الحقيقة الإلهية: الله ... والإسلام ... وسراب الإلحاد

by Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, نايف الملا (Translator)

الحقيقة الإلهية
الله.. والاسلام... وسراب الالحاد
هذا الكتاب عبارة عن مزيج من الحجج العامة الشائعة والحجج الاسلامية التي تدعم وجود الخالق وصحة القرآن ونبوة محمد صلي الله علية وسلم

Genres: Islam, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Atheism, Faith, Spirituality

464 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2016

About the author

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis is the author of The Divine Reality: God, Islam & The Mirage of Atheism. He is a public speaker, instructor and essayist. He has a masters and a postgraduate certificate in philosophy from the University of London. He is currently continuing his postgraduate studies in the field. Hamza has studied Islamic thought and theology under qualified scholars. He has delivered workshops, courses and an accredited diploma course on topics related to Islamic thought and philosophy.

Hamza is a popular speaker at university campuses. He has spoken at many universities all around the world. Hamza has debated prominent academics and thinkers on Islam and atheism, his interlocutors have included Professor Lawrence Krauss, Professor Peter Simons, Dan Barker and Professor Simon Blackburn. He has over a decade of experience in articulating a compassionate and rational case for Islam. Hamza converted to Islam in 2002.

He loves spending time with his family, reading, writing poetry, travelling and training in the gym. He is a trained Boxer and Wing Chun Kung Fu practitioner. Inspired by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), some of his favourite statements include “compassion beautifies everything” and “love for humanity what you love for yourself”. You can keep up to date with his work by accessing his website

Reviews

[أحمد دعدوش · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذه من الحالات النادرة التي أعطي فيها كتابا خمس نجوم.

[Abu Kamdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Divine Reality is a must-read for every young person confused about religion and God. It explains very compassionately and logically the case for the existence of God, evidences for the truth of the Quran and Prophethood of Muhammad, and most importantly provides clear logical reasons for why humans should worship their Creator. I highly recommend this book for all person involved in Dawah or experiencing doubts about these topics.

[Raisuddin Rakib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cogent, engaging and very readable.

Hamza starts from the personal story of his own journey to Islam. He delves the history of atheism and new atheism at first and discusses the incompleteness and irrationality of atheistic worldview . The most fascinating is that the book deals with a lot of argument for the existence of God and irrationality of atheism from natural theology but maintains an Islamic flavor from authentic sources and highlights the notable works of classical Islamic scholars and theologians related to these arguments . The book reflects not only an intellectual defence but a spiritual one. Hamza develops a structured case for the reliability of Quran as a Divine book based on epistemic testimony and inference to the best explanation of linguistic inimitability of Quran. He presents a cumulative and persuasive case for Islam in both intellectual and spiritual perspective.
I think the effort will be a millstone in contemporary Islamic philosophy and apologetics.

[KM Abiduzzaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book to deeply understand the reality of atheism. Before jumping into the book be prepared to face a lot of questions like these-

1) Why are we here? No reason at all? Where are we going? Nowhere? Will we just face death?

2) What's the value of a person from third world country under atheism who spent his whole life in starvation and poverty? Is he merely destined for death?

3) How could the universe come into existence from nothing? How could this contingent universe have no explanation for it's existence?

However, while reading I came across this hadith at some point-

“Verily, God, the Exalted and Glorious, will say on the Day of Judgement: ‘O Son of Adam! I fell ill, but you did not visit Me.’ The human will ask, ‘O my Sustainer! How could I visit You when You
are the Sustainer of the Worlds? And how can You fall sick?’ He, the Almighty, will say, ‘Did you not know that such and such a servant of Mine was sick. But you did not visit him. Did you not know that, had you visited him, you would have found Me by his side?’” (Muslim)

This hadith immediately became my motivation to continue my med school no matter how tough the journey is gonna be. I badly need my Creator by my side in this chaotic modern world....

