God - by Abbas al-Akkad

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:10]is dubbed or typically referred to as the giant of Arabic literature. And some people joke saying he's the giant of Arabic literature because he was a very tall man. I think the key issue is that his mind, his intellect was colossal.

[00:00:29]Now, Abz Alad is usually seen as one of the most important philosophers from or within the Islamic movement, the modern Islamic movement, the late 19th and throughout the 20th century in the Arabic and the Islamic world.

[00:00:51]But what set different from many of the thinkers and philosophers who did appear emerge in the Islamic current of that long era was that he was extremely exposed extremely well exposed to western culture. He was fluent in English. He was very familiar with Anglo-Saxon philosophy, literature, poetry, history as well as had a decent exposure to franophhone or franophonic literature, philosophy and a voracious reader.

[00:01:35]Basel had a project and that project is very well known to many of those who are familiar with modern Arabic and Islamic literature as in in the first half of the 20th century. And that project revolved around introducing some of the most important themes, some of the most important personalities in the Islamic cannon, in the Islamic tradition in his own way. And there's a very famous in in the Arab world and in the Islamic world very famous series of books called the geniuses in which he presented what he thought are the foundations the reasons why certain characters in Islamic history he called them geniuses.

[00:02:28]So he was trying to argue that a number of personalities that shaped Islamic history deserve to be referred to as geniuses. And he he usually wrote quite short books, not really long volumes, quite short books in which he really put forward an argument why he thought such a character is in his view a genius. And the genius here is not just about the intellect or somebody is very intelligent. This was not how Allah characterized or defined genius. rather he was he as in whatever the character that he was referring to was a genius in how he contributed to the flow of Islamic thinking to the to the development of the tradition of Islam to the Islamic civilization and interestingly in Alad's mind those characters were not necessarily only those that are typically associated with Islam. So for example, he has a book on the genius of Jesus Christ and for him Jesus Christ is in the canon from which or to which Islam belongs.

[00:03:52]One of in my view the most interesting books that Alad wrote was called Allah or God.

[00:04:04]And that book, as I mentioned, I think emerged or appeared in the late 1940s.

[00:04:11]And the idea that Alad wanted to to do here is to look at God not from an Islamic point of view but to look at how he interpreted with his grounding in Islamic philosophy in Islamic literature Islamic history how he interpreted humanity's long journey to understand the concept of the divinity.

[00:04:42]the the idea of God.

[00:04:46]His main argument throughout the book, the the thread that connects the chapters of the book is that humanity was indeed on a journey from the very beginning of the human society emerging from being a primitive society until the 20th century in a journey towards internalizing and understanding.

[00:05:16]what thought to be the most refined form of monotheism or believing in one god in the most refined way of defining this oneness.

[00:05:35]He starts the book by the moment in which he believes the primitive early human societies started to develop a consciousness that is beyond the mere here and now. So a consciousness that starts or that started to understand that there are invisible forces that affects affect the human society naturally.

[00:06:04]the sun, the moon, the stars, earth, wind, air, all of the the powers of nature that at that moment for was the moment of awakening in which the human mind started to see or to appreciate or to think that these natural forces do not just affect affect the person, the the family, the the person and his family, the small human community in the most direct way as in rain giving water as in sungiving warmth. But in more than that, that behind the sun there's the idea of warmth. that behind light there's probably a meaning that behind uh the water and agriculture there's the notion of fertility that behind his or her mere existence there is the idea that life exists in some sort of a value that have been passed on from his or her ancestors to himself or to herself.

[00:07:24]that moment which al compared to the idea of the vital of the famous French philosopher beon. For that moment in which a spark of creativity emerged in the human mind was the moment in which the human society began the journey of just living the here and now in a very primitive way and put its foot on the first step in the journey towards the most refined oneness.

