*Timestamps:* 0:00 - Introduction 0:17 - Background of the guest 1:04 - Topic of Discussion 1:28 - Engaging with Books 4:15 - Books recommended by Hamza 5:11 - Reading Books: Hard Copy vs Soft Copy 7:29 - Benefits of reading fiction books _Recommended Books & other topics:_ 8:48 - 1. *"Wanted Hope"* by Antonis Samarakis 14:29 - 2. *"One Night"* by Antonis Samarakis 22:02 - Hamza commends Blogging Theology 23:54 - 3. *"Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science"* by Peter Godfrey-Smith 24:13 - The truth about philosophy of science 27:36 - Science vs Scientism 43:14 - 4. *"Testimony: A Philosophical Study"* by C. A. J. Coady 44:27 - Epistemology of Testimony & its importance as a source of knowledge 55:19 - Validity of Testimony 58:53 - Preservation of the Qur'an 1:04:28 - The Bible not being preserved 1:06:31 - 5. *"The Revival of the Religious Sciences"* by Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali 1:06:52 - Allah ﷻ being worthy of worship & love 1:10:49 - Relationship between love & knowledge 1:11:40 - Four causes of Love by Al-Ghazali (To understand to love Allah ﷻ the most) 1:23:53 - 6. *"Divine Perfection: Christianity and Islam on Sin and Salvation"* by Dr. Osman Latiff 1:25:37 - God being maximally loving in Islam vs Christianity 1:39:25 - 7. *"Coercion"* by Alan Wertheimer 1:40:18 - Freedom vs Coercion 1:45:50 - Concept of Rights in Islam 1:50:13 - 8. *"On Being Human"* by Dr. Osman Latiff 1:51:07 - Dangers of Othering & Dehumanisation 1:54:33 - The Empathy of Muhammad ﷺ 2:05:52 - Caring for Others 2:07:49 - Closing Remarks 2:08:48 - Wrapping Up SubhanAllah ❤️🤍💖 Amazing Discussion 👍🏻👌🏻 _May Allah ﷻ bless you both and reward you for your efforts._ 🤲🏻

Sir Paul, Hamza said " you don't really read books; they read you." EXCELLENT. As a Christian believer, I like that statement. I've only listened to 3 minutes so far, but this is very interesting ! Peace

“You don’t really read books; they read YOU.” Wow…that puts reading literature in a new light.

Hamza Tzortis is one of the best Muslim philosophers in the world!

“A books battery never die” Love it!!!❤️ Salam from Sarajevo

Brilliant…. Simply brilliant. May Allah swt reward Bro Hamza and Bro Paul for the effort in spreading Islam.

May Allah ﷻ bless Ustadh Hamza Tzortzis. Ameen!

Two brothers I love for the sake of Allah, having a conversation. Beautiful. Hamza Tzortzis always manages to marry empathy, good character and emotional intelligence with rigours, academic and intellectually stimulating arguments, his book recommendations reflect that.

Ustadh Hamza Tzortis is Loved by Muslims across the platforms, He's a phenomenon that we're proud of, May Allah give the best successful in this Dunya and the afterlife, Ameen.

Blogging Theology has had such an amazing and diverse array of guests, from Dr. William Lane Craig, Bart D. Ehrman, Rabbi Tovia Singer, to Hamza Tzortzis, the Muslim Greek philosopher. May God bless you, Paul Williams

I bought Hamza's book 2 months ago from an online book store. I love it

Hamza: " if something works in science it's not necessary means it 's true". 👍MashaAllah ! one of the best interviews done by you Brother Paul , thank you for all your efforts , we really appreciate it .

This is a crossover I didn't expect, thank you for bringing Hamza on!

Ahhhhh so beautiful to see you two wise men coming together :) SubhanAllah!!! Had to click the second I saw the notification.

We need more content like that to form intellectual and theological muslims for the future ! May Allah rewards our beloved brothers Hamza and Paul

Oh my oh my, so many smiles right at the start. I am so glad to see the two of you! Thank you kindly for all of your hard work, Mr. Williams. Truly fantastic to see Mr. Tzortzis on the podcast! May Allah send blessing upon blessing on each of your projects and endeavours. 🌻🌻🌻

SubhanAllah, I used to read the Quran on my own out loud and my dad once told me that I’m not allowed to read it from the book without having read it in front of an authorized teacher that has a chain all the way to the Prophet. When I first heard it, I was a bit uneasy about the thought and was heartbroken that my dad is preventing me from reading the Quran. But I later understood that that was the way it was preserved throughout the ages. It isn’t just the letters that are preserved, but their pronunciations also. We are from Damascus and all of my family members were taught the Quran that way. Alhamdullilah.