[Mariam B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some takeaways:
- Philosophical naturalism is the view that all phenomena within the universe can be explained via physical processes. Many atheists adopt this worldview.
- Islamic Perspective: The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) taught that all human beings are born with an innate nature or primordial state that essentially acknowledges God and has an affinity to worship the Divine. This Prophetic teaching provides a clear basis for the Islamic belief that atheism is unnatural and an aberration of the human psyche.
-It has been asserted that they are like ants on a piece of paper that cannot lift their eyes from the ink or the pen they see before them, and fail to see who is writing.
- Why does God give us ultimate value? The answer is simple. God created and transcends the
universe, and He has unlimited knowledge and wisdom.
- God has the picture, we merely have a pixel.
- In light of these differing views, we must ask: is it reasonable to believe we have a purpose? To help answer this question, let us take the following illustration into consideration: Our clothes and the chair are lifeless objects with no emotional or mental abilities, and we attribute purpose to these. Yet some of us do not believe we have a purpose for our own existence.
- Without a purpose we have no reason to exist, and we lack a profound meaning for
our lives.
- Islam's view on the purpose of our lives is intuitive and empowering. It elevates our existence from products of matter and time to conscious beings who choose to have a relationship with the One who created us. Atheism and naturalism provide no ultimate purpose for our existence.
- I really like this analogy in the book:
"While reading this, you are sedated against your will. Suddenly you wake up and find yourself on a plane. You're in first class. The food is heavenly. The seat is a flatbed, designed for a luxurious, comfortable experience. The entertainment is limitless. The service is out of this world. You start to use all of the excellent facilities. Time starts to pass. Now think for a moment, and ask yourself the question: Would I be happy? How could you be? You would need some questions answered first.
Who sedated you? How did you get on the plane? What is the purpose of the journey? Where are you heading? If these questions remained unanswered, how could you be happy? Even if you started to enjoy all of the luxuries at your disposal, you would never achieve true happiness. Would a frothy Belgian chocolate mousse on your dessert tray be enough to drown out the questions? It would be a delusion, a temporary, fake type of happiness, only achieved by deliberately ignoring these critical questions.
- Happiness cannot be achieved unless we find out who we really are and search for answers to life's critical questions.
- In Islam, the answer is simple yet profound. We are here to worship God. Worship in Islam is quite different from the common understanding of the word. Worship can be shown in every act that we do. The way we walk and talk to each other, the small acts of kindness we do each day. If we focus on pleasing God by our actions, then our actions become an act of worship.
- Inevitably, if we do not worship God, we end up worshipping other 'gods'. Think about it. Out partners, our bosses, our teachers, our friends, the societies we live in, and even our own desires 'enslave' us in some way.
- In this respect we have many 'masters' and they all want something from us. They are all 'at odds with each other', and we end up living confused, unfulfilled lives. God, who knows us better than we know ourselves, who loves us more than our mothers love us, is telling us that He is our true master, and only by worshipping Him alone will we truly free ourselves.
- In summary, atheism cannot provide profound answers for our existence, and therefore real happiness can never be achieved. Even if they have attempted to find the answers and have settled with not knowing-or being sceptical about the available responses-they will still not achieve ultimate happiness. Compare the person who knows why they exist and where they are going with the one who does not. Their conditions are not the same, even if they both claim to be happy.
- While atheists are emotionally justified in believing their lives have a sense of ultimate value, hope, happiness and purpose, the point is clear: intellectually they are groundless.

[AH · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am an atheist, meaning that I do positively believe that there is no/are no god or gods. That the domain of our knowledge does not give us reasons or evidence for a form of god that is most usually regarded by monotheists to exist.
This has been a long time coming as I was meant to write a review for this book. Now since this book is a re-write of pop apologetic literature, there is no shortage of literature against it and for that reason, I think there’s no surprise why anyone is not bothering themselves with counter replies and objections to these kinds of attempts. I however made a commitment long before to write a more compelling review, here it goes:

First part of my review:
My position, Introduction to my position
https://telegra.ph/Review-of-The-Divi...

Second part of my review:
part 2, The book itself, Chapters 1 to 4
https://telegra.ph/Review-of-The-Divi...

Third part of my review:
part 3, Chapter 5, nothing and The kalam cosmological argument
https://telegra.ph/Review-of-The-Divi...

