Slowing Down

19 Ramadhan, 1445

My reading for the Holy Month hasn't gone quite as smoothly as I expected, but it has proved very rewarding. I estimated that I would complete Gai Eaton's Islam and the Destiny of Man by the halfway point and move on to the Martin Lings's tome I had lined up, but I'll be surprised if I finish it tomorrow, though the end is in sight. Because I've read it before and remembered it as eminently readable I thought I'd probably race through it, but this has been far from the case.

It is very readable indeed, with never a dull moment, but that's the sort of problem. It's dense with ideas, powerful, worthwhile ideas. When I first read it the exciting quality of the ideas spurred me to read at speed with, I suppose, the notion in my mind that one day I would re-visit the text. Well, the re-visiting is upon me and I have to slow down in order to do Eaton the justice his efforts deserve.

I'm now in the third and final part of the book, in the third chapter from the end, The Human Paradox, and the treatment of the question of human suffering in the chapter is one of the best I've ever read. Completely convincing on an issue that it's extremely difficult to ever feel completely convinced about (as John Milton surely knew, deep in his bones.) I feel like starting the chapter again to ensure that I've not just fallen for the rhetorical power of the text; but I won't because I'm so keen to get on to the final two chapters, which I intend to slowly digest.