A central difficulty when reading al-Ghazali (d. 1111) is understanding why he attempts to bring together seemingly disconnected aspects of ethical theory. He inclines toward a more philosophical influence of virtue ethics in his earlier book, The Scale of Action (Mizan al-'amal), while in his vast encyclopedic work, The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'ulum al-din), his conception of religious practice was greatly informed by the emerging...