JazakAllah khair brother Paul, amazing brother Hamza with his knowledge, may Allah accept all his work and grant him long healthy life to spread this knowledge.

BT is one of my favourite KZfaq channel for many reasons. One of the reason is that this channel brings out knowledge that would otherwise remain academic circles to public. Like the views of Christian scholars. Also, good deal of thought provoking philosophy. Moreover, interviews with well-known scholars and academics as well as hidden gems from less well-known scholars. I really love your readings as well as KZfaq shorts. overall quality content, for a relatively young channel. Mr. Paul may Allah reward you for your good works. Ameen

"The books read you", the expression I been looking for to say the same. Thank you!

Can't wait to watch it 😊 I like the sincerity that emanates from our brother Hamza and although I do not understand English well, I am happy to watch this video.. Jazakum Allah kheiran brother Paul.

What an amazing choice to bring Hamza tzortis, thanks to Paul.. 🌹👍🏻🌹👍🏻🌹👍🏻🌹

I've enjoyed and learned from many videos from brother Hamza Tzortis. Thank you brother paul for the discussion, added to playlist wa salam alaykum wa rahmet Allah wa barakato

I'm so glad you guys talked about fiction books! I think in the Islamic Community fiction books don't get given justice and are fallen by the wayside compared to Non-Fiction. Fiction books to me are more impactful and beautiful to me so I'm really pleased to hear about them here.

Amazing conversation. Enjoyed it a lot. Alhamdulillah. 💗

Ordering that Divine Perfection book now, been looking for a book that address that topic. Thank you to brother Hamza Tzortis and brother Paul Williams, jazak Allah khair!

Let me get some popcorn 🍿

Hamza gives me the impression of a "talking book". Excellent. Thanks for bringing him to Blogging Theology.

This is awesome Hamza do more of these interviews with people Edit: there is another one he did recently with an atheist agnostic who seemed sincere. It was 3 hours long, and the dude isn't very well known. It was an amazing one as well. Hamza is on a roll. Been following Blogging Theology for a while, this dude is great, but so that he doesn't get a big head lol he should start an online course and teach others or join sapiance Institute

Thank you both. Jam-packed with ilm and wisdom. Tzortzis vs Kraus was among the few vids that brought me (back) to Islam

That was a well-spent two hours. I already learned so much from the brief summaries. I hope you'd have more guests talk about their favourite books in the future :)

Great video! Jaxakhallahu khayr paul🙏🏾❤

Brilliant and Mesmerising!!.... Time flew because I was addicted!.... I hope you will bring Br. Hamza back again to discuss further books of his interest and life changing impact. Like the way he tied all of this into the Dawah and experience via the power of literature!!.... what a journey this was!... Nothing like a physical book in your hand! 😍👌

Love from Türkiye great listen ❤️🤲🏻

Great episode! Thank you

It would be a great honour if you bring Dr Jeffrey lang to your channel...He is missed for long years

Ustadh Hamza ❤

This channel is a portal to immerse yourself with all kinds of knowledge and listening to discussions with great scholars

So clear and easy too understand, yet so deep as well👍

This is so lovely. Very interesting 😊 Thanks so much ! Salam from Penang.

I read C.J. Coady's book back in University 10yrs ago when I was just becoming acquainted with epistemology. Very eye opening, but it's even more eye opening when you see that Islamic scholars have been discussing these topics for more than a millenia.

This was great. Thank you

Enjoyed that one! Thank you!

So beautiful thoughts, I have to listen to it again and again !

Alhamdulillah all Muslims should listen to video around 01:39:30 about concept of Freedom to those groups who shout Freedom Of that, Freedom of this etc. @blogging theology kindly post this clip seperately in your channel.