[00:08:14]This is the moment for that humanity starts the first phase of developing notions of divinity. So basically again starting to believe in their ancestors as or to portray their ancestors as some sort of divine started to associate the sun, the moon, the stars with some sort of divinities or divine meanings behind these natural phenomena. started to see fertility, whether fertility as in agriculture or fertility as in sexuality that leads to breeding and to the birth of new generations, to associate gods with that idea, even to start to associate divinities or gods with abstract meanings such as peace. Because the human society at the time started to realize that the mere fact that we can live as small tribes amongst each other or next to each other without necessarily fighting each other is a blessing has in itself some sort of a meaning. Al tells us as the vast majority of narratives throughout history that this was the birth of polytheism which is understandable for many people.

[00:09:34]The early human societies believed in a number of gods, a number of divinities.

[00:09:40]And therefore, the idea of a single god.

[00:09:44]The idea of oneness was in the vast majority of narratives didn't exist.

[00:09:51]That the prevailing notion was one of polytheism. Poly of course coming from the plurality of divinities.

[00:10:02]tells us that this is most likely indeed how it was during those times. However, in this trajectory that he thinks in this trajectory towards oneness that he's trying to take us as readers on throughout the book, he puts forward a different notion for that moment in history. So he says indeed most likely these early societies believed in polytheism but there might for some elites within a number of these societies there might have been an idea of pantheism.

[00:10:43]The notion that there is one god. There is a single conception of divinity that in that narrative was manifested, was seen, was expressing or people thought it is expressing itself through different notions. And therefore in that line of thinking he for example looks at the Egyptian ancient Egyptian theology and says indeed in the vast majority of readings there was polytheism. There were many gods each one devoted to a particular idea. But in another understanding there was perhaps for a very small sliver within the society the notion of a single god that whose expressions could be put forward as gods. So for example, he says that maybe at one point in time a god such as Amunra, one of the most famous gods in the ancient Egyptian pantheon could be thought of as the Egyptian conception of the oneness of God. While in that conception there were the ideas of that the expression of power of that god could be thought of as another divinity.

[00:12:13]The expression of fertility of that god could be thought of of as another div another form of divinity a god and so on.

[00:12:23]in his looking or in his presentation of the Egyptian ancient Egyptian theology. Of course, he pays particular attention to the episode of Enaton.

[00:12:38]Eknaton is the Egyptian king who in the most widespread narratives or the most accepted narratives introduced some sort of a religion that has a unified God. Al does not necessarily say that this is absolutely correct, but he presents this narrative that at that historical moment ancient Egyptians did have perhaps a form of oneness in how they looked at divinity. He does the same thing in the helenic civilization. So he says in one reading the most likely most prevailing reading there is Zeus, Athena, Poseidon a multitude of divinities of gods and therefore polytheism.

[00:13:30]However, in his narrative, maybe potentially in some readings, there was a small sliver within the Greek society that maybe had some sort of a pantheistic notion. the idea of a single god, a single spirit behind the conception of the human beings. But that that sliver of the Greek society represented its powers, its presence in the universe through ideas, through representations that were seen by the vast majority of people to be gods. The same thing he does when he presents the Indian pantheon of gods. So he tells us again it might be the polytheistic idea of Brahma of Vishno of Shiva others but perhaps the pantheistic understanding of the Indian civilization. The idea here again he is not forcing on us the notion that the ancient civilizations of human history moved from polytheism towards monotheisms through a stage of pantheism.

[00:14:50]No, but he's saying that although he accepts that the vast majority of understandings say that the prevailing idea was polytheism, perhaps there was a parallel or a later form of conception of the divinity that did emerge in these civilizations.

[00:15:08]If it happened, certainly it was not for the vast majority of the people but amongst a small sliver probably within the elite or amongst the elite in which this notion of pantheism took shape.

[00:15:32]In the following chapter presents another idea. He says perhaps it was not just merely polytheism leading to pantheism, but almost certainly in a number of cultures there was some sort of a hierarchy in the in their conception of the divine structure. the idea that there was a multiple set of gods that they believed in but not necessarily having the same status in that pantheon of these different theologies. The example that he presents is Zaronostustrianism.