Fourth part of my review:
part 4,The Argument from Dependency
https://telegra.ph/Review-of-The-Divi...

Fifth part of my review:
part 5, The Argument from Consciousness
https://telegra.ph/Review-of-The-Divi...

Sixth part:
Part 6, The Fine tuning argument
https://telegra.ph/Review-of-The-Divi...

The rest will fallow soon.

First version :4/4/2019
second version :4/5/2019
second version :4/6/2019
This review will be updated: Last update 4/9/2019

[Hamza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book most of the time, but I'm really not a science person. Sure, I love reading some Stephen Hawking, but I felt that Hamza Tzortzis didn't always fully explain what he was talking about when using very scientific, technical terms. It's as if he expected the reader to already be familiar with scientific arguments, and I hadn't really experienced them since high school. Also, though I consider myself an intelligent person, I can't for the life of me always remember the difference between concepts like epistemology, ontology, and the like.

I felt that the book's strengths involved Mr. Tzortzis citing the Qur'an and Ahadith, since I enjoy reading Islamic books much more than I do science books. On the other hand, some of the arguments he used were questionable to me, especially when he mentioned the alleged three different aspects of tawhid that Ibn Taymiyyah and Muhammad ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab promoted.

This book is nonetheless a great read for any Muslim who may be trying to develop their own rational arguments about the existence of God with a lot of scientific and Islamic sources in one English-language book. I definitely recommend it.

[Mahmoud Shehata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book since I decided to delve deeper into the question of god's existence and hear the arguments from both sides. I'm a conservative Muslim nonetheless. My faith was based on inner "faith" if you know what that means. I stumbled upon this book after watching Hamza's debate with Laurance Krauss. Hamza's arguments were quite structured and left Krauss dumbfounded with no hope to retaliate. I got intrigued especially after finishing "There is a god" by Anthony Flew and feeling odd since he was defending a god I don't believe in.

Hamza is a philosopher by education and it shows. He uses clear arguments that are very structured based on simple observations. He then goes on to explain away the most noticeable comments on the argument he just presented. This method inadvertently presented both sides, not equally of course. Yet, it succeeds in giving a holistic approach to the topic in each chapter from the perspective of atheists and how Hamza Islam thinks about that such perspective.

Hamza writes like an academic, DUH!; clear, concise, well-structured and to the point. I'm always left with the impression that this is a professional research paper in philosophy rather than anything else. The was he presents the proof for god's existence in chapter 5 and chapter 6 left a huge impact on me. It's actual philosophical proof that leaves no doubt; a valid deductive argument whose premises couldn't be refuted. In the first 4 chapters, Hamza argues against atheism as a world view. He exposed the logical contradiction of Naturalism and later on scientism as well. Hamza also discusses existentialism as a natural consequence of atheism.

In the later chapters, Hamza discusses the proof for quran as god's word and later the proof for Muhammed as his messenger. All in all, this book serves as a very good introduction to the philosophy of Islam. Very recommended read for Muslims and Non-Muslims.

[مهند · Rating 5 out of 5]

جميل.
يقوم المؤلف في بداية الكتاب بالتعريف بنفسه وبقصة إسلامه وعن رحلته في الدعوة وتحدث عن أبرز الملاحدة الذين قام بمناظرتهم وعمل مقابلات يوتيوبية معهم
بدأ الفصل الأول بتعريف الإلحاد وأبرز النقاط في هذا الفصل بالنسبة لي حديثه عن أفضل الطرق التي يبدأ الإنسان فيها النقاش مع ملحد وطريقة صياغة الأسئلة و يظهر أنها نتاج خروجه للميدان مع الملاحدة وهذا ما يجعل نصائحه مهمة وتتميز عن كثير من الكتب في طريقة الحوار مع الملاحدة.
في الفصل الثاني تحدث عن لوازم الإلحاد ومثل كثير من الكتب تحدث عن الأمل والقيمة والغاية و السعادة.
يستمر المؤلف بعد ذلك في فصول الكتاب بالتحدث عن الوعي وفلسفة العقل ثم بدأ بطرح أدلة وجود الله عز وجل ثم ناقش ادعاءات لورانس كراوس عن "كون من لاشيء".
ثم انتقل لأدلة وحدانية الله عز وجل وتكلم عن الإعجاز اللغوي في القران لإثبات أنه من عند الله و إثبات أن محمدًا رسول الله ثم ختم بإجابة لسؤال: لماذا نعبد الله.
الكتاب لطيف وسهل

[Anwarul Alam Abeer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read book to strengthen the base of philosophical aspects regarding theism in general and obviously Islam.

