Al-Ghazali had mentioned the number of his works "more than 70", in one of his letters to Sultan Sanjar
in the late years of his life. However, there are more than 400 books
attributed to him today. Making a judgment on the number of his works
and their attribution to Ghazali is a difficult step. Many western
scholars such as William Montgomery Watt (The works attributed to Al-Ghazali), Maurice Bouyges (Essai de chronologie des oeuvres d'Al-Ghazali) and others prepared a list of his works along with their comments on each book.
Finally, Abdel Rahman Badawi, an Egyptian scholar, prepared a comprehensive list of Ghazali's works under 457 titles:
- from 1 to 72: works definitely written by Ghazali
- from 73 to 95: works of doubtful attribution
- 96 - 127: works which are not those of Ghazali with most certainty
- 128 - 224: are the names of the Chapters or Sections of Ghazali's books that are mistakenly thought books of his
- 225 - 273: books written by other authors regarding Ghazali's works
- 274 - 389: books of other unknown scholars/writers regarding Ghazali's life and personality
- 389 - 457: the name of the manuscripts of Ghazali's works in different libraries of the world
The following is a short list of his Major works:
Theology
- al-Munqidh min al-dalal (Rescuer from Error)
- Hujjat al-Haq (Proof of the Truth)
- al-Iqtisad fil-i`tiqad (Median in Belief)
- al-maqsad al-asna fi sharah asma' Allahu al-husna (The best means in explaining Allah's Beautiful Names)
- Jawahir al-Qur'an wa duraruh (Jewels of the Qur'an and its Pearls)
- Fayasl al-tafriqa bayn al-Islam wa-l-zandaqa (The Criterion of Distinction between Islam and Clandestine Unbelief)
- Mishkat al-Anwar (The Niche of Lights)
- Tafsir al-yaqut al-ta'wil
Sufism
- Mizan al-'amal (Criterion of Action)
- Ihya'ul ulum al-din, "Revival of Religious Sciences", Ghazali's most important work
- Bidayat al-hidayah (Beginning of Guidance)
- Kimiya-yi sa'ādat (The Alchemy of Happiness) [a résumé of Ihya'ul ulum, in Persian]
- Nasihat al-muluk (Counseling Kings) [in Persian]
- al-Munqidh min al-dalal (Rescuer from Error)
- Minhaj al-'Abidin (Methodology for the Worshipers)
Philosophy
- Maqasid al falasifa (Aims of Philosophers) [written in the
beginning of his life, in favour of philosophy and presenting the basic
theories in Philosophy, mostly influenced by Avicenna's works]
- Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), [in this book he refutes the Greek Philosophy aiming at Avicenna and Al-Farabi; and of which Ibn Rushd wrote his famous refutation Tahafut al-tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence)]
- Miyar al-Ilm fi fan al-Mantiq (Criterion of Knowledge in the Art of Logic)
- Mihak al-Nazar fi al-mantiq (Touchstone of Reasoning in Logic)
- al-Qistas al-mustaqim (The Correct Balance)
Jurisprudence
- Fatawy al-Ghazali (Verdicts of al-Ghazali)
- Al-wasit fi al-mathab (The medium [digest] in the Jurisprudential school)
- Kitab tahzib al-Isul (Prunning on Legal Theory)
- al-Mustasfa fi 'ilm al-isul (The Clarified in Legal Theory)
- Asas al-Qiyas (Foundation of Analogical reasoning)