[00:16:13]And the idea here, of course, he he doesn't delve into the the very complex theology and ideas of Zaronostustrianism. But what he does is that he says that the fundamental idea in that conception of the divinity is the existence of a good form of divinity that is being challenged by a bad form of divinity.

[00:16:40]The idea of some sort of a contrast between good and evil, between light and darkness.

[00:16:51]Again he doesn't delve into the details of Zaronostustrianism but what is of import to him in his conception of that journey that humanity took throughout different ages towards oneness is what it meant and what it meant for is some sort of evolution. In that view, the idea of having a belief in a good powerful god, even if in that idea there is a challenger that represents evil, darkness, challenging light, even if there is that sort of a challenge, which is of course far from oneness, at least in how internalized the idea of oneness, but in that conception in thinking it is an evolution from polytheism.

[00:17:51]He builds on that idea by moving from Zarinostrianism which was in today's Iran, Afghanistan if I'm not mistaken 600 700 years before Christ and he moves further east. He goes further towards China for example and he builds on the same idea of the duality of the existence of opposites and say that more or less the same idea was was there in in the east in China.

[00:18:26]It expressed itself in the idea in the idea of opposite powers that have immense influence and presence in the lives of humanity, the yen and the yang.

[00:18:40]But in his view, this was quite a refined way of expressing such duality, such opposite forces because it doesn't have any material representations. At least in his conception, it is some sort of a contrast between harmony and chaos.

[00:19:04]Indeed, the meanings behind light awakening and darkness and the descent away from from light. That representation of course has has refined thinking behind it by far more elevated by far more evolved than crude ideas about contrasts between a very tangible duality takes that idea in in his conception of Chinese thinking and say that the Chinese civilization had a wonderful contribution not just in that refined sense of the duality but how it relates to the person. So in his view the idea of the duality found expression in Chinese thinking about the universe about the divinity and about the human being in the notion of theqi the power of life that does exist in the universe and in the human being and that the choices that the human being make on how to use that power of life, that power of tree, whether in goodness or in something bad, whether to effect to spread harmony within himself or herself and in the areas around him, therefore in the universe versus being a force of chaos in thinking that's a development of the idea of duality in a very refined way.

[00:21:02]The notion of duality here in the east in China does not just represent itself in mind as some sort of a contrast between harmony and chaos, goodness and and being bad in the choices of the human being. But rather it is a continual struggle that the human being must perfect or at least must go through several several times so as to improve his or her choices so as to elevate the notion of the human choices, human existence so that it more and more goes towards becoming a force of harmony rather and a force of chaos so that it becomes spreading more light within himself his environment the universe as opposed to being descending and falling into darkness.

[00:22:10]That is the idea through which approaches the notion of reincarnation.

[00:22:18]In that view, the notion of reincarnation of the human spirit falling into materialism, falling into the confinement of the human body in how understood that notion in that part of the world was not merely cause an effect, not merely as a way to reward or punish the human being based on what he or she had done in a previous life. He introduces that idea. But for him the more important concept lying at the core of reincarnation is the idea that it is another chance further many chances that the human spirit gets so that it evolves its choices. It evolves its inclination towards harmony, goodness, light away from chaos, darkness, evil being bad.