Very inspring, thank you brother Paul, for another great video

Great dialouge, nice to see Hamza again. My favorite word is knowledge, meaning to bring forth

Dear Paul Allah bless you you are doing great work on this planet and we love you

Excellent Interview Brother Paul! ❤☝

Simply amazing, enlightening and really edifying.

Hey Paul, I recommend that you bring Hamza Yusuf on your show. I think we can learn a great deal from as Muslims. I think it would be a fruitful discussion. Thank you for all your efforts!

Yaaaay. Hamza. Always lovely to hear from Hamza. Alhamdullilah

May Allah bless you for your efforts Paul

Jazaka ALLAH, our brother paul.🙏😇

May Allah bless you both for serving the Ummah

Great session #Paul I love it 🥰

This discussion is a gem ✊🏼

Jazakom Allah khair brothers, Amazing discussion , thank you Paul thank you Hamza , may Allah preserve you.

Sadly, I am that type of person who doesn't read alot of books. But summer is coming and i want to try my best change my habits

JazakaAllahu khayr.

I have to agree with Hamza that Paul is really doing great work.May Allah give you Ihklas and reward you with the highest Paradise Paul!Thank you

JazakAllahu khairan

Wow, just started the video and i already learned something fascinating. when hamza said " when I read a book, the book reads me ", when I think about it, it makes sense, although I don't read many books, when I do, sometimes I discover an idea that I had deep in my mind, but it feels like the idea was scatered and vague, and what he means by "the book reading me" is that the book highlights the idea and makes it clear .

Really enjoyed this talk

Thanks, brother Paul for inviting brother Hamza. I quite agree with the views of the unknown brother who labeled your channel "Switzerland of Internet". 😇😍

This is definitely one of the best videos you've done Paul. Please bring Hamza back! And maybe Yusuf Ponders and Mohammad Hijab in the future?!

I can hear Ustadh Dr. Humza Andreas Tzortzis all day and night long, subhan'Allah! Thank you, Ustadh Paul, for him!

Excellent choice again!

Beautiful! Always beautiful to see Hamza spreading his wisdom Ma Shaa Allah. Brother Paul, we hope to see Mohammed Hijab as well on your channel.

الله أكبر. What an awesome discussion. It was encyclopedic in scope while stimulating at the same time. Thank you so much brother Paul and Hamza.

Dear Br. Paul and Br. Hamza, These kind of indepth discussions on books are quite useful. Thank you :)

Excellent session Sir. Jazakallah

Hamza Tzortzis is the Plato of our day.

To the brothers who dismiss philosophy, I always wonder how they define "philosophy"? As Hamza beautifully pointed out: the problems of induction and the validity of testimony are very important for Muslims to understand, when having discourse with atheists. Science is and never will be about the absolute truth, but rather truth in the sense as to how we best make sense of our observations at this current time. There is always the chance that future observations will either change or modify our current theories. This should help to get the atheist thinking; and more importantly get Muslims who have been given doubts from science a chance to reflect on the short comings of science. It also directly challanges the common atheist rhetoric that science and religion are diametrically opposed, as science is not conclusively proving or disproving anything. This all classifies as philosophy and it is abosolutely indispensable for Muslims.

"It is not about how many books you go through but rather how many books go through you.."

HAMZA a beautiful soul..mashallah. Allah keep you all safe and steadfast. Ameen

Well sounds like me. I enjoy being alone but absolutely hate feeling lonely. And I have always wanted to find someone or people I can connect with, express myself with. I have a lot to say, very philosophical, very spiritual. But this world is extremely superficial unfortunately, and so are most of its inhabitants 😕...

Definitely I will have your book 📖 very soon insha Allah brother Hamza ❤️

these are some really good books especially Godfrey Smith's anthology to the Philosophy of science 👌👌

“you don’t read books, books read you”

Salam and respect both of you.I love reading books very much and both of you I respect most. Tzortzis so young and me elderly, love you son Tzortzis and respect very much Williams. Your program highly developed and improved us Muslim community. Zazak Allah Khairan

