to Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon, from whom the Jews and Christians reckon the Roman era. He lived about three hundred years before Christ. They may suppose that he was “Dhū al-Qarnayn” (the Two-Horned One) mentioned in the Quran, and that Aristotle was a minister to the Dhū al-Qarnayn mentioned in the Quran. This is ignorance. For this Alexander, son of Philip, did not reach the lands of the Turks or build the barrier; he reached only the lands of the Persians.

Dhū al-Qarnayn, who is mentioned in the Quran, reached the eastern and western reaches of the earth and lived before this Alexander. It is said that his name was Alexander, son of Dārā. He was a believer who worshipped Allah alone, whereas the other was a polytheist: he and his people worshipped the stars and idols and practised sorcery. Likewise, Aristotle and his fellow Greeks were polytheists who worshipped idols and practised sorcery. They wrote works on these subjects; the accounts of them are well known, and the traces they left plainly attest to this. What comparison can there be between the two?

The purpose here is to explain what these esoteric philosophers say about what the Messenger brought.

And (the second group among them say that the Messenger knew the actual truth concerning divine oneness and the resurrection. They say he knew that the Lord has no affirmative attribute, that He is not seen and does not speak; that the celestial spheres are eternal and beginningless, having always existed and continuing forever; that bodies will not rise again; and that Allah has no angels who are living, speaking beings descending with revelation