[00:23:24]Of course again whether in introducing the notions of reincarnation or in introducing Zaronostianism or other ideas he's coming with an Islamic conviction that of course is vastly different than many of these ideas but he presents all of these ideas as conception of various ways through which human civilizations human cultures different forms of how human societies is conceived divinity as milestones on a very long journey that humanity took towards understanding in his view true divinity which is oneness builds on the same idea on a grander scale. So in his understanding in the way he presents the idea of reincarnation at that moment in in the east in his conception in that journey is that it's not just about giving multiple opportunities for the human being for the human soul to perfect itself but rather it is the nature of existence itself and therefore he presents to us in his understanding how eastern cultures a number of eastern cultures such as in China or in India sees that the universe itself goes through lives, different cycles in which it goes from being, think of it asleep to some sort of awakening. And that these cycles that not just the human being, not just human existence but rather the universe as a whole, these cycles which of course are extremely long, lengthy in time are almost perpetual and eternal. The notion that Rahad introduces to us here again in his thinking, in his understanding of that contribution of that idea coming out of India, of China, of parts of the east is that the notion of evolution of the human spirit towards better expression, further, wider, longer, more sophisticated, more elevated expression of of goodness of harmony is not just confined to the human existence. It is an inherent nature of the universe itself that goes itself throughout same the same forms of reincarnation reexistence these perpetual eternal cycles detects a very interesting point in this eastern thinking which is the linkage in this case between the universe and the human being and therefore the study. So whereas if we run with his understanding of that conception of the divinity of that conception of the divinity expressing itself in the universe and in the human being then the human being the body itself is extremely important. It's not just the spirit that is very important. Not just the human spirit, the body itself of man, man, man man and woman of course in this conception is being reincarnated. It is the body that goes through the different experiences. The spirit of course is the essence. It is the one being refined but it is being refined through its entrance into materialism. Materialism here is the human body. Why he is introducing that idea? Number one to to not necessarily to elevate but to give due credit shall we say to give due value to materialism to the human materialism to the human body because in this case it plays a very important role in the journey of the soul itself but also to make a linkage between that idea at least in how understands that idea and concepts and ideas in the monotheistic traditions such as in Christianity such as in Islam. So he makes the connection by saying the importance in his understanding of the human body in these eastern ideas is also echoed or mirrored in ideas and concepts in Christianity in Islam. So he says look at the notion of the kingdom of God is within. Of course a saying by Jesus Christ. The idea here of the kingdom of God within the human being elevating putting major value on the human being including the material nature of the human being not just the spiritual nature.

[00:28:46]God dwells within the very famous concept particularly innosticism.

[00:28:52]He even invokes Ali the the the cousin of the prophet Muhammad and one of the most important figures in Islamic history by quoting him.

[00:29:12]And you this extremely important figure in Islamic history talking to his followers talking to the human being if you'd like and saying and you think that you are a tiny tiny thing in this world whereas in reality inside of you is contained the entire universe. It's exactly the same idea giving value to the human existence not just as a spirit but also as a body.

[00:29:45]What Alahad is trying to do here is to take again the idea that he arrived at from west from eastern Asian viewpoints conceptions of divinity and link it to ideas that in his view are integral in Christian and Islamic thinking not not and that's a very important point that is saying that the ideas are the same absolutely Not comes from a very Islamic view of divinity. But what he's trying to do in this particular book is to look at specific ideas in his mind in his understanding of different forms, different conceptions of the divinity across a number of civilizations and link these specific points in a thread that in his mind formed the journey that in his mind was that of the human beings from the dawn of civilization. if you'd like from the moment of the vital as he put it towards his time. Not that the ideas are the same across the different conceptions of theology. Be the first to disagree with that. Rather, I apologize for repeating myself, but it's an important point. He derives certain ideas he thinks are at the essence of these conceptions of the divinity and says that these conceptions from each or these ideas from these different conceptions these different ideas about God are extremely important milestones that their connection forms the journey that he says humanity has been on.

[00:31:44]Alad after that moves west. So he takes us to the western civilization. And of course the most important milestone not surprisingly that he starts or continues the journey with but starts in the west with is that of the helenic philosophy, the Greek philosophy. And he puts forward a very interesting idea that why Greece introduced innovative philosophical ideas. Why these ideas did not for example materialize or emerge out of Egypt. He says in Greece there were no real major rivers that could have allowed for a very large easy stable agrarian society such as in Egypt for example. There was no particular or particularly stable forms of ruling such as the very stable kingdoms that did exist in Egypt, in Persia.

