The Ghazali Children’s Project by Fons Vitae & Hamza Yusuf

The Ghazali Children’s Project Has Arrived. 

Be First to Support this Amazing Labor of Love.

• Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Aisha Gray Henry had an ongoing concern that religious education for children was not speaking to the heart of faith. Henry, who heads Fons Vitae, a nonprofit, interfaith publishing house embarked on a project to change that, and with the encouragement of Shaykh Hamza The Ghazali Children’s Project was born. This may be the most ambitious book project on the market today. It is certainly an historic development for Islamic education in the English-speaking world.

• Many scholars consider Ghazali’s Revival of the Islamic Sciences (Ihya Ulum Al-Din), to be the most important literary contribution for Muslims after the Qur’an and the compilation of Hadith. By presenting Ghazali’s teaching, The Ghazali Children’s Project seeks to inculcate prophetic character and values in children through storytelling, guided reflection, and instruction.

• A team of Ghazali experts have been carefully translating his work into readable English for both parents and teachers. These volumes will accompany the beautifully illustrated children’s books and workbooks. Also included are parent-teacher manuals of enjoyable games and activities, which reinforce Ghazali’s teachings.

Our Journey 

• Fons Vitae has been translating and publishing the work of Imam Al-Ghazali for many years. We believe that English-speaking Muslims deserve the best our tradition has to offer. What we know for sure is that knowledge of self, in this case, knowledge of one’s own religion is the key to a bright and meaningful life. Our communities have often righteously struggled to use the limited resources in the English language to teach ourselves and our children what it means to be a Muslim. Fons Vitae believes that our children should have the best and that’s why for the past decade we have embarked on the huge task of translating all 40 volumes of Ghazali’s Revival of the Islamic Sciences, as well as re-crafting those books into a children’s book series so that our children can discover what’s at the heart of their faith. We hope to hand back to our children the ownership and inner dignity of their spiritual lives, making it possible for them to be self-observant and self-correcting.

Meet the Publisher: Fons Vitae

• Fons Vitae (“al-Kauthar” or “fountain of life”) is a non-profit academic publishing company based in Louisville, Kentucky, that publishes interfaith scholarly works focused on world spirituality. It is known for its significant English translations of Arabic and Persian works, especially in the field of Islamic spirituality, Tafsir and Jurisprudence. Its award-winning books and DVDs are used throughout the world in university classrooms and by the general public. Fons Vitae was founded by Aisha Gray Henry, who co-founded the Islamic Texts Society (ITS) in 1980 after studying at al-Azhar University for 10 years. She has known Shaykh Hamza Yusuf for decades. The Ghazali Children’s Project has been a collaborative work between Fons Vitae and Shaykh Hamza (who has written an Introduction for both the adult and children’s versions of this prestigious series). 

Where We Are Now & Where We’d Like To Be

We need your help to bring this project to fruition so we can launch the first two book sets at the Revival of the Islamic Spirit (RIS) convention in Canada in late December.We need to raise $100,000 (half by November 20th and the rest by January) to cover our printing and production costs. Through your generous donations we can print 2,000 book sets of the following: 

• The Book of Knowledge for Children with accompanying workbook, and companion teacher-parent volume.
• The Book of Belief for Children with accompanying workbook, and companion teacher-parent volume.

E-book versions of both sets are expected to be available in the New Year.

Go to: GhazaliChildren.org (in development)

*Donor Acknowledgement*

Contributors in all giving levels will be acknowledged on the new GhazaliChildren.org interactive educational website, intended to be a global network. Contests for children and other activities will be announced here. It is hoped that children, parents and teachers will meet one another on this site where there will be an opportunity to post contributions and much more. E-books will be available on this site for downloading. 

We are inviting the community, whom Fons Vitae has long served, to now become an integral part of  a global family working together to make the timeless message of Imam al-Ghazali available for us all. Before you is an amazing opportunity to invest in the continuity of knowledge for future generations of Muslim children.

Check us out on:

Facebook & YouTube

With immense gratitude, 

The Fons Vitae Team

Contact Us

For any questions about this campaign: faatimahknight@gmail.com

Educating our children for generations to come.

Like our Facebook page to stay in touch and get updates on the project. 

Source: ICNW