The translation, notes, and commentary of Imam al-Harith al-Muhasibi's Risala al-Mustarshidin (Treatise For The Seekers Of Guidance) by Zaid Shakir is intended to serve as a layman's guide to Islamic spirituality.

Al-Muhasibi presents most of the major ideas that would both serve as the basis for a full program of spiritual development and comprise an insightful overview of a system of Islamic moral psychology.

He examines in great depth and penetrating insight the psychological motivations and justifications for moral thought and action and correspondingly the associated bases of immorality. In so doing, he has provided a road map that any person can follow to overcome the guiles of his fundamental enemies: the world, the ego, the whims of the soul, and Satan.

About Author:

Imam Zaid Shakir is a Muslim American scholar, public speaker, and author who is a co-founder with Hamza Yusuf and Hatem Bazian, chairman of the board, and a senior faculty member of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California. He teaches courses on Arabic, law, history, and Islamic spirituality.

He is co-founder and chairman of United For Change since 2009. This effort through modern discourse is to create awareness of the broadest and most consuming topics within the Muslim and interfaith community. The aim is to leverage diversity through cooperation and goodwill and address the obstacles that have proven to be divisive.

The Chronicle of Higher Education stated, “Embodying an American story if ever there was one including proverbial bootstraps, military service, political activism, and deep religious commitment Zaid Shakir’s message of social justice in the face of poverty and racism he has known first-hand makes him endlessly and, it often seems, effortlessly relevant.

He is as approachable a man as I’ve ever met.” He is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.