[00:32:47]He um he said that there was some sort of an innate need for the Greeks to go to the seas and therefore to become explorers to see different parts of the world. They needed that economically. And of course, what came with that was the emergence of a maritime culture that took ideas from different parts of the world and did not have back home very rigid structures that prevented the emergence of new ideas. There was an open mill in which different ideas important from different parts of the world could grow, interact with others, be fertilized by other ideas. All of that allowed in Allah's thinking Greece to become a fertile ground for the emergence of new ideas at that moment in time. What are these new ideas? He says that Greece introduced three or four particularly important notions in humanity's journey towards oneness. The idea of the first mover and inbas's conception of first mover that that to a large extent correspond with a creator.

[00:34:19]Now, of course, a number of those who studied Greek philosophy will disagree with that conclusion of Alad and might very well say actually misunderstood the idea of the first mover. And some of those critiques of emerged from a number of philosophers in the Arab world in the mid 20th century.

[00:34:45]But if we were to follow his thinking, the idea, the notion that Greece came to the conclusion of a first mover, that that the universe is not a random phenomena in thinking denoted a divinity and that that divine being in's understanding of Greek or Helenic ideas is not material is beyond materiality and that this beyondness makes that divinity beyond the conception of the human mind which in Al's thinking led to one of the most important breakthroughs in Greek philosophy and that is the Pythagorean or Pythagoras idea that the road towards understanding God divinity the universe the connections between the material existence and that divinity is through mathematics and music so in's narrative that the Greeks arrived at this notion of a of a of a god who is beyond materiality in his narrative was a natural precursor to the pithagorian idea of using the intangibility of mathematics and music as path towards that divinity.

[00:36:35]The other idea that in Alad's thinking was a very valuable major contribution by the Greek philosophy in in his mind humanity's trajectory path journey towards oneness is the notion of the logos. The idea in how understood that notion from the Greek civilization is that it is the presence of the divine existence into the material world. Not through of course a spoken word but the idea of the word materializing that presence into the material world.

[00:37:21]Therefore in the universe and its presence creates order and gives reason.

[00:37:28]That idea for was another major contribution by the Greek philosophy.

[00:37:36]What he does after that in his book is to present in relatively short chapters the ideas of the three most important philosophers in the helenic pantheon. Of course, the first one of them is Socrates and Alak does not delve too much into the ideas of Socrates or later Plato or later Aristotle. What he really does is what I have tried to explain he did with the Asian cultures. He arrives at what he thinks were the most important contributions, conclusions of these ideas that he thought as contributions in humanity's journey towards oneness in its most refined way.

[00:38:26]That's what he does. It's not that he distills these ideas or these philosophers into the most important points that everybody would agree are the most important points of these different philosophers, theologies. He doesn't do that. He detects in his view the most important contribution towards his conception of that journey humanity is on. For Socrates, he believes the most important contribution he made was the notion of good living ethics. in his view that the Greeks gave a meaning to the human existence through behavior through the presence of the human being in his or her environment to do good in Alkar's thinking was a major contribution which led in his view to the platonic idea of the connection between human presence and the divine presence. The idea of the spiritual connection that the spiritual component of the human existence is extremely important and there is a path towards elevating towards evolving that essence of the human being versus Aristotle whose in conception has extremely elevated the divine conception and therefore severed the link between the human being and God and in the Aristolian thinking in the thinking of Aristotle as presented it God is not just above the existence but doesn't need the existence to the to the extent of not really interacting not even knowing about the existence and therefore the essence of focus here is on the presence of the human being in the world of Alad in that elaboration draws attention to the most famous painting of the Athenian school in which Plato points the finger upwards denoting the connection, the human spiritual connection between the human being and divinity versus Aristotle who points his finger downwards denoting the more or less not severing or cutting saying the link between humanity and God but denoting that the emphasis here is on the presence of the human being and his and her work in the material universe. Al presents the ideas of the helenic school or the Athenian school at least as he thought what are the most important contributions of those philosophers with respect.

[00:41:21]He gives due respect to the Athenian school of philosophy, which of course is very interesting given that he is one of the most important and established philosophers in modern Islamic history.

[00:41:37]But he does not present these ideas again at least as he understood them as faultless.

