EP.56--History: From the Umayyads to the Abbasids
This episode discusses some elements related to the transition from the first dynasty of the world of Islam, the Banu Umayya, to the highly...
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Religion & Spirituality
The World of Islam: Culture, Religion, and Politics
Historical surveys and current discussions surrounding religion, culture, and politics in Muslim settings
Episodes
20 of 56 episodes
EP.55-The Non-Muslims of the Early Islamic Period (Part II)
This episode continues discussing the non-Muslim communities of the early Islamic period. The focus shifts to Christian communities after th...
EP.54-The Non-Muslims of the Early Islamic Period (Part I)
This episode of the World of Islam briefly discusses the non-Muslim communities of the early Islamic period, particularly after the Arab con...
Ep.53-Religion: Popular Islam
This episode seeks to correct a major misconception concerning Islam and Muslim life. The Islam of the masses is not simply a reflection of...
Ep.52-The Brethren of Purity
This episode of the World of Islam introduces the so-called Ikhwan al-Safa (The Brethren of Purity), a group of mysterious thinkers that pro...
Ep.51-Al-Farabi and his Philosophy
Al-Farabi (d.950) was one of the most important philosophers of the world of early Islam. This episode briefly introduces part of his contri...
EP.50-Philosophy and Religion between al-Kindi and al-Razi
This episode highlights two perspectives in early philosophy within Muslim contexts. Al-Kindi (d. 860s) viewed philosophy and religion as co...
EP.49-Philosophy in Early Islamic Contexts
This episode discusses the interaction with Greek philosophy in the early Islamic period. We encounter Plotinus, Neoplatonism, and the impor...
EP.48--Religion: The Sufi Worldview
Today's episode seeks to present a general picture of the Sufi worldview. Some of the questions we briefly deal with include: How do Sufis i...
EP.47--Religion: From Asceticism to Mysticism
This episode discusses a further step in the later rise of full-fledged Sufi orientations within the world of Islam. We encounter the concep...
EP.46--Religion: Early Sufism and Asceticism
This episode introduces the tradition of Sufism that some also call Islamic mysticism. We are concerned today with the early period and the...
EP.45--History: Jihad in the Modern World
This episode discusses the struggles of modern Muslims to make sense of the concept of Jihad. We consider the impact of European colonialism...
EP.44--History: The Jihad Movements
This episode briefly discusses the worldview of the Jihad movements that appeared on the Muslim scene around the 17th and 18th centuries AD....
EP.43--Religion: Jihad, War, and Peace
What exactly is Jihad? This episode discusses the traditional doctrine of Jihad that Muslim Jurists developed and takes a brief look at rela...
EP.42--Religion: Ijma' (Consensus) between the Legal and the Political in Islamic Discourses
What does Ijmāʿ (consensus) mean? How does it function within traditional Islamic Law? In what way do the Sunni concept of “ijmāʿ” and the S...
EP.41--Religion: Ijtihad and the Intellectual Struggle to Find God's Law in Islam
The episode discusses the concept of ijtihad that has been used by Muslim jurists to derive legal rulings. We particularly focus on what is...
EP.40--Religion: Hadith Collections
The episode introduces some of the different types of Hadith collections that arose in the world of Islam over the centuries. We discuss the...
EP.39--Religion: Hadith and Sunna
Hadith reports attributing sayings and actions to Muhammad came to play a major role in the shaping of the religion of Islam. This episode w...
EP.38--Religion: The Solidification of Sunni Legal Schools
This episode deals with the institutionalization of the legal field in Sunni Islam and the rise of the four "orthodox" legal schools or madh...
EP.37--Religion: The Compromise of al-Shafiʿi and the Slow Birth of Usul al-Fiqh
This episode further discusses the debate between the Ahl al-Ra'y and Ahl al-Hadith as well as the compromise initiated by al-Shafiʿi, who w...