My book recommendations:- 1.Translation of the Holy Qur'an by Abdul haleem or Clear Qur'an by Musthafa Khattab 2.The Sealed Nectar - Biography of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). 3.The History of the Qur'anic Text: From Revelation to Compilation : a Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments by Muhammad Mustafa Azmi 4.Divine Speech: Exploring Quran As Literature by Nouman Ali Khan and Sharif Randhawa 5.Discovering the Quran by Neal Robinson 6.Structure and Quranic interpretation by Raymond Farrin 7.Studies in Hadith methodology and Literature by Muhammad Mustafa Azmi 8.Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World by Jonathan A.C. Brown 9. Misquoting Muhammad by Jonathan A. C. Brown 10.The Divine Reality: God, Islam and The Mirage of Atheism by Hamza Tzortzis 11.God and Logic in Islam by John Walbridge 12.Islam and secularism by Sayyid Muhammad Naquib Al- Attas 13.Purification of the heart by Hamza Yusuf 14.Inner dimensions of the prayer by Ibn Qayyim al jawziyya 15.Shariʻah: The Islamic Law by Abdur Rahman I. Doi 16.Fiqh Us-Sunnah by Shaikh Syed Sabiq 17.Women and the transmission of religious knowledge in Islam by Professor Asma sayeed 18.Sexual ethics and Islam by Kecia Ali 19. The Bible, the Qur'an, and Science by Maurice Bucaille Islamic history:- 1.The Preaching of Islam by Thomas Walker Arnold 2.The Hidden Debt to Islamic Civilisation by S.E. Al-Djazair 3.The venture of Islam by Marshall Hodgson 4.The Matter of Araby in Medieval England by Dorothee Metlitzki 5.The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives published by Cambridge: MIT Press 6.Science Among the Ottomans: The Cultural Creation and Exchange of Knowledge by Miri Shefer-Mossensohn 7.The Jews of Islam by Bernard Lewis, Mark R. Conen 8.Jewish Life Under Islam Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century by Amnon cohen 9.Science in Medieval Islam by Howard R. Turner 10.The Moriscos of Spain by Henry Charles Lea 11.A history of inquisition of spain by Henry Charles Lea 12.The Martyrs of cordoba by Jessica A. Coope 13.The history of the ottoman empire Osman's Dream by Caroline Finkel 14. Sephardic and mizrahi jewry edited by Zion Zuhar 15. The ornament of the world by Maria Rosa Menocal 16. Islam and the west by Norman Daniel 17. Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713 by Gerald Maclean 18. The influence of Islam on medieval europe by W.Montgomery Watt 19.Minorities in the Ottoman Empire, edited by Molly Greene 20.An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire by Donald Quataert and Halil İnalcık 21. Slavery and Islam by Jonathan A.C. Brown

“A books battery never dies”-Hamza Tzortzis💯

Would LOVE to see a conversation with another awesome Hamza, i.e. Sh. Hamza Yusuf.

Peace and mercy, bless of ALLAH to be both of you and your family. Keep it up.

Aslm. Another gem. Adnan promised nx tym he cums to cape Town Hamza will b with him but IL have to inform Adnan to also bring brother Paul......

This one is amazing. Even Paul is full listening 🎶 😳 👌

*_Barak'Allah feekom_*

I suggest Sir Paul to arrange the Sessions like these with the current Muslim influential people... Special Sessions *Just about Books, Reading, Knowledge*!!!

2 gems 💎💎

Instant like for anything to do with Hamza Tzortzis!

If you read 'The Divine Reality' you'll love this podcast

Really love the discussion, I get the impression that you guys were a long lost old friend that finally meet up. In addition, I love the last part when Hamza mention how prophet Muhammad SAW treats person individually, this slaps me not to stereotype others and treat them fairly.

Alhamdulillah looovvve this book chat

Allah bless you ✨️

There is need of series of lectures

05:27 Alhamdulillah! I thought I was the only weird person who preferred to read while touching and smelling the papers of physical books... ;p Edit: this is not my number one favourite book, but it's one of the first and most impactful books that I've read when I was a teenager (and a quite challenging to my mindset); The Madness of God & The Men Who Have The Elephant by Shawni

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis 💎💎💎

mashAllah both of u have beuatiful knowledge actully more then us born muslims .keep it up spread the message of prophets.i have a reqest if u can do urdu arabic other languges subtitles if brothers of those languages can help its gona help a lot.its so deep conversation myself have good command in english have to do research on your philosphical words mashAllah i learnt more from revert muslims compare to native scholars .i wana help this channel i wish u can come to US and setup a stall and deleiver message we can get training from u

Masha'Allah