[00:41:49]Here he puts forward some of the elements of his Islamic convictions which he doesn't do often throughout the book. So often when or a number of episodes when he presented for example some of the key ideas in Zarinostrianism or when he talked about some of the key ideas as he understood them in India in China. He presented the key ideas and why he thought they are major contributions on the journey of humanity towards oneness but without necessarily showing where he had major disagreements with these ideas. Again, he just presented the what what he thought are the key contributions here.

[00:42:31]However, in introducing this the Athenian school, he elaborates a bit on why he thinks there are areas of major disagreements. So for example he sees with Plato that there is in's thinking quite a dose of materialism in the conception of the divinity at least in the connection that he sees between the human being and the divinity. The exact opposite he sees in how he interprets Aristolian thinking.

[00:43:13]So he agrees agrees with Aristotle that God is above beyond the universe that does not need the universe but he disagrees with the notion that God doesn't know about the universe of course here or that is the example whereby puts forward his Islamic background his conception of of Islamic thinking about God. This is quite an interesting point for those who are interested in Islamic philosophy because Islamic philosophy has two very different approaches in dealing with the Athenian school or Greek philosophy. There is one school whose most important champion is or a major veneration of the helenic philosophy and particularly of Aristotle versus another school whose champion is Al Gazali one of the most famous philosophers also of Islamic philosophy.

[00:44:29]that to a large extent rejects the most important tenets of Greek philosophy. What's interesting here is that Alad is neither a nor Al Razali.

[00:44:46]He's not a major champion of Greek philosophy, nor is he a major enemy of Greek philosophy. He picks and chooses but with or through an approach full of respect for for the Greek pantheon of philosophy.

[00:45:14]moves after this to the three known as the monotheistic religions.

[00:45:22]In presenting Judaism, starts with making linkages between the notion of the divinity in Judaism and some of the ideas that existent existed in the near east prior to it. So for example, he invokes some of the ideas that Sigman Freud had about the linkages between Judaism and some of the ideas in ancient Egypt.

[00:45:51]Alakan elaborates on some of the meanings that are there in the story of Judaism.

[00:46:00]But as he had done with other religions, other philosophers in other chapters in this book, what really matters to him is what he considers is the most important contribution of that religion towards the journey that humanity is on towards one true or true oneness.

[00:46:27]And for Judaism, Alad believes that contribution is the notion of the sacred book, the notion of a book that is a revelation from God to humanity.

[00:46:43]With Christianity, he makes more or less the same thing. He presents the idea of God in Christianity. He dwells a lot on the sacred trinity in Christianity. He explains in his view the differences in the conception of the trinity between the eastern churches particularly the Egyptian Greek Orthodox churches versus the Catholic churches. the number of historical changes in the first or historical differences in the first three or four centuries of Christianity on the nature of Jesus Christ. He does all of that. But for him the the point he really stops at and considers an extremely important contribution made by Christianity to the journey of the human beings. what he calls a major breakthrough brought by Christianity is the notion of human salvation.

[00:47:50]This is in his view a very important concept. Not just because on its own it is very weighty but also because it is very different from the ideas that he presented before in other chapters in the book in the east in India in China in his understanding were to a large extent about perpetual cycles of human improvement. The improvement of the human soul through the reincarnation through the many many chances given to the human human soul to go through different lives with the human body for him. The idea that humanity can achieve salvation. The idea that Christianity presents is for him as I said a major breakthrough in humanity's journey.

[00:48:45]He does the same with Islam. He presents the notions of divinity, the conception of God, of Allah in Islamic theology. He delves into the meanings that he sees in the the message of the prophet Muhammad.

