Philipp Valentini has developed a dynamic approach to the study of two key intellectual figures, one that allows for an alternative path to the understanding of "Being" current, especially in the "West". Islamic philosophy considers existence to be conceptually indefinable. In modern times, however, both "Western" and "Islamic" intellectuals tend to reduce everything to the single question, 'What is Being? As if "Being" could be an object in itself. Niasse and Heidegger taught against this typically modern foible. Whether or not their teachings offer a viable alternative to such reductionism is, of course, for progeny to decide.

Anthony F. Shaker, a scholar of Islamicate intellectual history and German thought, has authored Reintroducing Philosophy: Thinking as the Gathering of Civilization (2020) and Modernity, Civilization and the Return to History (2017). He has also translated Sadr al-Din Qunawi's I'jaz al-bayan (2025), with a new Arabic edition (2025), and four books from Ghazali I?ya? al-?ulum (2013-25), and has published numerous papers.

A highly successful meditation on resonances across cultures from the likes of Heidegger and Niasse. Both dense and lucid, one is never lost in this lyrical discussion, but rather heartened by the glimpses of new light that occur on every page.

Todd Lawson, Associate Professor Emeritus of Islamic Thought, University of Toronto, Canada