Imam Ghazali's Ihya Ulum Id Din: Book of Religious Learning (4 vol set)

Excellent source of material

I don't want to give this edition a totally negative review just yet because I haven't properly started it and I do appreciate having finally found an affordable and (relatively) complete edition of the Revival but I think people should know that it's not a totally complete edition.How much is taken out I'm not sure but in the introduction the translator says he removed sections relevant only to sectarian debates at the time of al-Ghazali as well as "some matters not heeded at the present time [needed?] and some sayings of sages of less reputation", although he helpfully informs us that the edition published in Bengali is complete so if you know Bengali you're all set. The introduction has very brutal English and poor formatting on top of that but from flipping through the translation of the Revival itself that does seem to be up to a higher standard of quality. Though I did find phrasing that struck me as odd and probably incorrect in a way that impacts the meaning ("may my parents be sacrificed TO you" rather than "for you") and the Quran seems to be interpreted in fairly colloquial English, which is not my preference whatsoever (it's not to the Quran what The Message is to the Bible or anything, just not as stately as most of the well known English interpretations).I'm very glad this is out there because it does appear to be the most complete English edition available at anything like an affordable price. Why we're still lacking an affordable, complete, and quality translation of this book is really a mystery to me, it's one of the most important books in Islamic history. The Islamic Texts Society editions are great, I own some of them, but they're generally expensive for the size, the individual books within the Revival are sold separately (which is not the custom in the Arab world and frankly a bit of a ripoff), and the series isn't even finished yet. There's also a translation by Mohammad Mahdi al-Sharif which promises to be complete and in good English but unfortunately that one goes for about $230 at the lowest from what I've seen, certainly more than a bit of a ripoff. I understand that the ITS editions involve a lot of original research, have in depth introductory essays, that different translators are used, that they're heavily footnoted etc. and I understand that English language Islamic publishing is dominated by publishing houses who will have some bones to pick with al-Ghazali but I'd much, much prefer a scaled down, complete and affordable edition intended for laymen than what they're going for. Even if you have to publish boutique and even if you place a premium on scholarship and the build of the book itself, it's possible to get complete editions of very large Islamic books like the Muwatta with all that and good English for under $100, the same should absolutely be true for the Revival.