corporeality. In his time—and in view of the people among whom he lived—this action of his served to complete and clarify the revealed law. Allah singles out for His grace whomever He wills.”

I say:

One might say that the flattery and appeasement of Ibn al-Tūmart’s followers in these words are plain to see.

As for the substantive scholarly point, this claim is false on several grounds.

First: During the time of the Companions, the Successors, and their successors, people from various nations embraced Islam, and peoples of many kinds were called to Islam, whose equals in intellectual acumen and rational inquiry have not been found since.

The Companions called the most accomplished peoples to Islam: the Arabs, Hebrews, Romans, and Persians, as well as the Copts and Nabataeans included among them. They conquered the central regions of the earth. All those who were called to Islam—or embraced it—after these peoples, such as the Turks, Daylamites, Berbers, Abyssinians, and others, were inferior to them in excellence.

It is well known that Greek, Indian, and similar philosophies existed then just as they do today, and even more extensively. The Greeks existed before Christ’s mission, and Aristotle and his king, Alexander son of Philip, preceded Christ by about