[Abe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tzortzis makes some great points in this book - nothing new, but he didn't claim to be saying anything new. The books is designed to be useful for mass-market readers; people of any faith, sceptics, atheists, agnostics, etc. In that aspect, this book succeeds. It's a fine combination of technical and accessible.

However, parts of the book are repetitive. Perhaps repeated is a better term; it's almost as if sections were copied and pasted from previous ones, where a simple allusion or resummarization would have worked just fine. Nay, repetitive is also serviceable, because some chapters go in circles saying similar thoughts over and over.

The book also suffers from many instances of biased language that diminishes Tzorztis's ethos.

A worrisome area of argumentation is the chapter to which I was most looking forward, ch. 13 on the inimitability of the Qur'an. Tzorztis' rebuttal to the "Shakespeare is inimitable" argument is the weakest paragraph in the book. Essentially, Tzortzis claims that because Shakespeare largely wrote in iambic pentameter and other poets also do so, that Shakespeare is in fact imitable. Are you kidding me? As if you could reduce the Bard to merely his choice of meter!
His claims in ch. 13 about linguistics and second language acquisition skills are also poorly researched and dubious. Has he not encountered Nabokov? Beckett? Any of a multitude of polyglots who have existed and currently exist? If conceivably one human being in the history of the world ever at any point knew Arabic as well as any other language, Tzorztis's argument for a non-Arab writing it falls apart. And I must say, good sir, true polyglots are among us.

Tzortzis also claims that literary masterpieces are always edited to achieve "perfection", while the Qur'an's revelations were never so edited. He fails to acknowledge that Muhammed conceivably could have edited each Surah before reciting it, even if he never edited them after initial recitation. I am not saying it was one way or the other; I merely point out an issue that renders Tzorztis's argument null.

I enjoyed the final few chapters. A great overview of Muhammed as a man and as a leader. About as succinct as a helpful overview could be, honestly.

All in all 3 stars - Tzortzis acknowledges he writes with flaws, and wants this book to be more of a dialogue with people at large as opposed to any type of treatise. It's books like these and people like Tzortzis who are helping bridge the gap between Western ignorance and the beauty of Islam, and I admire his effort.

[Opu Hossain · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The divine reality" is a book which describes the existence of God in a way that no other modern writer has described. The book has gloriously shown how baseless atheism is yet many people stick to atheism because of arrogance and ignorance. The book cleanly described the one true religion sent by God on the face of the earth. What can be expected from my opinion is that truth is truth regardless time and space. In these days and age our mind is not interested to accept the truth not because we don't love it but because we don't want to change ourselves to truth. A fair and rational mind may eventually accept knowing what Islam really is and how rational as well. The one who can't accept it perhaps don't want to stand with true reality. The writer has given clean and logical evidences so that it becomes clear to us what Islam really has to say yet most of us are not attentive to hear. To me this is one of the best books on atheisms I have read. May Allah bless the writer and the people who seek for truth.

[JCJBergman · Rating 5 out of 5]

( See my podcast with Hamza Tzortzis on his book here: https://youtu.be/dMvbDt_JkL4 )
( Also see him return to review his debate with atheist Lawrence Krauss on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBA-Z... )

This is a great book on Islam & Atheism. I'm agnostic atheist yet at times he argued in such a way that made me rethink some of the arguments I use against God's existence and Islam as a religion. Hamza writes excellently and in an engaging way - I recommend this to anyone who wishes to learn more about Islam, philosophy, science, and atheism.

I've read many books on the subject from theists but this one stands out for me. Check out my discussion with him to hear us talk about these subjects.

