Key To The Garden : Jewels & Pearls from Imam al-Ghazali

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf  Hanson reverts to Islam at age 17. He then begins  a life journey to study this new Din, which first lands him in Mauritania to be under a  Shaykh, immersing himself into Islam wholly, the traditional way, from a Shaykh to another Sahykh to another and another and finally to a student. Later on, he moved on to Egypt, Morocco and UAE. With his film-star persona and his special God-given gift in getting through to people in the English medium, he is currently the 'Brad Pitt' in the Muslim world. He has his fair shares of detractors of course, mainly those from the Hijaz, who view Islam, from a very myopic angle, worsened  additionally by their lack of knowledge and their inability to take away the 'proverbial blinkers' permanently attached to their 'minds'.

Here, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf talks on the contributions of al-Ghazali:-

[ Disregard the initial 'longish'  zikr, if you are not into it, skip the first 10 minutes...I enjoy very much this lecture...

an intro to Imam Ghazali's Ihya, and Imam al-Ghazali, the man ]

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The Alchemist of Happiness,

[ film directed by Abdul Latiff  Ovidio Salazar ]

Exploring the life and impact of the greatest spiritual and legal philosopher in Islamic history, this film examines Ghazali's existential crisis of faith that arose from his rejection of religious dogmatism, and reveals profound parallels with our own times. 

Ghazali became known as the Proof of Islam and his path of love and spiritual excellence overcame the pitfalls of the organized religion of his day. His path was largely abandoned by early 20th century Muslim reformers for the more strident and less tolerant school of Ibn Taymiyya. Combining drama with documentary, this film argues that Ghazali's Islam is the antidote for today's terror.