and on it they squandered their time. As for knowledge of Allah Most High, their share of it is exceedingly meagre. As for His angels, prophets, books, and messengers, and the Hereafter, they know nothing of these whatsoever, nor did they discuss them, whether to deny or affirm them. Only their later thinkers who embraced religious faiths discussed these matters.

The ancient Greeks, however, were polytheists, among those most deeply steeped in polytheism and sorcery. They worshipped celestial bodies and idols, and this is why they devoted such attention to astronomy and the study of celestial bodies: they sought to worship them. They built temples for them, and the last of their kings was Ptolemy, the author of the Almagest.

When the Romans embraced Christianity, the religion of the Messiah—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—came and abolished the polytheism they had practised. Hence, those who altered the religion of the Messiah devised a religion combining the religion of the monotheists with that of the polytheists. The latter had worshipped the sun, moon, and celestial bodies, praying and prostrating to them. Then Constantine, the Christian king, and his followers introduced the practice of praying towards the east, replacing prostration to the sun with prostration in its direction.

Those earlier people had worshipped three-dimensional idols that cast shadows. The Christians then depicted images of saints in churches, replacing freestanding, three-dimensional images that cast shadows with images painted on walls and ceilings.