[Ali H · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a pioneering effort written in the English language with respect to establishing a cogent case for Islamic theism as well as addressing the irrationality of atheism, The Divine Reality is a rich and enlightening book which effectively tackles the rising tide of propagandistic attacks of the athiest worldview in a unique and well-organized style.
Hamza eloquently presents a logical and cogent argument for the foundation of the Islamic tradition, the existence of God, and the divine nature of the Quran from a combined philosophical, Islamic and psychological perspective. I was an avid follower of Hamza's debates on YouTube and that's where I was encouraged to read his book as well. The logical flow of the chapters, apt and profuse use of analogies and the avoidance of unintelligible philosophical jargon has turned this book into an intellectual adventure even for non-expert readers.
The book, however, contains typos which I found a bit disappointing. Plus there were a few points at which I felt some arguments were flawed and needed further clarification (like the argument on the reliability of linguistic inimitability of the Quran based on epistemic testimony), which I hope will be elaborated on via my future correspondence with the author.
Nevertheless, the style is first of its kind and the book, no matter what position you reside on, is a must-read for every individual who seeks to delve into the most fundamental questions of our existence.

[Abdullah Jazaerli · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب متميز جداً ومثري علمياً وفلسفياً
أظهر الكاتب من خلال عدة مباحث خواء الإلحاد ولا عقلانيته، مع تأكيده على ضرورة وجود الإله الذي يستلزمه كل مبحث من مباحثه
تطرق الكاتب إلى عدة مواضيع علمية وعقلية وفلسفية لإثبات حقيقة وجود الإله وصحة القرآن ونبوة محمد ودين الإسلام
من المثري فعلاً تنوع استشهاداته بالأبحاث الغربية والتراث العربي الإسلامي والحجج والأمثلة العقلية الطريفة التي تكون في شكل قالب قصصي يوضح المقصود منها بطريقة ذكية رائعة، بالإضافة إلى مناقشته لبعض الاعتراضات في كل مبحث

[Mustakim · Rating 5 out of 5]

বই - দা ডিভাইন রিয়ালিটি
লেখক - হামজা আন্দ্রেস জর্জিস
অনুবাদক - মাসুদ শরীফ
মুদ্রিত মূল্য - ৫৫০ টাকা
পৃষ্ঠাসংখ্যা - ৩২৪
ধরন - হার্ডকাভার
প্রকাশক - সিয়ান পাবলিকেশন
প্রথম প্রকাশ - মার্চ ২০২০

লেখক সম্পর্কে :

হামজা আন্দ্রেস জর্জিস (জন্ম ১৯৮০) একজন ব্রিটিশ পাবলিক স্পিকার এবং ইসলামী গবেষক।তিনি গ্রীক বংশোদ্ভুত এবং অমুসলিম ছিলেন, পরে ইসলাম গ্রহণ করেন। হামজাকে বেশ কয়েকটি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় এবং মুসলিম সম্মেলনে অতিথি বক্তা হিসাবে আমন্ত্রিত করা হয়। তিনি যুক্তরাজ্য এবং অস্ট্রেলিয়ায় বক্তৃতা দিয়েছেন। হামজা যুক্তরাজ্যে ইসলাম সম্পর্কে অমুসলিমদের দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি নিয়ে ২০১০ সালে একটি সমীক্ষা গবেষণা প্রকাশের সাথে জড়িত ছিলেন। ২০১৫ সালে তিনি ব্রিটিশ মুসলিম পুরষ্কারে রিলিজিয়াস অ্যাডভোকেট অফ দ্য ইয়ারের চূড়ান্ত প্রতিযোগী ছিলেন। হামজা বিবিসি : সংবাদ প্রোগ্রাম দ্য বিগ কোশশেন এবং নিউসনাইটের মত অনুষ্ঠানে অংশগ্রহণ করেন (উইকিপিডিয়া)।

বিষয়বস্তু :