[00:49:06]But the point he stops particularly at and sees as a major contribution of Islam is Islam's conception of the nature of faith, the belief of the human being in God. And what does here is present us with a bit of elaboration the two most famous schools of Islamic philosophy that dealt with the notion of faith. One of them which is by far and large the the main mainstream usually referred to in Islamic philosophy as that of al the idea that the human beings or the human mind does not necessarily need to understand the rationale the innate wisdom in God's action in in the notion of God itself and that faith to a very large extent should be based on an internal belief in the heart versus one of the most important schools of philos philosophy in Islamic thinking which is anchored on the notion of trying to understand through reason not necessarily the I the notion of the divinity but the wisdom inherent in the divine will. Out of the three goes into what he considers the deepest philosophers within Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In Islam, he devotes a big chapter to Sufism, a big umbrella of spiritual thinking, schools of spirituality that perceived God in in different ways that perceived the connection between God and the human being in very spiritual ways and that perceived the rationale that his own debt of the existence of the human being in very spiritual ways.

[00:51:18]And does not just give us abstract wording in presenting Sufism. Rather, he presents the key ideas of Sufism through the disciplines or the thinking of four of the most famous characters in Islamic Sufism.

[00:51:40]Always the the philosopher or the thinker who I referred to earlier as the exact opposite of aos in looking at Greek philosophy but who's who in the latter parts of his life was a Sufi but what's interesting here is that Alad present this spiritual school within Islam as an evolution or a different strand to how he presented Islam. As I said his key contri what he saw as a key contribution of Islam was the nature of faith.

[00:52:20]Here what he does with Sufism is delving into a very spiritual way of faith very different from al- Tesla's what he elaborated on before as a very rational way of understanding the will of God.

[00:52:38]The second interesting thing that Ra does with Sufism is that he widens the umbrella of Sufism. He makes linkages or he links Sufist thinking such as that of Arabi, such as that of Rabad with for example Santaa in the Catholic cannon with Meister Ekhhat in German philosophy for him for a lot of the ideas the nature of the belief how Santa Terza, Meister Ekar perceived God, all of that for Alad could very well be put under the grand umbrella of Sufism. So I think it's extremely interesting that alakad not just make makes linkages here between sufism and thinkers and forms of faith from outside Islam but rather defines sufism in quite a wide nature. He does the same thing withnosticism with a school that he sees as although having many linkages to ancient Egypt to Plato but obviously a big part of it or a significant part of it emerged from the cloak of Christianity. And what he does withnosticism is not really contrast some of its key ideas with the salvation. what he saw as a major contribution of Christianity but rather gives us a very spiritual way of looking or trying to perceive God trying to perceive the connection between God and the human being through that spiritual aspect of Christianity. The same thing he does with Judaism after introducing what he considered the contribution that is the existence of a book a tangible revelation to the to humanity from God. He presents cababalism. He presents the cabalistic school a spiritual form of Judaism.

[00:55:05]In the final part in which Alah talks about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Alakad wants to make a linkage between these spiritual traditions in the three religions with modern philosophy.

[00:55:24]A bridge he employs is some of the key philosophical thinking particularly within Christianity and especially a contrast between the thought of St. Augustine roughly the 4th century and Thomas Aquinas in the 1200s.

[00:55:46]And again what does here with this stream of Christian philosophy is not distilling the thinking of St. Augustine or the thought of Thomas Aquinas but rather what he considers are major contributions in the journey that again the whole book is about and for him the contrast is that for St. Augustine the the key contribution the elaboration of St. Augustine on the nature of the Holy Ghost was some sort of echoing Plato, some sort of the finger pointing upwards as I refer to the very famous painting about Athenian philosophy.

[00:56:35]Whereas Thomas Aquinus was in Alad's thinking had a lot of echoes of Aristotle especially in Thomas Aquinus's elaboration on the human will. Why this is particularly important why this chapter is interesting because what does not really focusing on the theological thinking of St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas, but rather on the philosophical thinking of both of them, particularly how they perceived God and the connection to the human being to human existence because this is very relevant to how he took some of the most important ideas contributions of previous civilizations and because in that part St. Augustine Thomas Aquinus become a bridge to humanity's final chapter in the journey that is modern thinking modern philosophical thinking about the nature of God and the connection between the divinity or God and humanity. In that final chapter starts with and ends with quantum physics which might be very weird.

