Makashafat al-Qulub al-Ghazali

polytheism and sins, and I limited it to one hundred and eleven chapters so that people of knowledge and understanding may retain what it contains. p. 7 — It is not reasonable that al-Ghazali would say such a thing — that is, “attributed to” — about himself

2— The author of the book mentions al-Qurtubi the exegete and quotes him in the thirteenth chapter, on trustworthiness, p. 39 — and it is well known that al-Qurtubi died in 671 AH while al-Ghazali died in 505 AH, so how could he quote him?.
3— In several places the writer quotes from Zahr al-Riyad, which is most likely the book Zahr al-Riyad wa Shifa' al-Qulub al-Mirad by Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Khatib Shihab al-Din al-Qastallani, who died in 923 AH.

4— The book recounts a large number of stories and lessons collected from al-Ghazali's books, such as Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) and Bidayat al-Hidaya (The Beginning of Guidance), and from authors other than al-Ghazali, all crammed and stuffed together, which betrays the absence of al-Ghazali's mind and his familiar independent method of writing. End quote.

Dr. Abd al-Rahman Badawi also mentioned it in his book The Works of al-Ghazali, under the heading: Part Five, Spurious Books. He said: Since the book quotes authors who came after al-Ghazali, it is certain that it is spurious; moreover, what appears in the book's introduction signals this false attribution, namely the phrase: “attributed to Sheikh al-Ghazali” — for it is not at all customary for al-Ghazali to be mentioned in this way, and this al-Ghazali, if the attribution is genuine, must be someone other than Hujjat al-Islam (the Proof of Islam). End quote