বর্তমানের নাস্তিকেরা বিজ্ঞান ও দর্শনকে নিজেদের অনুকূলে(!) দেখিয়ে তাদের বিশ্বাসকে বৈধ ও সঠিক হিসেবে দাঁড় করাতে চায়। কিন্তু, আসলেই কি তাদের ব্রক্ষ্মাস্ত্র দুটো সবসময়ই তাদের পক্ষে কাজ করে?
হামজা জর্জিসের ‘দা ডিভাইন রিয়ালিটি’ বইটিতে এই দর্শন ও বিজ্ঞান দিয়েই নাস্তিকদের অপনোদন করা হয়েছে, কুঠারাঘাত করা হয়েছে একেবারে নাস্তিকতার ভিত্তিমূলে।নাস্তিকতাবাদের ভূমিকা থেকে শুরু করে নাস্তিকতাবাদের প্রভাব, নাস্তিকতাবাদ কেন অযৌক্তিক ও অস্বাভাবিক এসব বিষয় নিয়ে গভীর ও বিস্তারিত আলোচনা করা হয়েছে।বইয়ের যুক্তিগুলো খুবই শক্তিশালী এবং যুক্তিগুলোর বিপক্ষে সম্ভাব্য যে সকল আপত্তি আসতে পারে সেসবেরও উত্তর দেয়া হয়েছে।মাস্টারপিস একটা বই আর সবার জন্যই হাইলি রেকমেন্ডেড।

পাঠ প্রতিক্রিয়া :

বাংলা অনুবাদের কপিটার ওপর আমার বেশ কিছু জায়গায় অসন্তোষ আছে।

প্রথমত, হামজা জর্জিস বাংলাদেশের পাঠক কমিউনিটির কাছে তেমন পরিচিত মুখ না।ত���ই একটা সংক্ষিপ্ত লেখক পরিচিতি দেয়া উচিৎ ছিল।কিন্তু দেয়া হয় নি, রিভিউটাতে দেয়া লেখক পরিচিতি আমাকে উইকিপিডিয়া থেকে দিতে হয়েছে।

দ্বিতীয়ত, বইয়ের রেফারেন্সগুলো ফুটনোট আকারে না দিয়ে দেয়া হয়েছে বইয়ের একদম শেষে।বারবার পৃষ্ঠা উল্টে রেফারেন্স চেক করা খুবই বিরক্তিকর একটা ব্যাপার।

তৃতীয়ত, আমি জানি না কি ভেবে রেফারেন্সগুলোরও আবার বাংলায় অনুবাদ করা হয়েছে।এতে রেফার���ন্স চেক করতে আরো বেশি সমস্যা দেখা দিয়েছে।রেফারেন্সগুলো ইংরেজিতে রেখে দিলেই বেটার হতো বলে আমার মনে হয়।

চতুর্থত, বেশকিছু ইংরেজি টার্মের বাংলা অনুবাদ করা হয়েছে।এসবের ইংরেজি টার্মগুলোর সাথে আমি পরিচিত কিন্তু টার্মগুলোর বাংলা অনুবাদগুলো বুঝতে সমস্যা হয়েছে কারণ বাংলা অনুবাদ টার্মগুলো অন্য কোথাও ব্যবহৃত হতে দেখিনি।বাংলা অনুবাদগুলোর সাথে ব্রাকেটে সেটার ইংরেজি লেখে দিলে ভালো হতো(এটা কিছু কিছু স্থানে করা হয়েছে কিন্তু বেশিরভাগ স্থানেই করা হয় নি)।

অনুবাদ আরও ভালো হতে পারতো বলে আমার মনে হয়েছে।আর সিয়ানের বইয়ের দাম বরাবরই বেশ চড়া মনে হয় আমার কাছে।

ওহ! আর যারা বইটা পড়বেন তাদের জন্য আমার কাছে একটা টিপস আছে।আপনারা পারলে আগে হামজা জর্জিসের লেকচার আর ডিবেটগুলো দেখে নিতে পারেন।তাহলে বই পড়তে ও বুঝতে সুবিধা হবে।
ইউটিউব প্লেলিস্ট লিংক ; https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB...

অনুবাদ রেটিং(সবসহ) - ৪/৫
মূল বইয়ের রেটিং - ৪.৯/৫

~ মোঃ মুস্তাকিম বি.
৩১ মে, ২০২১

[Hamza Sardar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, I personally think that every human being on earth should read this book, theist and atheist alike. It gives a very logical argument for God and by the end of the book it would almost be difficult to not rethink your beliefs in God. Perhaps I might be a little biased considering that I was raised in a Muslim household and had a strong belief in God before but it had so much more to offer that I wasn't aware of growing up. Can't recommend it more!

