Book excerpt: This spiritual autobiography describes Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's intellectual crisis, which led him to achieve direct knowledge of God. Among his most outstanding contributions to Muslim intellectual life were masterly defenses of Islamic orthodoxy, mysticism, and law, against the attacks of those who advocated purely legalistic, or entirely esoteric, readings of the religion. He hence articulated the Islam of the middle way, in balance between the extremes of the letter and the spirit. Also included in this volume are extensive translations from key works of al-Ghazali.