Thus the Greeks were polytheists and unbelievers who worshipped the planets and idols, far worse than the Jews and Christians after the latter’s scriptures had been abrogated and altered. Had God not shown them favor by bringing the religion of the Messiah to them—so that they gained a measure of guidance and pure monotheism, benefiting from Christ’s religion for as long as they adhered to his law before it was distorted—they would have remained like other classes of idol-worshippers.

When, however, the faith of Christ was changed, they adopted a creed compounded of Abrahamic monotheism and paganism: part of it true, part of it false, yet still better than the religion of their ancestors.

It is said that the last of their kings was Ptolemy, author of the Almagest.

What is well-known by multiple continuous reports is that Aristotle—the vizier of Alexander son of Philip—preceded Christ by roughly three hundred years; yet many uninformed people imagine that he was the Dhu ʾl-Qarnayn mentioned in