[Imran Helal · Rating 5 out of 5]

বিষয়বস্তুর বিচারে বইটা সংক্ষিপ্ত, কিন্তু মোটামুটি সবগুলো গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বিষয় আলোচনা করা হয়েছে।

কিছু স্থানে সামান্য পুনরাবৃত্তি আছে, তবে হয়ত বিষয়বস্তুর কাঠিন্যের কারণে লেখক সেটার প্রয়োজন মনে করেছেন।

দুতিন স্থানে আসারি পয়েন্ট অব ভিউ থেকে আপত্তি তোলার সুযোগ আছে হয়ত, তবে সেগুলো আমার নিজের ভ্রমও হতে পারে।

অনুবাদ চমৎকার।

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Brother Hamza for your efforts. A great read for all.

With an open mind and a sincere heart, people should have a dialogue as Hamza do state in the forum he created.

[Kiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book with the goal of learning something about Islam, ideally a discussion of the tenets in a style rather like that of Timothy Keller in Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical. It turns out that this book is 90% arguments against atheism and only 10% content about Islam, which was a little disappointing. The arguments for theism are interesting but generally quite abstract (and several seem to have logical flaws, especially the arguments about a "designed" universe), while I was hungry for more concrete details about Islamic beliefs. I think I'll need to look elsewhere as a follow-up.

That said, I learned some interesting things about Muhammad and Islam, at least from author Tzortzis's perception, including:
* Under Islam, God is deserving of our worship (due simply to his perfection) and constant gratitude (for having created and sustained us). However, it is not a personal relationship; God does not need us nor our worship. God wants us to succeed in reaching paradise, and therefore has provided the Qur'an ("a love-letter to humanity") as a guide for how to get there.
* The Qur'an teaches tolerance of those with other religious beliefs. Under Islam, those with other beliefs are wrong, but God seems to have created the world to contain people with other beliefs, so it must be his intention that there be diversity. Thus there is no push to proselytize or convert; instead each person must reach their own truth (ideally by studying the Qur'an and reflecting and reasoning). The emphasis on logic and reasoning comes through strongly in this book, and I am curious how much of that is Tzortzis and how much is Islam.
* The primary argument for the Qur'an's divinity is based on ... literary criticism! This surprised me. Muslims point to the text's amazing literary properties as evidence that it had to be divinely inspired. I immediately wanted to know more about what properties were meant - amazing rhyme scheme? Meter? Structure? Vocabulary? but I was left without a real sense of what those details are, apparently because to appreciate them you must read the Qur'an in Arabic, and I guess the awesomeness doesn't translate. So it was hard to buy in to this argument.

I also came away with a strong sense of Tzortzis's conviction that faith and belief are transformative and fundamental and (he concludes) a logical result of our existence. I don't think I'd previously encountered an argument for theism that leans so heavily on logic (and so little on emotion). Yet he also notes near the end of the book that worship fills a missing place in our hearts and yields peace, tranquility, and serenity. I think my favorite Islamic idea in this book was that of "fitrah": a spark within us that was created with innate knowledge of God (until life, parents, etc. get in the way and cloud it). I don't know that I believe this, but it's a nice idea.

[Fares · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title is very promising, but the book is a disappointment. Again and again, in every chapter and all the way until the end, the book is very patronizing and falls short of living up to the title or subheadings in each chapter. Very often, the author uses seriously weak logical arguments and huge leaps of thought and moves on considering it job well done. Also, in a few places in the book there were some ridiculous statements such as "Most of what we know is based on someone saying so, and that includes facts that we could never deny". I really wanted to see what the book had to offer since it had this shiny title, but I was very disappointed.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts very strong, Tzortzis explains why he thinks Atheism, often thought to be a very rational belief, is irrational. He dives into the history of Atheism both in the Islamic world and in the West. Throughout the book Tzortzis explains why the belief in a supreme being is the only logical belief, and why, more specifically, Islam is the most logical belief. Tzortzis also makes an argument that the Quran is a tool that encourages humans to think and ponder, and cites it many times to back this claim

[Latifa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this book was my intro into philosophy/theology and it was honestly so understandable and engaging. I feel like Hamza broke down the reasoning and evidences for the existence of God in the most rational way ever that it feels absurd to deny it.

