhri al-Ghamrawi.
They also mention using the authors own manuscript in the editing, however in spite of this many typos crept in, as mentioned by Allamah Khawthari.

A word of advice: Copies of the Maymaniyyah print are fading out of circulation very fast. Finding the original is impossible, however it has been copied by both Ihya at-Turath al-Arabi (also known as Mu’assasah at-Tarikh al-Arabi) as well as by Dar al-Fikr ( this is other than the Fikr typed out edition, which you should stay far from).

If one can get the Ihya at-Turath copy it would be better as the copy is clearer and they have also printed a 3 volume index that is sold separately.

If not, the Fikr print will do the job, however both are fast entering the “Rare Books” category.

[Mufti] Husain [Kadodia]