[00:57:57]It's a long chapter. He starts by the cart and goes throughout to Kant and Spinoza and many of the Scottish and English philosophers all the way to the 20th century and the revolution in science by the conception or the introduction of quantum physics. But why takes us in that final chapter or adds that final chapter as the final part of the journey of humanity because in his idea in his thinking Rene started with what tells us or at least in's understanding of Rene are fixed conceptions of of existence. And these fixed conceptions are God, the existence of God and the existence of humanity. And the rest is basically up for thinking and debating. And and he ends with quantum physics which comes and says that there is nothing fixed in the world. And all of what seems to us to be fixed and real and we're sure about its existence is neither fixed nor we are sure about its existence. And that existence is simply waves is simply a function of waves.

[00:59:24]That it is up to an observation, up to some sort of consciousness to collapse the function to make these waves of potentialities materialize into a reality into some sort of existence. In this long chapter in which Alkat presents the flow of modern western physics, what he's trying to take us through or was what he's trying to tell us in this final chapter is that from the k and the idea that there are fixed realities and the rest we can debate and discuss including the relationship between God and humanity to the very last episode in the midst.

[01:00:11]Beginning the mid of the 20th century, the revolution that is quantum physics that first idea was shattered. There are there's nothing fixed. There is nothing that we can be sure of about reality.

[01:00:30]This is a long and for a number of readers might be quite a strange chapter. For many people it might not have direct linkages to what came before. In my reading what is trying to do is having arrived at the most important philosophical contributions of Christianity in his view St. Augustine Thomas Aquinas he did did not want to stop the journey at that moment because in the last two three 400 years humanity had major ideas put forward that were completely outside the domain of religion whether Asian religion whether western religions Islam Christianity Judaism the flow of human creativity was in science What was trying to do in this final chapter again starting with Rene ending with quantum physics is to see how the most important philosophical and scientific ideas that were presented in the last three or 400 years through the western scientific and philosophical cannon. What do they tell us? What can we glean from them about the nature of God? So for example with Rene there was the idea of there is an existence of God. There is a fixed reality in the universe that is God. Arriving at quantum dynamics in which there is absolutely nothing fixed absolutely nothing we can be sure of about that reality. This is the purpose of having this long chapter tracing the most important milestones of philosophical and scientific contributions of the western mind in the last 3 400 years in that journey.

[01:02:37]Having taken us throughout this very long journey from the primitive human societies to ancient civilizations to the east, Iran, India, China, the west, helenic civilization, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sufism, Christian philosophy, Sufism in its wider fabric and definition as had put it or has put it and the advances of western philosophy and science in the past 400 years having gone through all of that presented this very long journey to us the readers arrives at the conclusion without really making a claim that there is an underlying basis for all of that or that even there is some sort of a of an idea that could be imposed On top of all of that, he doesn't claim any of that.

[01:03:42]Rather, he takes inspiration from quantum physics and perhaps from other things to invoke the notion of consciousness, not human consciousness, though he invokes that as an integral part of of the idea of consciousness.

[01:03:58]not universal consciousness and the idea that there is a consciousness in the universe and which he combines as some sort of a complex consciousness involving both human and that of the universe.

[01:04:12]But he does something more than that. He talks about a grander, much more, much larger consciousness and that that consciousness could perhaps be the most refined way for us human beings who in his view would never truly be able to conceive of the idea of God, to comprehend the idea of God. But perhaps this form of a grand the grandest possible consciousness that incorporates entails the complex consciousness perhaps that grand consciousness could be the most refined way for us to think of God to approach the idea of God. He puts it in Arabic as perhaps perhaps an echo of the famous wording in different schools of philosophy. I am some sort of the grandest possible way of conceiving of the idea of consciousness prevailing everything creating everything entailing everything. This for is perhaps the only way to end this book in which he took us through what he thought as the most important milestones in this very long journey that he thinks of he conceives of he imagines as humanity has undertaken from its earliest moments of awakening until