Healing from the book of Al-Shifa

Authored by the Imam, the حافظ, the فقيه, the أصولي, the نظار, Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, the judge, Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Ma'afari, the Maliki. From the book Al-Shifa, which is a summary of the notes of the book Shifa al-Ghريل. Abu Hamid Zain al-Din Muhammad al-Tusi al-Ghazali. Judge Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi al-Ma'afari, the Maliki. The aim of Imam Al-Ghazali in Shifa al-Ghريل was to clarify the obscure and important objectives of analogy (qiyas) and to discuss the method of the Hanafi sheikh, Judge Abi Zaid al-Dabusi, who died in 430 AH, in his foundational and controversial books. Our book was distinguished by its focus on the principles of Imam Malik and organizing the summary according to his evidences, because the book Al-Shifa is based on the principles of Imam Al-Shafi’i. I have seen this book in biographical dictionaries under different titles. Ibn al-Sabki mentioned it as “Shifa al-Ghريل in clarifying issues of reasoning.” Sayyid Murtada titled it “Shifa al-Ghريل in clarifying the issue of reasoning.” Al-Eidroosi titled it “Shifa al-Ghريل in analogy and reasoning.” And it appeared with a similar title in Al-Kashf al-Zunun. Whoever looks at the introduction of Al-Shifa or at the last page of it will be safe from this confusion, as Imam Al-Ghazali explicitly stated in the introduction: “I named it ‘Shifa al-Ghريل in clarifying doubts, illusions, and methods of reasoning’.” And at the end of the book he says: “This is the extent of what we intended to mention regarding the five pillars of analogy, limited to the purpose expressed by the book’s title, and fulfilling what we committed to: ‘Shifa al-Ghريل in clarifying doubts, illusions, and methods of reasoning’.” Therefore, we did not hesitate to give the book the title chosen by its author, which is “Shifa al-Ghريل in clarifying doubts, illusions, and methods of reasoning.” We also found Imam Al-Ghazali content with the first part of this title, “Shifa al-Ghريل,” when he refers to it in Al-Mustasfa.