March 07, 2006

The Alchemist of Happiness

Every religion and movement had its famous thinkers; Confucious, Aristotle, Nietzsche among many others. Ovidio Salazar, is responsible for bringing one of Islam's greatest philosophers on to the movie screen in his latest picture Al-Ghazali: the Alchemist of Happiness, and thus portraying the life of an ordinary man with an unordinary mind.

"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 fanaticism, 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 IbnTaymiyya. This film argues that Ghazali's Islam is the antidote for today's terror."

View the trailer here (high quality), here (medium quality) or here (low quality).

10 comments:

Farrukh Naeem said...

Thanks for that review. Now if I could only get a copy of this, I mean on original copy of course ;-)

Destitute Rebel said...

This should be good, thanx for the info.

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Farrukh, I am trying to find the film but my guess is hopefully it will be released on DVD if it hasn't already, or most likely one must drop a line to matmedia productions and perhaps order it from them. Koshish karo! :)

D. Rebel, anytime.

BuJ said...

Would be good to find the DVD and watch it.. then if it's good to buy all the DVDs and keep them :)

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Get the chocs ready buj!

أبو سنان said...

Wow, looks great. Thanks.

أبو سنان said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Glad to spread the word Abu Sinan :)

flamin said...

oh wow this is awesome! i'm SOOO looking fwd to this one. have to find out HOW :P i read 'the alchemy of happiness' by ghazali...very...hmm interesting and beautifully spiritual, of course.

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

MD: Have you read his book "dearly beloved son"? Especially the last chapters on discussion as opposed to argument. Ah very enlightening.