A Supposed Work of al-Ghazālī

ANY ADDITION to our knowledge of the literary activity of al-Ghazall, the great Mohammedan theologian of the eleventh century-the greatest theologian that Islam has produced-must be welcome to every student of Arabic letters. It was, therefore, with more than ordinary interest that, some time ago, I hit upon a ms. in the Collection of the New York Library, saidin the colophon-to be by him, but bearing a title which I could find in none of our ordinary works of reference. We are pretty well informed about the works of al-Ghazali-from the long account of his activities to be found in al-Subki's Tabakat alShafi'iyyah' of the fifteenth century, through Brockelmann, to the excellent articles of our colleague Professor Macdonald in our own JOURNAL2 and in the Encyclopedia of Islam. title of the ms. was C3LJ1 ZJ , Oi i. e. The difference between a Righteous and an Unrighteous Man . A glance at the work, the first third of which is wanting in the ms., showed me that it dealt with the functions of a ruler, and with the duties that lay upon those appointed by him to positions of trust. It was interesting enough by reason of its matter and its fund of anecdotes; and I translated a good twothirds of the New York ms. As I translated, I began to feel that I was upon familiar ground; I remembered that al-Ghazall had written just such a speculum or Manual of Ethical Guidance for Kings' addressed to Mohammed the Great Seljuk in the year 498 A. H. (= 1104 A. D.), but under quite a different title fI ala 42 9 jI>J IJI Refined Gold concerning Advice given to Kings-or, as it is usually cited for short, _Jl1 4.. question arose naturally, What was the relation of the one work or title to the other?-especially as Muhammad Murtad.a

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