I did think the chapter on the inimitability of the Quran was weaker than the rest, but still insanely thought-provoking.

10/10 would recommend to literally anyone that's remotely interested in why the hell we're on this planet

[Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of the best books I've ever read, strong content, easy to grasp, it deals with many topics regarding believing in God and it answers many questions especially those questions that some times we dont dare to ask. Strongly recommend this book 👍🏼

[Nahid Mubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

বইটা ভালো লাগছে। বিশেষ করে ফিতরাতের আলোচনা সবচেয়ে বেশী গুরুত্বপূর্ন মনে হইছে। বইয়ের অনুবাদটা আসলেই চমৎকার হয়েছে। এমন একটা কাঠখোট্টা বই এত সুন্দর অনুবাদ করা সহজ বিষয় না। মাসুদ শরীফ ভাইয়ের অনুবাদের দক্ষতার প্রশংসা না করে পারলামনা।

[Taner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that pleases both intellect and emotion. A must for all the agnostics and atheists who claim that a deity irrational.

[Fatima Sarder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The primary purpose of the human being is not to enjoy a transitory sense of happiness; rather, it is to achieve a deep internal peace through knowing and worshiping God.
- Hamza Andreas Tzortzis

A rich and enlightening book which argues about God's existence and the irrationality of Atheism. I started reading this book in an effort to understand the Islam vs Atheism/Christianity debates on Youtube and left with an informative and nuanced understanding about God. It's a great read for anyone who is confused and searching for an identity; or to reinforce their spirituality.

It cites from the Qur'an and Ahadeeth, classical Islamic works done by scholars such as Ibn Kathir and Al-Ghazali and other, non-islamic sources such as University professors. The book also highlights the miracle of the Qur'an, the sheer inimitability of the Holy text and elaborates on the profound wisdom and mercy of God.

The arguments in the book lean heavily on logic and less on emotion though, the author's passion sometimes bleeds through. The well written but scientifically dense text makes it difficult to keep up with some of the chapters.

[Stella]

I have watched Hamza Tzortzis debate atheists online and I really like his zeal! And finally a book that is central to Islam vs Atheism. Usually the majority of books, whether arguing for or against atheism, focus on Judeo-Christian tradition and with Islam thrown in there as the third Abrahamic religion and usually assumed to be exactly the same for the sake of argument.
But it isn't and I think a book like this was absolutely needed.
Now whether Hamza proved his point or not, I don't know, I suppose like everything else it depends on what you already believe. But there is a lot here to ponder, question and look up and Hamza has covered all the main topics raised in these debates.

I hope for something more organized and a little more succinct in the future.

Or something to take on The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

[Osama Baig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did have some incredibly deep insight into various topics related to Atheism, its message is essential to our modern day world. Moreover, Starting off with a story, this book lacks flow and a story, that makes it incredibly hard to follow and stay engaged with. Secondly, many of the word choices are complex, this is not helpful for the average reader and just makes it more difficult for the message to shine through. Lastly, I understand Hamza's intentions are to produce a academically challenging book, but I believe the written structure, lack of engaging story line and convoluted grammar inhibit the beautiful message of this book from shining through. I chose to give this book a 4 star rating, as its a one of a kind book I've encountered and really want to see more material on this topic.

[Yameen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only (literally) book surrounding atheism & the Islamic tradition. Hamza does a good job discussing the ramifications of atheistic worldview & discusses the different classical theist arguments from consciousness, morality, cosmology etc.

Pros :
- Very easy to read for the most part
- Large breadth of information & arguments
- Well researched & referenced
- Mentioning multiple objections

Cons :
- Not enough depth to certain arguments so more research will be needed on those arguments
- Chapter on suffering & evil was too simple, black and white, dismissive & not nuanced